Bronchial Asthma
What is bronchial- asthma?
Bronchial asthma is chronic disease of the lungs in which air ways of the lungs are inflamed and also characterized by recurrent episodes of reversible airways obstruction and broncho spasm which leads to wheezing , shortness of breath ,chest tightness and coughing .
There is no age bar for it but more than 50 % cases are noticed in children of less than 10-12 yrs of age.
mast cells, T- lymphocytes and eosinophils in human body are responsible for asthma And these cells are responsible for inflammation of the airways , hyper-responsive and air flow limitation due to these cells asthma and allergies are closely linked.
Acute severe asthma can be life threatening and the disease causes significant morbidity so it is imperative to treat this energetically.
Causes of bronchial -asthma:
Asthma is caused by swelling in the airways when an asthma attack occurs the lining of the air passages swells and muscles surrounding the airways become tight .this reduces the amount of air that can pass through the air way .
The causes of asthma are listed as under :
- Allergies
- Genetic factors : it is seen that children of asthmatic parents have much higher chance Of asthma.
- Environmental factors : such as dust, mites , pollen ,pet dander ,feather are known as allergen since they start the allergic reactions in asthma .
- Seasonal infections like cold, flu , pneumonia .
- Air pollution and toxins.
- Extreme changes in temperature.
- Food addictives like MSG and flavor enhancers.
- Certain drugs like aspirin, NSAID , and beta blockers .
- Emotional stress and anxiety.
- Hyperactivities like exercise, dancing, singing.
- Perfumes or sprays.
Sign and symptoms:
- Shortness of breath or breathlessness even when talking, laughing or walking a little.
- Tightness of chest
- Wheezing (whistling sound from chest, mostly when you lie down)
- Coughing and sometimes excessive cough which keeps one awake at night.
- Bluish discolouration of lips and face with nasal flaring in severe cases .
Complications of asthma:
Badly controlled asthma can lead to pneumonia , collapse of lung, status asthmatics [asthma stops responding to treatment], in severe cases asthma may lead to respiratory failure.
Apart from pathological changes bad asthma can be responsible for under performance from work, stress, anxiety, depression…fatigue.
Dos and don’ts of asthma:
- Stop smoking if you smoke as it aggravates the symptoms .
- Keep the house clean and maintain the proper hygiene a vacum cleaner can be the best option to keep the house allergen free .
- Avoid food that have artificial flavors and colors which triggers the attack .
- A face mask can be used to prevent allergens entering in respiratory system .
- Sit upright during attack and can take warm water during attack.
- Avoid excessive cold –drinks and food .
- Include some deep breathing exercise in your daily routine such as blowing a balloon.
Few effective medicines for asthma :
Arsenicum album:
Ars alb is one of the deep acting and great medicine for asthma , this is given to the patients who complains of extreme difficulty in breathing due to fear of suffocation he is unable to lie down; Patient complains of wheezing and whistling while breathing ; expectoration is very less . this medicine is choosen when asthma is chronic and breathlessness dry and patient is aged
Asthma is more worse from taking any thing cold ,cold season ,mid summer and better from sitting and lying head elevated low.
Asthma is periodic in nature aggravated mostly in midnight ; every fortnight or every year.
Ars alb is given to the patients who show extreme anxiety ,nervous, and restless attitude along with above symptoms .
Natrum sulph:
This medicines has cured great no of asthma cases ; this suits to the cases where complaints arises due to living in damp houses, basements , patients can not eat even plants growing near water nor fish.
This medicine shows great results in children . Nat sulph is given when every fresh cold or unusual exertion brings on an attack of asthma with desire to take deep and long breath and holding the chest during attack.
Asthma is more early morning[4-5 am] ,with loose and violent cough ; better from sitting and changing the position and warm open air .
Antimonium tart:
This is one of the important medicines in asthmatic patients where there is presence of fine mucous rales through out the chest ; patients complains as if their chest is full of mucus but they are unable to expectorate it .
There is great dysponea , the patient must sit up and patient feel suffocative attacks at about 3 o clock in the morning .
For this medicine patients give a peculiar sensation that they can not get enough air to breath this is very characteristic of ant tart.
This medicines shows great results in asthmatic attacks of aged and dysponea in children due to lung diseases.
Kali carb :
This is one of the wonderful medicines for asthma ..as this salt is known to cure weakness of the muscles of many organs including lungs.
Kali carb is given in cases when asthma is worse on least motion and walking and choking cough with sharp, cutting ,stitching pain in chest ,expectoration is difficult and small round ball fly from mouth without effort.
Kali carb patient is very sensitive to atmospheric changes , to every draught of air in kali carb patients asthma is worse in winters ,early morning, lying on painful side or left side and better from warm open air.
Medorrhinum :
This is great deep acting medicine for the asthmatic patients who have this disease runs in their family, Medo shows great results in childhood asthma .
Medo Is given to the patients who have asthma alternates with rheumatic pain.
In medo asthma gets worse in cold damp weather, early morning [ 3-4am],close room; better when patients lying on abdomen and face with protruding tongue, open air .
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