What is Asthma? (Living with it, Helping it, Learning about it.)

Written by Dakotta Hargrave

Asthma is an often-overlooked medical condition, with evidence such as Gym teachers, staff, family members, coaches, etc, who won't fully understand how asthma can affect your body unless they've had it or do still have it. Children all over the world have missed school multiple times because of their asthma. Approximately 13 million school days are missed due to asthma affecting students. Physical activity can be a big challenge, even just walking up a small flight of stairs. Dusty areas and even changes in the weather can trigger an asthma attack.

Asthma is a disease of the airways. It can be characterized by chronic inflammation and disordered airway function. A large population is still suffering from asthma despite the advancements in technology for treatments. From what's known, approximately 10% of children and 5% of adults suffer from asthma.

Has anyone ever wondered what causes asthma? There are many causes, including the possibility of inheriting it from a parent. Allergies can be a common cause of asthma since it's linked to other medical issues, like atopic dermatitis and allergic rhinitis. Viral respiratory infections, especially during infancy and childhood, can cause wheezing, which can lead to chronic asthma. Occupational exposures, exposure to certain dust, chemical fumes and vapors, and molds can lead to the disease. Smoking can be one of the biggest leading causes of getting asthma. Getting exposed to smoke as a young child can affect you later on, and if a mother smokes while pregnant, the child is more likely to get asthma. Air pollution, obvious but not many think of, smog raises risks for asthma and even if you grew up in urban areas. Lastly, obesity is unclear on how it can lead to asthma; however, experts point to low-grade inflammation in the body that occurs with a person's extra weight.

Asthma airways are very much thinner than a normal airway. During an attack, it's even smaller, so it's harder to breathe.

The challenges that asthma can pose to a person, including a child, can be overwhelming and exhausting. I was born with asthma; I got it from my mother. Throughout my life, I've had to learn how to use an inhaler and a nebulizer, and learn when it's okay for me to do anything physical and when it isn't. Living with asthma is a difficult challenge; many things can make it difficult to be active and participate in many activities. Throughout my life, I’ve been active in sports since I was able to walk; every sport involved running in some way. Running would and still does affect me so terribly that I have to do treatment at home and use my inhaler.

Inhalers, bronchodilators, or relievers, act fast by opening the airways and improving the person's rate of breathing. Inhalers can also remove mucus you get from the start of the asthma attack or when your asthma starts acting up. It can relax the airway and smooth muscles, ensuring you have better airflow. The most common type of inhaler medication is Albuterol. Albuterol is used to prevent and or treat bronchospasm for patients who have asthma, bronchitis, emphysema, and other diseases in your lungs. The dosage is available in powder, solution, and suspension.

The treatments for lung diseases are nebulizers, inhalation aerosol, and inhalation powder. Mayo Clinic says, “The right way to use a nebulizer is to use one container of solution or mix the exact amount of solution using a dropper provided for each dose, place the inhalation solution in the medicine reservoir or nebulizer cup on the machine, connect the nebulizer to the face mask or mouthpiece, use the facemask or mouthpiece to breath in the medicine, use the nebulizer for about 5-15 minutes and or until the medicine in the cup given is gone, then cleanall the parts of the nebulizer after each use.” To summarize the aerosol and the powder medicine, the way to use the medicine is to insert the canister into the actuator, remove cap and make sure mouth piece is clean, point inhaler away from your face and shake it and take 3 practice puffs into the air, breath out as much air as you can, then breath in slowly and press down on the canister, and then hold your breath for 10 seconds.