Asthma is a condition of the bronchial tubes characterized by
episodes of constriction and increased mucous production. A person with asthma has bronchial tubes that are super sensitive to various stimuli, or triggers, that can produce asthma symptom. In other words, asthmatics have special sensitivity that causes their lung tissue to react far more than is should to various stimulating factors or triggers. For this reason, people with asthma are said to have "twitchy airways." Some symptoms that people with asthma commonly experience are chest tightenings, difficulty inhaling and exhaling, wheezing, production of large amounts of mucous in their windpipes and coughing. Coughing can be frequent or intermittent, and can be loosereflecting extra mucous secretion in the airways or dry and deepreflecting tight bronchospasms. Not all these symptoms occur in every case of asthma. Sometimes people may have coughing without and symptoms for months or even years before it's realized that they are asthmatic. Interestingly enough, asthma symptoms are most severe at night, while we're lying down our airways narrow as a result of gravity changes. Also our lungs do not clear secretions as well at night, which leads to mucous retention, and that can increase the obstruction to air flow. Furthermore, at night our bodies produce smaller amounts of certain chemical that help to decrease airway spasms and keep airway tubes open. All of these factors add up to a greater chance of symptoms worsening at night. Asthma is an extremely important disease to learn about for several reasons. It is common, affecting young and old. Its prevalence is increasing too. It can lead to a terrible quality of life, and can kill. In addition, it has an extremely interesting pathophysiology that
highlights an incredible degree of interplay of many different factors,
and a great deal of what a theist like myself would regard as incredible intelligent design. All of these make it one of the most interesting diseases to discuss; it is a great cause of reflection.
The Complete Asthma Guide: An Asthma book for adults and children, that teaches how to be asthma free naturally with the right therapeutic diets, medications & alternative herbal therapies