Know About Asthma Symptoms And 6 Major Types Of Asthma Attack

What is asthma attack?

Your airways may narrow, swell, and produce extra mucus if you face asthma attack. This may make breathing challenging and cause coughing, wheezing when you exhale, and shortness of breath. Repeated episodes of coughing, breathlessness, chest tightness, and wheezing are also brought on by it. Your lungs contain a large number of tiny airways that assist in transferring oxygen from the surrounding air to your bloodstream. When the muscles surrounding your airways tighten and the lining of your airways swells, symptoms of asthma develop. The amount of air that can pass through is then further diminished as mucus fills the airways.

Let’s talk about the symptoms of asthma:

Your airways become smaller or narrower as a result of the swelling, obstruction, and muscle tightening. Your airways have a harder time moving air through them easily, which makes breathing more difficult. An asthma episode, flare-up, or attack is the result of these symptoms. It might occur at any time. Wheezing is the most typical asthmatic symptom. You may hear a whistling or squealing sound when you breathe.

• Coughing, especially at night, when laughing, or during physical activity
• Difficulty speaking
• Anxiety or panic fatigue
• Tightness in the chest
• Rapid breathing
• Chest pain
• Repeated infections
• Strong Perfumes

Asthma attack symptoms can intensify under certain conditions:

• Workout asthma, which could get worse in cold and dry weather
• Asthma brought on by irritants in the workplace, such as chemical fumes, gases, or dust
• Asthma brought on by allergies, brought on by airborne allergens like pollen, mold spores, cockroach waste, or skin and dried saliva shed by animals.

What are the main causes of asthma attack and allergy?

Each individual has different asthma triggers. Some people react to many, while others only to a small number. Keep a record of the factors or triggers that you know cause your asthma if you suffer from it. This may require some investigation because the symptoms don’t always appear right away after exposure. Asthma can be triggered by allergens, substances that cause allergies. You might experience asthma symptoms if you inhale something to which you are allergic. The following are typical factors that cause allergic asthma:

• Genetic Factor: Particularly if one of their parents has allergies, some people are more likely to develop allergies than others. People who develop asthma are more likely to have certain allergic conditions, such as (eczema) or allergic rhinitis.
• Overweight: obese children and adults are more likely to develop asthma. Although the causes are unknown, some experts believe that excess weight causes low-grade inflammation in the body. Obese patients frequently use more medications, have worse symptoms, and are less able to control their asthma than healthy-weight patients.
• Chemical Infection: Some people, exposure to specific dusts, chemical fumes, and molds can result in the first-ever onset of asthma.
• Pollution: Asthma risk is increased by exposure to ozone, which is the primary cause of smog. Urban dwellers and those who grew up there are more likely to develop asthma.
• Exercise and other activities that cause you to breathe more deeply can aggravate your asthma. Exercise, especially in cold weather, is a common asthma trigger. Exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB) is a type of asthma brought on by physical activity. Exercise-induced asthma is another name for it (EIA).

Are children affected by asthma problem?

The most common chronic (long-term) illness in children is asthma. More than 7 million kids in the US are impacted by it. The rate is consistently rising for unidentified reasons. Although asthma symptoms can appear at any age, they typically appear in children by the age of five.

Different types of allergic asthma:

Allergic Asthma

Your diet, the products you use, and even how you breathe can all be impacted by allergies. Allergy-related asthma is a breathing disorder that results from allergies. The condition known as allergic asthma causes your airways to constrict when you inhale an allergen. Attacks of allergic asthma are brought on by the inhalation of allergens, which set off an allergic reaction. Allergens are harmful substances that cause an incorrect adverse immune response in the body. Lung disease called asthma damages your airways by making them:

• Become inflamed or swollen, particularly in the linings of the airways.
• Produce a lot of thicker-than-normal mucus in excess.
• Tightening of the muscles around the airways.

Aspirin-Induced Asthma

When aspirin or other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are taken, a condition known as aspirin-induced asthma (AIA) may occur. People with severe adult-onset asthma who also have chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps are more likely to develop AIA. Although it’s uncommon in kids, it can happen. In contrast to an allergic reaction to aspirin, aspirin-induced asthma is a hypersensitivity reaction. If you have all three of these ailments, you might be more susceptible to AIA:

• Nasal polyps
• Chronic sinusitis
• Asthma

Nighttime Asthma

A chronic lung disease that affects people of all ages is asthma. Those who have nocturnal asthma experience nighttime asthma symptoms, which may interfere with their sleep. The term “nocturnal asthma” refers to asthma symptoms that get worse at night. The effectiveness of sleep may suffer as a result. When nocturnal asthma first appears, a person may already have severe asthma or have trouble controlling their symptoms. They might have more sensitive airways and deteriorating lung function.

• Coughing
• Wheezing
• Shortness of breath drowsiness during the day
• Lack of focus exacerbated asthma symptoms during the day.

Cough Variant Asthma

The primary symptom of the type of asthma known as cough-variant asthma is a dry, unproductive cough. One of the most frequent causes of chronic cough, which is defined as a cough that lasts longer than 6–8 weeks, is cough-variant asthma. Asthma coughing can happen both during the day and at night. Cough-variant asthma can strike anyone at any time, but it’s most common in young children with childhood asthma. The symptoms of “classic” asthma, which include wheezing and shortness of breath, can arise from cough-variant asthma. People may begin coughing after being exposed to allergens or after breathing in cold air.

Occupational Asthma

Workplace allergen or sensitizing agent exposure can cause or exacerbate occupational asthma symptoms. A particular kind of airway issue is occupational asthma.  Typical symptoms may include:

• Chest tightness, pain or pressure
• Coughing
• Shortness of breath
• Wheezing

Occupational asthma can occur in anyone who is exposed to common irritants for an extended period of time. When you work in an environment where you are exposed to things that irritate your airways, you may develop occupational asthma.

• Employees of grain elevators, or millers.
• Healthcare professionals who breathe in chemical or latex glove powder.
• Personnel who work with animals in laboratories.
• Workers in the pharmaceutical industry who are exposed to drug particles in the air.
• Occupations involving maintenance or cleaning that expose workers to cleaning product chemicals.
• Individuals who work with wood, plastic, or metal

Exercise Induced Asthma

Exercise-induced asthma is a lung airway narrowing condition brought on by vigorous exercise. Symptoms of asthma brought on by exercise, including wheezing, breathlessness, coughing, and tightness in the chest. Most people with exercise-induced asthma are able to keep up their activity levels by taking medications to treat their symptoms. Signs and symptoms can include:

• Coughing
• Wheezing
• Shortness of breath
• Chest tightness or pain
• Fatigue during exercise
• Poorer than expected athletic performance

How is asthma diagnosed?

The primary test used to identify asthma is:

• Spirometer is a test where you blow into a machine to measure how quickly you can exhale and how much air you can hold in your lungs.
• Allergy testing, which can determine if any allergens are negatively affecting your breathing
• The FeNO test measures the amount of nitric oxide in your breath, which is a sign of lung inflammation.
• Peak flow test: You exhale into a portable device that records how quickly you can breathe out. You may repeat this procedure several times over a few weeks to see if your peak flow rate changes.
• After receiving an asthma diagnosis, you might also undergo an allergy test or a chest X-ray to determine whether your symptoms could be brought on by an allergy.