What is asthma? How does asthma affect people?

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Asthma

What is asthma?

It is a chronic lung disease that affects a person’s breathing by restricting oxygen supply to the lungs. Let me explain in more depth. During normal breathing oxygen goes into the wine pipe (trachea), travels through the bronchioles and then into the air sacks (alveoli), where the gases change into carbon dioxide and are breathed out.

It is difficult for an asthmatic to breathe especially when the symptoms are active, because of the mucus and inflammation that is build up in the lungs. The mucus and inflammation can be caused by a number of factors, such as allergies, exercises and pollen, which irritate the airways and leads to an attack.

We do not have difficulty breathing all the time (every single day of the year), it varies from time to time and, also, there are factors that can worsen the condition. Thereby, there are people with different degree of the illness.

Some people can manage their illness a lot better than others. All depends on how you take care of your condition and what forms of treatment you use.

The disease can be passed on to children from family members genetically. So if it runs in one or both of your families,especially your parents, then it is very likely that you carry the gene, but it does not necessarily mean that you will have it.

You can get it at any stage in your life. For instance, my co-worker was diagnosed a month ago and she is in her early thirties. Adults can get the disease by pet fur or cockroaches.

There is no cure for it, but if you take the right precautions you can live a normal healthy life. In some cases the condition can get better as you grow older.