Family Doctor 2007 - (Page 82) common conditions ASTHMA Most cases of asthma are diagnosed during childhood. Waiting to exhale You can’t catch your breath. Your chest tightens, and you wheeze. You may be among 20 million Americans suffering from asthma. But what causes this chronic disorder — and how can you breathe normally again? By Richard Robinson probably experienced the shortness tightness of and breath, excess coughing, wheezing, chest mucus that mark a disorder in which the tissues lining the airways become swollen and inflamed. Not all asthma sufferers needs to know ■ Do you sometimes H 82 familydoctor 2007 ow often do you think about breathing? Most of us never worry about our next breath. Will it follow effortlessly? Will it come at all? It’s so predictable we don’t think about it. have all these symptoms at all times. But 70% of them experience shortness of breath? ■ Do you cough, wheeze and feel tightness in your chest? ■ Do you cough up excess mucus? ■ Do any family members have asthma? also have allergies. Not surprising since the same allergens — substances such as mold or animal dander — that trigger allergic reactions can trigger asthmatic attacks. But if you have asthma, a chronic problem with airflow in and out of the lungs, you don’t take breathing for granted. You’ve
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.