Bronchial asthma is a rather severe
allergic disease. Parents and older children should understand the mechanism of the appearance, development of this disease in order to lead an adequate lifestyle, maintain a good state of health and use the achievements of medicine in the treatment of asthma.
Features of asthma.
This is an allergic disease that has a chronic course with recurring episodes of bronchial spasm. Asthma is most often caused by dandruff and animal hair, pollen from flowering plants, dust mites and even dry food for aquarium fish. Some foods in babies can lead to an allergic reaction leading to asthma.
The second type of development of bronchial allergy is an increased sensitivity of the bronchi, when they sharply react to the most common factors for other people: light load, temperature changes, tobacco smoke and other pungent odors, cold air.
The physiology of asthma The
violation of the air permeability of the bronchi occurs from various factors: bronchospasm, swelling of the mucosa, development of a viscous mucous discharge. Such reactions are accompanied by shortness of breath, tightness in the chest, wheezing with a whistle, coughing sputum, which is difficult to go away.
The severity and frequency of seizures are interrelated. Attacks can pass quickly, and can be long and pose a threat to life. Children suffer twice as often as adults.
Can asthma disappear with age?
Unfortunately, doctors do not give a definite answer. Asthma is unpredictable: its manifestations can decrease or increase, disappear or persist, for a long time not manifest in an adult. However, we are not talking about the disappearance of the disease, but about remission.
The role of heredity
A significant role in predisposition to asthma is played by heredity. Therefore, it is so important to know about serious diseases of previous generations and to inform the doctor about the first symptoms of an allergy. A hereditary predisposition in combination with exposure to allergens from the outside provokes a high probability of illness at an early age.
An asthmatic attack can be sudden, but it can be preceded by sneezing, itching and watery discharge from the nose, worsening of well-being and sleep. The time of onset of symptoms in different children is also different: from several days to several hours before an asthma attack.
Spasm and inflammation intensify at night and before morning, when the bronchial pathways become physiologically narrower, the mucus flows worse and the activity of allergens from the outside increases.
A laboratory method in the blood of an asthmatic can reveal an increased number of eosinophils – specific allergenic satellites.
In children over five years old, a mandatory examination of the respiratory function is performed on specialized devices that give an idea of the condition of the child’s bronchial system and the effectiveness of the treatment. Unfortunately, this method is far from common; many parents do not know anything about it. The reason is the lack of awareness and seriousness of the approach to preventive monitoring of the condition of the child’s bronchi – asthma.
Skin tests are performed to determine the allergen that causes asthma. Such an examination is carried out during the period of remission and not earlier than two years of age of the child.
Treatment is prescribed according to the severity of the disease. In parallel, anti-allergic measures, specific immunotherapy, non-drug treatment are performed.
