{"id":8059,"date":"2020-10-21T19:17:10","date_gmt":"2020-10-21T19:17:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jamaicahospital.org\/newsletter\/?p=8059"},"modified":"2020-10-21T19:17:11","modified_gmt":"2020-10-21T19:17:11","slug":"learn-the-facts-about-asthma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jamaicahospital.org\/newsletter\/learn-the-facts-about-asthma\/","title":{"rendered":"Learn The Facts About Asthma"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Asthma is a\ndisease that affects the airway\u2019s ability to deliver oxygen to the lungs. It\ncauses periodic attacks of wheezing and difficulty breathing. An asthma attack\noccurs when the airways become inflamed in response to a trigger. Triggers are\nfactors that bring about an asthma attack. There are many types of triggers\nincluding:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Allergens –\nSuch as pollen, mold, animal fur, dust, dust mites, and cockroaches<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Viral\nInfections – Viral infections of the respiratory tract often act as major\ntriggers, since they irritate the airways, nose, throat, and sinuses<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Irritants –\nExamples of irritants are perfumes, household cleaners, cooking fumes, painting\nsupplies, coal, chalk, and sudden changes in the weather<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Tobacco Smoke\nand Wood Smoke – No one should smoke in the home of an asthmatic<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Exercise – It\nis estimated that 85% of all asthmatics encounter wheezing after exercise<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Sensitivity to Medications – Up to 20% of all adult asthmatics experience an attack as a result of allergic reactions to medications such as aspirin, ibuprofen, and sulfites

During an asthma attack, the walls of the airways become inflamed and the mucous membrane covering the walls becomes swollen with fluid. Sticky mucus fills the remaining space, making it difficult to breathe. Because air cannot flow in and out of the lungs freely, a whistling or wheezing sound may be heard. During severe attacks, wheezing may stop because there is too little air moving to make any noise.
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The key to\ndiagnosing asthma is recognition of the recurrent symptoms of cough, shortness\nof breath, tightness in the chest, or wheezing. If these symptoms are present,\na physician will perform a pulmonary function test, also known as a spirometry.\nThe test measures the \u201cpeak flow,\u201d which is the speed of air blown out of the\nlungs. Asthmatics have trouble blowing air out, and therefore have lower peak\nflow measurements. A normal range for peak flow is based on the person\u2019s age,\nweight, and sex. Daily measurement of the peak flow at home is essential to\neffectively manage asthma. Decreases in peak flow will alert the patient of the\nneed for further treatment or an emergency medical visit to the doctor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To treat asthma,\nthe first step is to avoid the triggers that you are sensitive to whenever\npossible. Prescription medicines are usually needed to combat asthma. There are\ntwo main groups of asthma medicines: bronchodilators, which help stop asthma\nattacks after they have started and anti-inflammatories, which help prevent\nattacks from starting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a course of\ntreatment is prescribed, it is very important to check regularly with your\ndoctor to make sure that the medicines are helping you.<\/p>\n

All content of this newsletter is intended for general information purposes only and is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Please consult a medical professional before adopting any of the suggestions on this page. You must never disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking medical treatment based upon any content of this newsletter. PROMPTLY CONSULT YOUR PHYSICIAN OR CALL 911 IF YOU BELIEVE YOU HAVE A MEDICAL EMERGENCY.<\/strong> <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Asthma is a disease that affects the airway\u2019s ability to deliver oxygen to the lungs. It causes periodic attacks of wheezing and difficulty breathing. An asthma attack occurs when the airways become inflamed in response to a trigger. Triggers are … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,1817],"tags":[28,283],"class_list":["post-8059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asthma","category-medical-library","tag-asthma-2","tag-jamaica-hospital"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jamaicahospital.org\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jamaicahospital.org\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jamaicahospital.org\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jamaicahospital.org\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jamaicahospital.org\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8059"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/jamaicahospital.org\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8059\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8065,"href":"https:\/\/jamaicahospital.org\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8059\/revisions\/8065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jamaicahospital.org\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jamaicahospital.org\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jamaicahospital.org\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}