What Is Asthma?

Asthma (pronounced: AZ-ma) is a chronic lung disease that inflames and narrows the airways. Asthma causes recurring periods of wheezing, chest tightness, shortness of breath, and coughing. The coughing may often occur at night or early in the morning.

Asthma can affect people of all ages, but it most often starts during childhood. In the United States, more than 22 million people are known to have asthma. Nearly 6 million of these people are children.

Overview

Your airways are tubes that carry air in and out of your lungs. People who have asthma have inflamed airways. This makes the airways swollen and very sensitive. They tend to react strongly to certain substances that are breathed in.

When the airways react, the muscles around them tighten. This causes the airways to become narrower, and less air is able to get to your lungs. The swelling can worsen, making the airways even smaller. Cells in the airways may make more mucus than normal. Mucus is a sticky, thick liquid that can further constrict your airways.

This chain reaction can result in asthma symptoms. Symptoms can happen each time the airways are irritated.

Sometimes symptoms are mild and go away on their own or after minimal treatment with an asthma medicine. or sometimes just with breathing techniques.  At other times, the symptoms may continue to get worse. When symptoms get more intense and/or additional symptoms appear, this is an asthma attack.

It’s important to treat symptoms when you first notice them. This will help prevent the symptoms from worsening and causing a severe asthma attack. Severe asthma attacks are serious and require emergency care, as they can cause death.

Symptoms

Wheezing, difficulty breathing, coughing, tightness in chest, anxiety.

Outlook

Asthma can’t be cured. Even when you feel fine, you still have the disease and it can flare up at any time.

But with today’s knowledge and treatments, most people who have asthma are able to manage the disease. They have few, if any, symptoms. They can live normal, active lives and sleep through the night without interruption from asthma.

For successful, comprehensive, and ongoing treatment, take an active role in managing your disease. Build strong partnerships with your doctor and other clinicians on your health care team.

Resource Center:

• Allies Against Asthma
• American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology
• The American Lung Association
• Asthma Action Association
• The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA)
• Asthma in America
• No Attacks

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