Adult Onset Asthma: The Unknown Causes

Adult Onset Asthma can appear at the most unexpected times. It doesn't matter if you are 20 years old or you've never had asthma before, if you're having shorter breath, swelling airway lining, frequent coughing, wheezing, and these irritating chest pains? You might be having asthma. The difference between adult onset asthma and childhood asthma is that while the symptoms of childhood asthma may come and go, the symptoms of adult onset asthma may be continuous which may require regular medication to manage the disease. This article deals with all the necessary things that you should know about asthma.

People who have the likelihood of getting this kind of disease include women who are having hormonal changes like pregnant women and women undergoing menopause. It also includes women taking estrogen following menopause, people who just had colds or flu, obese people. People with allergies also develop asthma such as cat allergy, and people who are constantly exposed to environmental irritants like tobacco, smoke, mold, dust, feather beds and perfumes which can work as triggers of this disease. This are causes that we usually ignore when we are adults. We always think that they cause little to our health but in fact it does cause serious consequences especially with the occurrence of it.

The Value of Asthma Education

Knowing its symptoms is necessary in order to prevent damage. Symptoms have to be known for a more effective treatment. The lung airways have to be regularly checked and observed so that medication can adjust to the levels of changes of lung airways activity. Adult onset asthma may cause the lung airway linings to swell, increase the production of large amount of mucus which might be thicker than the normal production, cause the narrowing of lung airway due to muscle contraction.

These physiological changes may cause the shortness of breath, frequent coughing especially at night, a whistling noise while breathing, difficulty in breathing itself and frequent chest pains. Asthma can be diagnosed by taking a medical history since it can be genetically acquired, having the doctor listen to you breathe, performing a lung function test, performing a methacholine challenge test, and having the doctor see the chest X-ray result. Learning about this disease assures you that you won't be doing the wrong things.

Adult onset asthma can be deadly in severe cases. It is indeed important to keep track of the symptoms and have your physician create a care plan called the asthma action plan. Based on your history and the severity of your disease, the action plan can be entrenched from it's characteristics. Your asthma action plan describes your medications- when and how you're going to use them, the procedures that should be executed when your asthma abruptly worsen, and gives you necessary information regarding when and to whom you're going to seek care during emergency. Make sure that you understood your plan and don't forget to ask questions from your trusted asthma care provider. Although this may sound cliche but remember it's true: health is wealth.