What is asthma and it's attack signs and symptoms ?

 Asthma- don't let it take your breath away

Asthma is an inflammatory condition of the respiratory system, which includes the lungs and airways that enable us to breathe. It's characterized by difficulty breathing, shortness of breath, chest tightness, wheezing, and coughing. In some cases, asthma also results in an itchy feeling in the chest area. Asthma commonly occurs as an asthma attack, or flare-up of symptoms, which may subside within several hours or several days depending on severity.

What is asthma?

Asthma is a common lung condition. It makes breathing difficult by making your airways swell, get narrower and produce extra mucus that can make it even harder to breathe. Asthma causes include allergies, viral infections, irritants in the air (such as cigarette smoke), and exercise. People with asthma need to learn what triggers their symptoms so they can avoid them when possible or treat them quickly when they occur. With proper treatment and management, most people with asthma can live normal lives.

Ways to Live With Asthma Without Respiratory Symptoms

The best way to live with asthma is to control asthma symptoms. By living a healthy lifestyle, you can reduce asthma symptoms and improve lung function. This will allow you to lead a full life while still being diagnosed with asthma. Here are 10 ways that can help you control your respiratory health so that you're always on top of your game! Take an allergen assessment: Asthma is often linked to allergies, meaning that many of its symptoms are allergic reactions in which case treating those allergies may reduce or eliminate some of your asthma symptoms.

 Tips for Relieving an Attack

• Asthma is a chronic condition that affects millions of people every year. Asthma causes inflammation in the airways and can result in temporary, potentially severe breathing problems that typically are triggered by an allergen (such as cigarette smoke) or certain other factors (like cold air or exercise).
•  If you have asthma, there are a few ways to deal with attacks if they happen: Try using an inhaler containing a bronchodilator medication; this help relax muscles around your airways and makes breathing easier. Keep track of triggers for your asthma, so you know what might cause an attack next time. 
• Getting treatment early is key to controlling asthma so go see a doctor right away if you think an attack might be coming on!

Preventing an Attack

If you have asthma, there are some steps you can take to keep an attack from happening. Step one is to know what triggers your asthma, so you can avoid those triggers as much as possible. This is especially important if you have seasonal allergies like hay fever because pollen and mold spores are common asthma triggers. Pollen levels are usually at their highest in the early morning or late afternoon, so try to stay indoors during these times. If you're outside for a long time on a bad-weather day, wear an overcoat to protect yourself from pollen and stay in areas with good air circulation (such as shopping malls). Even if pollen isn't a trigger for you, exercising on bad weather days will still improve your lung health, so get out there!

Signs and Symptoms of Asthma- Don't Ignore Them!

The symptoms of asthma can vary from person to person, but the general signs and symptoms of asthma include coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, and chest tightness or pain. If you’re experiencing these signs and symptoms on an ongoing basis, it may be time to visit your doctor for an asthma checkup. Below are more specific asthma signs and symptoms by their possible causes to help you get an accurate diagnosis so you can get back to living your life comfortably.

• Common shortness of breath: The most common sign of asthma is shortness of breath or feeling like you're having trouble breathing. You may also feel tightness in your chest, have trouble sleeping due to asthma, wake up at night with difficulty breathing or wake up with a dry cough. If you’re experiencing any of these signs, make an appointment with your doctor right away. If you don’t get it checked out right away, it can result in symptoms that are much more severe

1.  Chest tightness: If you're feeling tightness in your chest, it could be a sign that you're having an asthma attack. If your chest feels like it's getting smaller or if you can’t take a deep breath, call 911 right away. You may also notice a whistling sound when you breathe in that may be caused by air moving through swollen airways. To relieve some of these symptoms while awaiting medical attention, try inhaling steam from hot water with an equal amount of cold water. This will open up your lungs and help reduce inflammation and swelling.

• Wheezing: If you hear wheezing, which is a whistling or rattling sound when you breathe, it can be a sign that your asthma isn’t under control. Wheezing happens because the air passes through narrowed airways. The whistling noise may be caused by an S sound as air goes through these narrow channels. Wheezing may also be caused by too much mucus in your lungs from inflammation or other lung conditions. When you have asthma, sometimes even small amounts of dust or pollen can trigger wheezing. This makes it hard to know exactly what's causing your symptoms at any given time.

• Coughing: A persistent cough is one of asthmatics' most common complaints. Coughing is caused by irritation to your lungs, caused by frequent asthmatic attacks. The irritation comes from a variety of sources including mucus, fluid leaking from your blood vessels in your lung tissue, or swelling in your bronchial tubes due to inflammation. There are several ways to treat an ongoing cough related to asthma: over-the-counter (OTC) medication like Sudafed, nasal sprays such as Flonase that help reduce nasal congestion or allergy medications like Claritin.

• Throat clearing: A simple case of phlegm that can be easily cleaned, or an asthma attack? It's important to know because throat clearing can be a sign that you're having breathing problems. But how do you know what kind of breathing problems you're experiencing? While there are several signs associated with asthma attacks, it's not always easy to identify them. Here's how you can tell if your throat clearing is nothing to worry about or a symptom of a more serious condition.