Understanding the concept of asthma attacks

‘It’s like an elephant sitting on my chest’, ‘feeling breathless’, ‘it is as if I need to force air in’, ‘my chest tightens up to an extent I feel jailed in my own body’ – these are some of the ‘feelings’ narrated by asthmatic patients.
While for some people, asthma is just a minor nuisance, for others it can be severe enough to interfere with daily activities and may eventually lead to a life-threatening attack requiring immediate medical attention.
In normal circumstances, the airways allow air to come in and out of the lungs. What happens during an asthma attack, is that the airway gets inflamed, leading to obstruction of the airflow to the lungs. The condition occurs in people of all ages but usually starts during childhood.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), asthma is the most common chronic disease among children. The episodes may occur few times a day or few times a week.  
The organisation further quotes, the condition affects a massive 235 million people worldwide and caused more than 330,000 deaths in 2015. the health centers and many more.

Causes
There are different causes of asthma, the most common one associated with a pregnant mother. According to asthma.co.uk, a child is more likely to develop asthma if he/she was born prematurely, had a low birth weight or if the mother smoked during her pregnancy.
Having a family history of asthma also increase the chance of a person developing the condition.
Asthma attacks are usually sudden and spontaneous and can be very dangerous if you don’t have medication near you. An asthma attack can be triggered by a variety of factors including environmental factors and certain medication as well.
Environmental factors include exposure to dust, allergens and low air quality due to traffic pollution. Certain medication such as aspirin and paracetamol may also trigger asthma attacks.
Other causes include certain antibiotics, perfumes, stress, emotional excitement, smoking and certain medical conditions like eczema, bronchiolitis and hay fever.
 
Signs
The signs of an asthma attack are quite evident in the patient during the attack.
A mild asthma attack is characterised by recurrent episodes of breathlessness, coughing, chest tightness and wheezing.
The symptoms usually become worse at night and in the early morning hours and usually occur in response to certain triggers like cold air, dust or exercise.
In a life-threatening asthma attack, the patient will have an altered level of consciousness, which usually includes drowsiness, confusion, exhaustion and even loss of consciousness.
There should be prompt and immediate action taken in this case and it should be handled like a medical emergency.
Any delay in caring for a patient with a life-threatening attack may easily lead to the death of that patient.

Prevention
As with any medical condition, the best advice would be prevention is better than cure.
Asthma doesn’t have any cure but you can take certain measures to prevent developing the condition.
The WHO recommends decreasing risk factors of asthma which include:
• Polluted air
• Tobacco smoke
• Pets
• Certain medication like aspirin
•Respiratory infections

Yoga has been shown to reduce symptoms in asthma patients. For those who have already developed the condition, certain medication can be used to reduce symptoms and prevent attacks.
Since it is a chronic condition, the patient might have to be on medication for a very long time and might even potentially be advised to take the drugs for the rest of his or her life.
However, these medication must always be prescribed by a qualified medical professional and should never be self-prescribed.
 Consider leading a healthy lifestyle consisting of a balanced diet, regular exercise and enough sleep.

The author is a student at the Hubert Kairuki Memorial Hospital.