Asthma – Overview

Transcript

Asthma is a condition that impacts about 1 in 13 people worldwide. It is a disease of the smallest airways of the lungs in the bronchial tubes, where inflammation can trigger a variety of symptoms, including shortness of breath, chest pressure, chest tightness, coughing, and / or wheezing. Asthma can be categorized as allergic if symptoms are caused by exposure to allergic protein allergens, such as pollen, mold, dust mites, or animal hair, and dander. Exercise induced asthma is another category that is present between 5 to 20% of the population. Up to 90% of asthmatics have some exercise induced asthma symptoms. Exercise-triggered symptoms most often occur with strenuous exercise in dry and cold environments. If you only cough and don’t wheeze with your asthma, you might have a category called cough variant asthma. Asthma is also defined by how severe your symptoms are. A board certified physician who specializes in asthma can help identify the causes of your asthma, your triggers, and help define how severe your symptoms are. Your physician can help tailor a customized treatment plan to best help control and prevent future episodes.