What causes asthma?

What Is Asthma?

Upwards of 78% of people with asthma have allergic rhinitis. Asthma is defined as chronic airway inflammation, resulting in airway swelling and narrowing and subsequent recurring episodes of coughing, wheezing, chest tightness, and breathlessness. It can be brought upon by, not surprisingly, an allergen.
But importantly, there are other factors, non-allergic causes, which can cause asthma, that I do want to mention for completeness's sake. These include:
•   Exercise
•   Respiratory tract infections
•   Cold or dry air
•   Sensitivity to medications
•   Hormonal changes (such as those during pregnancy)
•   Smoke
•   Stress and anxiety
Overall, asthma triggered by an allergic reaction, to things like the environmental allergens I mentioned before, is termed extrinsic asthma. This is in contrast to intrinsic asthma, which is asthma triggered by non-allergic components, like the things I just mentioned: the cold air, exercise, respiratory infections, and so forth.
Asthma affects between five and ten percent of the U.S population. It is more frequently found in children than adults and results in about 2 million emergency room visits every year. So, it's no small problem!

Treating Allergies and Asthma

There is no cure for asthma, and many allergies are also difficult to control. This doesn't mean a person with either or both cannot live a good life; there just has to be appropriate treatment strategies employed to guarantee the highest quality of life possible.

The most obvious thing that anyone can do is to avoid the allergen that is triggering their asthma problem. Of course, this isn't always possible as a result of the person's environment or personal choices, like not wanting to give up a favorite pet.

Therefore, allergy medication, such as antihistamines and corticosteroids, can be used. These two types of medications tell your immune system to calm down. It's like giving an anxiety medication to a person who is overly terrified of certain animals, bugs, or social situations. Except in this instance, we're giving a pill to our immune system to relax it a little bit.

There are medications we can give beyond this, of course, such as nasal decongestants to try and help mitigate the allergic rhinitis. Decongestants help to relieve all that swelling by basically turning off the faucet to the area that is swelling up with fluid. Meaning, the blood vessels there are forced to constrict and close by this medication so that fluid doesn't leak out into the surrounding tissues as a result of the allergic reaction.