What is Asthma?

What is Asthma?

Asthma is a disease that affects the lungs and the airways that deliver air to the lungs. Asthma causes periodic attacks of wheezing and difficult breathing. Periodic attacks are caused by an oversensitivity of the lungs and airways, which overreact to certain "triggers" and become inflamed and clogged.

Asthma is Greek for "panting". Asthmatics pant during an asthma attack because their air passages, which start in the throat and end in the lungs, become narrowed and sometimes almost completely obstructed.

Asthma is very common. Asthma is called a Reactive Airway Disease.

When does Asthma Develop?

Asthma can develop at any age. An asthma attack occurs when the airways become inflamed in response to a trigger, such as dust, mold, pets, exercise, or cold weather. However, some attacks start for no apparent reason. Triggers may inflame the airways to the lungs, allowing disease-fighting cells to accumulate and causing swelling in the lungs. In addition, the airways may become blocked or obstructed when the muscles surrounding the lungs tighten or go into spasm. Spasms keeps air from circulating freely in the lungs. Mucus may also cause an asthma attack. Mucus may clog and narrow the airways in the lungs, making breathing even more difficult.

Symptoms of Asthma?

The most obvious signs of an asthma attack are cough, wheezing, shortness of breath, tightness in the chest and tachypnea (fast breathing). During an asthma attack, the airways of the lung undergo a number of changes, including Inflammation, bronchospasm, and increased mucus production.

Triggers of Asthma?

Triggers irritate the airways and result in bronchoconstriction (constriction of the air passages in the lungs). Triggers do not cause inflammation and therefore do not cause asthma. Symptoms and constriction of vessels in the lungs caused by triggers tend to be immediate, short-lived, and rapidly reversible. Air passages will react more quickly to triggers if inflammation is already present in the airways. Common triggers of constriction of the air passages include everyday stimuli such as: Cold air, Dust, Strong fumes, Exercise, Inhaled irritants, Emotional upsets and Smoke.

Smoke acts as a very strong trigger. Second-hand smoke has been shown to aggravate asthma symptoms, especially in children. The effects of one cigarette lingers for 7 days. Asthma attacks can be mild, moderate, or severe, and can last for a few minutes, a few hours, or several days. Attacks can occur anywhere and at any time. Many attacks occur at night. Sometimes, there are warning signs that an attack is about to happen, but sometimes there aren't.

What causes Asthma?

Asthma has been identified as an atopic disease. This is the result of certain inherited genetic features that cause the immune system to respond to otherwise innocuous proteins as if they were dangerous invaders.

Jobs can cause asthma...Read a CNN article about jobs and asthma

Can Asthma be Cured?

Currently, asthma is not curable, but it can be well-managed.

What does an asthma attack feel like?

An asthma episode feels similar to taking deep breaths of very cold air on a winter day. Breathing becomes harder and may hurt, and there may be coughing. Breathing often makes a wheezing or whistling sound. These whistling and wheezing occurs because the airways of the lungs are getting narrower.

When smoke gets in your eyes

When smoke gets in your eyes !!!

An approximate amount of 4000 chemicals present in cigarette smoke gets into the bloodstream of smokers and may cause damage to the eyes     Cigarette smoke can even cause thinning of the membrane covering the eye (Conjunctiva) resulting in a bloodspot and irritation to the eyes.     Age related macular degeneration and other diseases have also been linked to smoking. The causes of macular degeneration are not completely understood but smoking is believed to be the main preventable risk factor. Smoking is directly linked to the rising of intracular pressure that can lead to Glaucoma and optic nerve damage. Although smoking is associated with several eye diseases, the most common cause of smoking-related blindness is age related macular degeneration which results in severe irreversible loss of central vision. How does smoking damage the eyes? Thousands of chemicals get into the bloodstream when you inhale cigarette smoke, which travels throughout the body. These chemicals cause damage to the Macula. Tiny blood vessels can burst throughout the macula leading to irreversible damage or alternatively the cells of the macula slowly die. Both ultimately lead to loss of vision. UV PROTECTION Exposure to UV radiation can harm your eyes and affect your vision as well.     There are three types of UV radiation. One type called UV-C is absorbed by the ozone layer and does not present any threat. More and more scientific evidence indicates that exposure to both UV-A and UV-B can have adverse effects on your eyes and vision.     If you are exposed and unprotected to excessive amounts of UV radiation over a short period of time, you are likely to experience an effect called Photokeratitis, like ‘sunburn of the eye’. Extreme sensitivity to light and excessive tearing may be noticed. Fortunately, this is usually temporary and rarely causes permanent damage to the eyes. Long term exposure to UV rays can definitely be hazardous.

How is diabetes diagnosed?

The fasting blood glucose (sugar) test is the preferred way to diagnose diabetes. It is easy to perform and convenient. After the person has fasted overnight (at least 8 hours), a single sample of blood is drawn and sent to the laboratory for analysis.

This can also be done accurately in a doctor's office using a glucose meter.

* Normal fasting plasma glucose levels are less than 100 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dl).
* Fasting plasma glucose levels of more than 126 mg/dl on two or more tests on different days indicate diabetes.
* A random blood glucose test can also be used to diagnose diabetes. A blood glucose level of 200 mg/dl or higher indicates diabetes.

When fasting blood glucose stays above 100mg/dl, but in the range of 100-126mg/dl, this is known as impaired fasting glucose (IFG). While patients with IFG do not have the diagnosis of diabetes, this condition carries with it its own risks and concerns, and is addressed elsewhere.

The oral glucose tolerance test

Though not routinely used anymore, the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) is a gold standard for making the diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. It is still commonly used for diagnosing gestational diabetes and in conditions of pre-diabetes, such as polycystic ovary syndrome. With an oral glucose tolerance test, the person fasts overnight (at least eight but not more than 16 hours). Then first, the fasting plasma glucose is tested. After this test, the person receives 75 grams of glucose (100 grams for pregnant women). There are several methods employed by obstetricians to do this test, but the one described here is standard. Usually, the glucose is in a sweet-tasting liquid that the person drinks. Blood samples are taken at specific intervals to measure the blood glucose.

For the test to give reliable results:

# the person must be in good health (not have any other illnesses, not even a cold).
# the person should be normally active (not lying down, for example, as an inpatient in a hospital), and
# the person should not be taking medicines that could affect the blood glucose.
# For three days before the test, the person should have eaten a diet high in carbohydrates (200-300 grams per day).
# The morning of the test, the person should not smoke or drink coffee.

The classic oral glucose tolerance test measures blood glucose levels five times over a period of three hours. Some physicians simply get a baseline blood sample followed by a sample two hours after drinking the glucose solution. In a person without diabetes, the glucose levels rise and then fall quickly. In someone with diabetes, glucose levels rise higher than normal and fail to come back down as fast.

People with glucose levels between normal and diabetic have impaired glucose tolerance (IGT). People with impaired glucose tolerance do not have diabetes, but are at high risk for progressing to diabetes. Each year, 1%-5% of people whose test results show impaired glucose tolerance actually eventually develop diabetes. Weight loss and exercise may help people with impaired glucose tolerance return their glucose levels to normal. In addition, some physicians advocate the use of medications, such as metformin (Glucophage), to help prevent/delay the onset of overt diabetes.

Recent studies have shown that impaired glucose tolerance itself may be a risk factor for the development of heart disease. In the medical community, most physicians are now understanding that impaired glucose tolerance is nor simply a precursor of diabetes, but is its own clinical disease entity that requires treatment and monitoring.

Evaluating the results of the oral glucose tolerance test

* Normal response: A person is said to have a normal response when the 2-hour glucose level is less than 140 mg/dl, and all values between 0 and 2 hours are less than 200 mg/dl.
* Impaired glucose tolerance: A person is said to have impaired glucose tolerance when the fasting plasma glucose is less than 126 mg/dl and the 2-hour glucose level is between 140 and 199 mg/dl.
* Diabetes: A person has diabetes when two diagnostic tests done on different days show that the blood glucose level is high.
* Gestational diabetes: A woman has gestational diabetes when she has any two of the following: a 100g OGTT, a fasting plasma glucose of more than 95 mg/dl, a 1-hour glucose level of more than 180 mg/dl, a 2-hour glucose level of more than 155 mg/dl, or a 3-hour glucose level of more than 140 mg/dl.