Allergic asthma is the most common type of allergy. It affects most of the children and almost half of the adult population. It is caused by allergens - particles that a person inhales with the air. The medical term for this disease is atopic. What is allergic asthma? And how to deal with such an ailment?
Characteristics of pathology
Allergic asthma, the symptoms and treatment of which require detailed study, is characterized by inflammation of the respiratory system. This condition provokes the presence of allergens in the air and food. These respiratory irritants do not harm most people. But the immune system of some organisms reacts abnormally to them.
The disease usually occurs in childhood. From time to time it makes itself felt throughout the entire period of growing up. Sometimes adults are also susceptible to allergic asthma. It is worth noting that the number of people suffering from this disease has been steadily increasing in recent years.
The development of pathology occurs as follows:
- Allergens enter the body withinhaled air or food.
- They irritate the smooth muscle lining of the airways. The latter, in a normal state, is usually relaxed. It lets air through easily.
- When an irritant appears, the immune system reacts to it like a virus. Antibodies begin to be produced to protect the body, which provoke inflammation.
Causes of illness
Provocateurs who are the source of the disease are divided into the following categories:
- Indoor allergens. The culprits of their appearance can be: pets (wool, feathers); cockroaches (scales and excrement); mycelium (fungus and mold); dust mites (their droppings that float in the air with dust).
- Open space allergens. Such provocateurs are caused by the pollen of trees and grasses. Accordingly, the disease develops during flowering. This is usually spring and early summer.
- Food allergens. Most often they are found in products containing antigens similar to plant pollen. These can be eggs, milk, peanuts, shellfish, strawberries, some types of fruit.
The rarest type of allergic asthma is a reaction to food irritants. But at the same time, this form of the disease is accompanied by very strong manifestations, which are impossible to cope with on an outpatient basis. Therefore, to eliminate respiratory failure, the patient is hospitalized. Sometimes allergic asthma triggered by food can be life threatening.
Causespathologies in individual individuals have not been established. It is believed that this is the influence of the genetic predisposition of the organism and ecology.
Predisposing factors
Usually an attack develops very quickly with a pathology such as allergic asthma. Symptoms appear literally within a few minutes after the provocateur enters the body. This is due to the hypersensitivity of the immune system to this type of allergen.
Heredity is also the cause of the development of the disease. According to statistics, if there is an allergic person in the family, then with a probability of 40%, his relatives will experience similar reactions.
The progression of the disease is due to the following reasons:
- respiratory system infections;
- smoking (passive also);
- close contact with allergens;
- long-term medication.
Seizure symptoms
How does allergic asthma manifest itself? Symptoms are usually observed prodromal. Most often they appear in the evening hours.
Signs of the onset of an attack are:
- dry cough;
- runny nose;
- pain in the abdomen.
This is the first stage of the manifestation of the disease. Then allergic asthma begins to progress.
Symptoms in adults are as follows:
- difficult rapid breathing;
- shortness of breath;
- noisy wheezing during breathing;
- pain and tightness in chest area;
- dry cough with a small amount of sputum that gets worse,when a person lies down.
Atopic asthma can also occur in the presence of existing respiratory diseases, such as rhinitis or bronchitis.
Degrees of disease
There are four forms of atopic asthma:
- Intermittent. The disease appears about once a week. At night, attacks occur no more than twice a month.
- Persistent. Manifestations of the disease bother a person more often than once every 7 days. As a result, he can't get enough sleep. Accordingly, its vigorous activity decreases.
- Average. Symptoms of the disease occur every day. This is even more damaging to sleep and the physical condition of the body. At this stage, it is recommended to take the drug "Salbutamol" to prevent further development of the disease.
- Heavy. The constant manifestation of allergic asthma, frequent suffocation, daytime and nighttime attacks make it impossible for a person to live normally.
The most dangerous is status asthmaticus in a progressive form. This is a severe form of a disease known as allergic asthma. Signs of this condition are the constant increase in seizures and an increase in their duration. In this case, emergency medical attention is needed, as a person may faint or even die due to severe difficulty in breathing.
Complications
Allergic asthma usually stops easily. The treatment prescribed by the doctor allows you to stop the development of negativesymptoms.
But sometimes it happens that the attack develops rapidly. As a result of this, quite serious consequences can be observed:
- Sudden cessation of breathing occurs or this process is extremely difficult. The person loses consciousness. This condition can even lead to death.
- Interruption of the breathing process due to obstruction is the cause of respiratory failure. Such a disease is treated in a hospital, using emergency intubation and performing forced ventilation of the lungs. Without such measures, death is possible.
- In the future, rupture of the alveoli of the lungs may occur. But this happens very rarely. This complication requires intubation to remove air from the pleura that prevents expansion of the lungs.
Diagnosis of disease
Define allergic asthma in three steps:
- The doctor finds out everything about the patient's lifestyle. Studying the symptoms of the disease.
- A blood test for immunoglobulins allows you to determine the presence of an ailment.
- Conducting allergy tests to identify a specific provocateur that caused an unpleasant reaction in the body.
How to cure the disease
Everyone wonders if they are diagnosed with allergic asthma, how to treat such an ailment.
In order to successfully fight the disease or at least reduce the number of attacks, it is necessary, if possible, to remove from the environment all objects that areprovocateurs.
The following measures are usually taken:
- Remove all things that can accumulate dust - carpets, blackout curtains.
- Simply needs frequent thorough house cleanings.
- Use mattresses and pillows to be dust-proof.
- Windows are kept closed to prevent outside dust from entering the house.
- Air conditioners are used with replaceable filters.
- Humidity in the house should be no more than 50%. If this indicator is exceeded, a comfortable environment for the development of ticks is created.
If the measures taken do not help to completely get rid of the symptoms of the disease, then medicines are used. But it is important to remember that allergic asthma is not treated on its own. Drugs for treatment should only be recommended by a doctor.
Drug therapy
What medications treat allergic asthma?
Drugs to combat the disease are divided into:
- Inhalation, not producing a therapeutic effect, but simply relieving suffocation. The patient may be recommended drugs "Terbutaline", "Fenoterol", "Berrotek", "Salbutamol".
- Inhalation, providing treatment and anti-inflammatory effect. Effective medicines are Intal, Thailed.
- Inhalation therapeutic. An excellent result will be provided by the preparations "Pulmicort", "Serevent", "Oxys".
- Combined. The patient in therapy includes the drugs "Seretide", "Symbicort".
- Antihistamines. If allergic asthma is mild, treatment may include the use of Zyrtec.
Breathing exercises
The above methods are not the only methods of dealing with such a serious illness. What else is effective in the diagnosis of "allergic asthma" treatment?
Respiratory gymnastics has a good therapeutic effect in the fight against the symptoms of the disease. Special exercises help to alleviate seizures. In addition, such gymnastics is a successful preventive measure to prevent the development of further complications.
Perform breathing exercises should be systematic. Otherwise, their effectiveness will not be complete. Many people, thinking (if they are faced with a diagnosis of "allergic asthma"), how to treat this disease at home, resort to breathing exercises. After all, such a complex allows you to restore he alth. According to the reviews of people and doctors, it is quite effective in the fight against a serious illness.
An approximate set of exercises for the respiratory organs in the treatment of allergic asthma:
- In the morning, without getting out of bed, lie on your back. Draw your knees to the chest area. When performing, take measured exhalations with your mouth.
- Take a standing position. Legs - shoulder width apart. Take a deep breath while extending your arms to the sides at shoulder level. Then exhale sharply through your mouth, lower your arms along the body, slapping them on your hips.
- Taking slow steps onplace. At the first step, raise your arms to the sides. Inhale slowly. Taking the second step - exhale with noise, lowering your hands.
- Starting position - sitting on the floor. Stretch your legs forward. Inhaling through your mouth, raise your arms to the sides. Then return the upper limbs to their original position. At the same time, slowly exhale through your mouth and pronounce the sound “F” with slightly parted lips.
- Stand with hands on waist. Inhale slowly. At the same time, stick out your stomach. Then take a sharp breath. The stomach should be pulled in with force. When performing this exercise, the person should breathe through the nose.
- Inhale air through a straw. Then lower it into a container of water and exhale. Exercise to do during the day, the duration of one session is 10 minutes.
- Position - standing. Get up on your toes. Take your arms raised up a little back. Interlace your fingers. Then sharply lower on the entire foot, leaning forward. At the same time, lower your interlaced hands as if you are chopping firewood. Be sure to take a deep breath.
- Take a standing position. Legs - shoulder width apart. Raise your hands, pulling back a little. Open your palms as if trying to push something away. Then abruptly move your hands, hugging yourself and making a clap on the shoulder blades. At this point, take a deep breath and tighten your chest.
- Exercise "Skier" is performed while standing. You need to spread your legs a little. Stand on your toes, leaning forward and stretching out your hands, clenched into fists. The pose is reminiscent of a skier descending a mountain. Then stand on a full foot and, exhaling, sit down. Hands alternately lower and take back. It is necessary to imitate the movements of ski poles. When returning to the starting position, take a deep breath.
- Lying on your back, put your hands under the buttocks. While exhaling slowly, draw in your belly. Then inhale with force. Stick out your belly.
- Standing on your toes, raise your arms to the sides. Move them up and arch back. Then stand on your feet, leaning forward and rounding your back. Take a deep breath. At this time, you should hug yourself with your hands.
- Inhale through the nose intermittently. Exhale through your mouth, clenching your teeth. At the same time, pronounce "З" or "Ж".
- I. p. - standing, hands at the seams. Raise your shoulders slowly, counting to four. Then exhale strongly, lowering them just as slowly.
- In a standing position, bend your arms a little. Take a deep breath, spreading the upper limbs to the sides. Then the hands need to be brought together, while drawing in the stomach. Exhale while making the sound "Sh".
- Exercise "Balls". Light enough. It is necessary to inflate the balloons until they burst. Repeat the procedure throughout the day. It is recommended to inflate up to three balloons per day.
Allergic asthma is a fairly severe and serious illness. However, even with such a pathology, you can learn to cope. To do this, you should strictly follow the recommendations of doctors, exclude allergens from your life and do breathing exercises. At the same time, one should not forget that only regular methods of struggle will bring the long-awaited result.
