Asthma Medications
- What Is Asthma?
- What Causes Asthma?
- What Are the Risks of Asthma?
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What Is Asthma?
Asthma is a disease that causes inflammation and narrowing of the breathing passages of the lungs (bronchi and bronchioles).
What Causes Asthma?
Asthma is caused by chronic (ongoing, long-term) inflammation of these airways passages. Individuals with asthma are highly sensitive to various "triggers" that lead to inflammation of the airways. When the inflammation is triggered by one or more of these factors, the air passages swell and fill with mucus. The muscles within the breathing passages contract and narrow (bronchospasm). The narrow airways make it hard to exhale (breathe out from the lungs).
Next: What Are the Risks of Asthma? »
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Asthma Medications
What Is Asthma?
Asthma is a disease that affects the breathing passages, or airways, of the lungs. Asthma is a chronic (ongoing, long-term) inflammatory disease that causes difficulty breathing.
When an exacerbation or "attack" of asthma takes place, the inflammation in the airways causes the lining of the breathing passages to swell. This swelling narrows the diameter of the airway, eventually to a point where it is hard to exchange enough air to breathe comfortably. This is when coughing, wheezing, and the sensation of distress start.
Asthma can have varying intensity of symptoms that are characterized as follows:
-
Mild intermittent: Symptoms are less than or equal to two per week and less than or equal to
two nighttime awakenings per month.
- The attacks don't last long, and they are alleviated quickly with medication. There are no symptoms between attacks.
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Asthma »
Asthma is a common disorder that accounts for almost 2 million ED visits each year in the United States.
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