Alcohol Abuse Advice

Bronchial Asthma: Its Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis and Treatment

The Bronchial Asthma is an inflammatory disease of the airways or lungs where an obstruction or disturbance in the ventilation of the respiratory passages evokes a feeling of shortness of breath or variable and recurring symptoms. This leads to paroxysms which squeeze the bronchial air passage.

Causes of Bronchial Asthma

There are various causes of triggering Bronchial Asthma. The main cause is a raised level of resistance to the airflow in the bronchial passages or weak lungs by shutting down the airway. Although, the muscles of these passages work harder, they are unable to support the activity of breathing and gas exchange. The result is an attack of bronchial asthma where there are spasms of the bronchial muscles, a swelling of the bronchial wall and an increase in the secretion of mucous. The other causes of bronchial asthma are: respiratory infections, cold air, exercise, smoke, genetic factors, stress, anxiety or emotional stress, allergies from food, drugs or molds and air borne pollutants like pollen and dust.

Signs or Symptoms of Bronchial Asthma

In bronchial asthma, the following signs and symptoms are observed :

i. Shortness of breath or paroxysmal dyspnoea

ii. Tightness or lot of pain in the chest reigon

iii. Increased secretion of mucous occurs during the asthma attack.

iv. Wheezing

v. Excessive coughing or a cough that keeps you awake at night or Asthma attacks usually occur in the morning time.

Diagnosis of Bronchial Asthma

The clinical diagnosis should always be done by a competent doctor. There are various methods to diagnose the bronchial asthma some of them are, Allergen sensitivity tests, Chest X-ray,                        Peak Expiratory Flow (PEF) to exhale the air forcefully as to monitor the lung expansion, Spirometry (measuring of breathing capacity), sputum and blood tests, etc may be of use in finding the cause and severity of the condition.

 Treatment of Bronchial Asthma

The self care is the best remedy for bronchial asthma or to develop self care strategy by the help of a doctor. Some of the common and old methods of asthma treatments are: Medications, Inhalers, Steroids and other Anti-Inflammatory drugs, Bronchodilators and Nebulizer.