Are you wondering about how to treat asthma? Well, asthma is an illness that cannot be cured because there is no cure for it. This is an inflammatory disease that causes the airways to constrict when triggered. There is no cure, but there are ways to manage the disease so you can lead a normal life.
Many people with asthma enjoy an active life. With the appropriate asthma management, you can take control of the disease. Managing asthma is possible and you doctor can help you plan how you can control it, including the symptoms.
Who Can Get Asthma?
Anyone can develop asthma. Most cases, asthma starts in childhood at age 2 – 6 years old. The cause of asthma varies but the most common is exposure to allergens such as tobacco smoke, dust mites, pollution and viral infections. In most cases, children who develop asthma at an early age outgrow the disease so the incidents of flare up have been reduced. There are also instances when asthma develops again once a person reaches adulthood.
Symptoms of Asthma
Symptoms of asthma vary in individual. They are also similar to other health conditions that sometimes it is confusing to determine if a person has asthma or not. The following are common asthma symptoms that could help you recognized your condition.
- Wheezing
- Chest tightening
- Shortness of breath
- Coughing
You can experience shortness of breath every time you exercise or exerted so much effort. Asthma also causes coughing, wheezing and chest tightening. These symptoms are similar to other health problems so it sometimes confused people. When it comes to the severity of the symptoms or asthma attacks, it also differs from person to person.
This is because the severity of asthma attack depends on how you control or manage the disease. By the way, acute attack can be life threatening because the symptom may continue despite using an inhaler. When you experience acute attack, you should go to the nearest hospital because the attack will not stop without treatment.
Medications for Asthma
Medications for asthma are relievers, preventers and controllers. What are these?
Relievers
Relievers provide immediate relief from asthma attack by helping the muscles around your airway relax for about 4 hours. This type of medication cannot be use more than three times a week.
Preventers
Preventers are the type of medication that makes the airways less sensitive to allergens or other triggers. It also helps reduce inflammation of the muscle inside the airways. Most of the people suffering from asthma use preventers to feel better every day.
Controllers
Controllers for symptoms should be use in conjunction with preventer only. It is a medication that relaxes the muscles inside the airways for at least 12 hours.
Types of Asthma Devices
There are different devices that deliver the asthma medication. But the most common is the inhaler as it clears the airway fast. The medications go straight to the lungs once a person breathed in the inhaler.
Puffer – This is also known as metered dose inhaler. It is aerosol canister that produces a mist of medication. Puffer is a lot more effective so doctors often recommend it to anyone suffering from asthma.
Autohaler – This is a spring loaded canister. When you breathe in the mouthpiece the medication automatically mists the medication. The device is great for children and anyone who find puffer a bit difficult to use.
Accuhaler – This device use dry medication unlike with aerosol inhalers. The device is not good for young children and those who are short of breath as they need to inhale deeply to get the medication to the lungs.
Puffer is use with a spacer, a device that looks like a clear tube or plastic football. The spacer is used to get the medications into the lungs faster and also reduces the side effects of asthma medications.
How to Treat Asthma
As said awhile ago, there is no permanent cure to asthma the treatments are just to control and prevent asthma attack.
You can take the medication with the use of an inhaler or by through pill. Some medicines provide long term and quick relief.
The long term medicines help you lessen the attack while the quick relief helps control the symptoms. Taking asthma medicines daily is not advisable because of the side effects. Even though some of the side effects are mild and goes away. It is still best to minimize the use of medications especially when asthma can be controlled.
Managing asthma is possible, there are several products that can help you manage it. For example, the use of Aloe Activator is a good way to reduce the use of medication. What is an aloe activator? It is a product that when combine with the Aloe Heat Lotion and Aloe Vera Gel can help reduces the effect of asthma.
Aloe Activator and Aloe Vera Gel are both products of Forever Living Products, a company that manufactures aloe vera based products.
Aside from the above mentioned products, you can also take Forever Ginkgo Plus supplement before each meal. This supplement helps boost the immune defense system and help reduce inflammation.
