Asthma varies a great deal from one person to another. Symptoms can range from mild to moderate to severe and can be life threatening. The episodes can come only occasionally or often. The symptoms of asthma are a major cause of time lost from school and work and sleep disturbances. However, with proper treatment these symptoms can almost always be controlled.

Asthma cannot be cured, but it can be controlled with proper treatment. People with asthma can use medicine prescribed by their doctor to prevent or relieve their symptoms, and they can learn ways to manage episodes.

They also can learn to identify and avoid the things that trigger an episode. By educating themselves about medications and other asthma management strategies, most people with asthma can gain control of the disease and live an active life.

What causes asthma?

The basic cause of the lung abnormality in asthma is not yet known. Through research, scientists have established that this lung abnormality is a special type of inflammation of the airway that leads to contraction of airway muscle, mucus production, and swelling in the airways.

The airways become “twitchy,” overly responsive to environmental changes. This results in wheezing and coughing. Some researchers think that the wheezing and coughing may be set off by an abnormal reaction of sensory nerves in part of the overall inflammation reaction.

A variety of known triggers can set off an asthma episode. They include:

Allergens (substances to which some people are allergic) such as pollens, foods, dust, mold, feathers, or animal dander (small scales from animal hair or feathers);

Irritants in the air such as dirt, cigarette smoke, gases and odors;

Respiratory infections such as colds, flu, sore throats, and bronchitis;

Too much exertion such as running upstairs too fast or carrying heavy loads;

Emotional stress such as excessive fear or excitement;

Weather such as very cold air, windy weather, or sudden changes in the weather;

Medication such as aspirin or related drugs and some drugs used to treat glaucoma and high blood pressure.

Each person with asthma reacts to a different set of triggers. Identifying one’s own triggers is a major step towards learning to control asthma attacks. Although episodes can sometimes be brought on by strong emotions, it is important to know that asthma is not caused by emotional factors such as a troubled parent-child relationship.

Some people believe that asthma is “all in one’s head” and therefore not a “real” illness. That could not be further from the truth. Asthma is a disease, not a psychosomatic illness or a sign of emotional disturbance.

Who gets asthma?

Asthma has been diagnosed in nearly 10 million Americans; of these 3 million are children under the age of 18. About the same number of men and women have asthma. Slightly, a higher percent of blacks have asthma than whites; 4.4 percent of American blacks have asthma, while 4.0 percent of American whites have the disease. The reported number of cases of asthma is increasing. This increase is occurring in all age, race, and sex groups.

How is asthma diagnosed?

Asthma is sometimes hard to diagnose because it can resemble other respiratory problems such as emphysema, bronchitis, and lower respiratory infections. For that reason, it is under-diagnosed; many people with the disease do not know they have it; and therefore are under-treated. Sometimes the only symptom is a chronic cough, especially at night. Or, coughing or wheezing may occur only with exercise. Some people think they have recurrent bronchitis, since respiratory infections usually settle in the chest in a person predisposed to asthma.

To diagnose asthma and distinguish it from other lung disorders, physicians rely on a combination of a medical history, a thorough physical examination, and certain laboratory tests. These tests include spirometry (using an instrument that measures the air taken into and out of the lungs), peak flow monitoring (another measure of lung function), chest X-rays, and sometimes blood and allergy tests.

Is there any warning of an asthma episode?

Usually, certain signs occur hours or days before audible wheezing or before an episode is fully in progress. These early signs vary a great deal among individuals. Some people have an itchy chin or throat or a dry mouth. Others may feel very tired or grouchy. Common warning signs include light wheezing or coughing pain or a tight feeling in the chest, shortness of breath, or restlessness. Becoming aware of these signals helps patients use self-management techniques as soon as possible. This early action may ward off a severe episode.

To sum up, here are a few general guidelines that may help prevent or lessen episodes:

Identify and avoid personal asthma triggers. However, if exercise is a trigger, consider medication before exercise.

Take prescribed medicines on time, in the correct way, and in the correct dose.

Recognize early warning signs of asthma.

Take peak flow meter readings to monitor lung function.

Take action when warning signs occur.

Have a personal plan for managing attacks, worked out with a physician.

Try to stay calm if an episode may be coming on and know what to do, and do it.

Do not wait too long to get a doctor’s help if needed.

Stay healthy and get enough rest, eat properly, drink plenty of liquids, and exercise regularly.

Do not become accusatory when an attack happens. Social situations are hard for a person with Anxiety, even worse when it becomes a Panic Attack, which often lead to phobias that you cannot understand.

Signs and Symptoms

Here are some of the symptoms a person experiencing an attack may have, usually all or majority exists during an attack. Feelings of numbness in hands, arms and legs, rapid, heartbeat, tightness in chest and throat, complaints of inability to swallow or feeling of lump in throat, hyperventilation, stomach upset, butterflies, weakness, fatigue (lethargy), tremors or “shakes”, dizziness, sweaty, racing thoughts, confusion, inability to concentrate, feeling of detachment, muscle tension, and finally the most important is the fear of dying or impending doom.

Causes

Many factors can cause these attacks. PSTD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) this can be from something that happened from childhood to adulthood many abused women have this disorder, OCD Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Manic Depressive Illness, Generalized Depression, Menopause due to change in hormones and Mitral Value Prolapse to name a few.

Treatment

There are many other resources available to help cope with a family member with this disorder. Check your local Mental Health Center for support groups. Often a Psychologist and Psychiatrist will work together to help the patient live a normal life. This may or may not include family counseling. Medications commonly used to treat this disorder are Xanax, Tranxene, Elavil, Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, Ativan, and Buspar are just a few. Each year there are new medications that become available. The problem with using some of these medications is that they can become habit forming.

25 million Americans suffer from allergic reactions to molds, most of them don’t even realize that when they’re sneezing and sniffling the cause could be molds. Many molds produce airborne toxins that can cause serious breathing difficulties, memory and hearing loss, dizziness, flu-like symptoms, and bleeding in the lungs. Common ailments from mold—including allergies, asthma and bruising—usually can be treated and reduced after people leave their contaminated environment. But other health problems may remain permanently, such as brain damage and weakened immune systems.

Fungus reproduces into spores that come in many different sizes, shapes and colors. The spores will reproduce and germinate into new mold growth which in turn can produce millions of more spores. Molds are most prevalent from spring through late fall, but,in warm climates, molds thrive all year and can cause year-round problems.

Molds can be found wherever there is moisture, oxygen, warmth and something to feed on. In the fall they grow on rotting logs and fallen leaves, especially in moist, shady areas. In gardens, they can be found in compost piles and on certain grasses and weeds. Molds grow in our homes in moist warm areas like damp basements, closets, and bathrooms. Also molds can grow in places where fresh food is stored, refrigerator drip trays, house plants, humidifiers, garbage pails, mattresses, upholstered furniture, or foam rubber pillows. Molds can grow inside the walls and flooring of our homes, wherever there are wet cellulose materials they can feed on, such as wood, ceiling tiles, or plasterboard.

Molds come in at least a thousand different varieties, but only a few are the offenders that invade our homes. Alternaria and Cladosporium are the molds most commonly found both indoors and outdoors throughout the United States. Aspergillus, Penicillium, Helminthosporium, Epicoccum, Fusarium, Mucor, Rhizopus, and Aureobasidium are also common. The most dangerous mold strains are: stachybotrys (pronounced Stack-ee-BOT-ris). This black fungus releases toxic, microscopic spores that cause the worst symptoms that are usually irreversible.

In some individuals, a minor exposure to mold can cause an allergy that can lead to asthma or to a lung disease. The symptoms are wheezing, low-grade fever, and coughing up of brown mucus. You will need to be seen by a doctor is you suspect that your allergies, bronchitis or asthma are related to mold spores. If you have any unexplained severe health problems, you may want to determine if you have been exposed to a dangerous strain of mold spores.

In some people, symptoms of mold allergy can be worsened by eating foods, such as cheeses, that are processed with fungi. Other foods like mushrooms, dried fruits, and foods containing yeast, soy sauce, or vinegar can also produce allergic symptoms. Avoid these foods if you suspect any mold allergies.

To rid your house of mold clean counters, showers, tubs, sinks, window sills or anywhere there is mold with bleach. Fix leaking faucets or pipes that could be dampening walls. Install air conditioning in your home because this dries the air out, making it more difficult for mold to survive. Check houseplant soil, make sure it is not always very damp. Keep firewood outside. Keep your basement as dry as possible. You may want to keep an air purifier in your basement. Clean the bottom of your refrigerator, and underneath it. Clean up all water damage quickly. If your carpet, walls or any flooring is in a flood get an experienced flood specialist to dry it up for you. Any dampness left can cause mold to grow in your walls or under your carpet. When water is left to sit, for even 24 hours, common molds can begin to grow. If water continues to sit and areas become completely saturated, more lethal molds, such as Stachybotrys, can begin to grow.

The tricky thing about these airborne molds is, you may not realize how it has affected your health for quite sometime after you have been exposed. It is important to not live, work or stay for long periods of time in a place that smells mildewy or moldy. If you have done all you can to clean molds that are visible, maybe there is mold under the carpet or in the walls.

If you suspect that the air quality in your home is being compromised by mold spores you can have the air tested, but it can be quite expensive. It’s worth it if it helps save your health.

The situations which cause apprehension vary among people with agoraphobia. Standing in line at the supermarket or bank, getting stuck in traffic, or merely sitting in a movie theater or restaurant — these are a few of the many situations that can cause discomfort and even terror in the agoraphobic. The fear is caused not so much by the particular situations or places, but rather the fear and dread that agoraphobic experiences there.

Many people with agoraphobia experience anxiety attacks (or panic attacks) which may occur only occasionally, or frequently during the course of the day. If allowed to continue untreated, the intensity and frequency of the anxiety attacks can become all-consuming and debilitating, and the sufferer’s “safe” radius is gradually decreased until he or she becomes a prisoner at home, unable to leave his or her home for fear of another attack.

A full-blown case of agoraphobia can often be traced to a single incident: an illness, injury or other stress-provoking situation. Seemingly out of the blue, the symptoms of panic appear: heart palpitations, shortness of breath, dry mouth, clammy hands, dizziness, a profound feeling of impending doom, or a frightening sense of unreality. The victim of these alarming sensations may begin to associate his or her panic with the specific place at which it occurred, and thus begins the pattern of avoidance.

Many sufferers of panic attacks and agoraphobia have rushed to their doctors’ offices or emergency rooms displaying various symptoms of anxiety, only to be dismissed by perhaps concerned yet puzzled caregivers who can’t find anything “wrong” with their patients. Recently, however, many health care providers have become increasingly able to recognize the symptoms of this condition, and after a thorough examination to eliminate any possible physical causes for the symptoms, can recommend a course of action toward releasing the agoraphobic from the prison of his own fear.

There are many effective methods of treating agoraphobia, including cognitive restructuring, or “reprogramming” the negative thoughts which can feed anxiety, behavioral therapy, and pharmacological treatment, or medication therapy. Many doctors agree tend to agree that a greater overall level of improvement can be achieved when a combination of these treatments is implemented. The caregivers and patients ultimately decide together what will work best in individual cases.

Problems associated with this illness affect the nervous system, lungs, muscles and heart. Below 7,000 feet effects are few. At 9,000 feet or more effects are common with rapid ascent. Most people can adjust to the changes within a few days up to 10,000 feet. Altitudes beyond 10,000 feet may take days or weeks to acclimate.

Symptoms

Common symptoms may be a dry, continuous cough, shortness of breath at rest which increases during daily activities, sleeping difficulty, rapid pulse, loss of appetite, nausea or vomiting, confusion, fatigue, or coughing up blood. Twenty percent of people have severe headaches. Sometimes the headache is severe enough to awaken one from sleep. The headache can be aggravated by lying down or sitting up, sneezing, straining or lifting.

Additional symptoms include transient vision problems, unilateral (one side) eye drooping, facial swelling, swelling around the eye sockets, and/or unilateral pupil enlargement.

Symptoms of confusion, withdrawn behavior or swelling of lower extremities are also possible. A bluish tint to the skin (cyanosis) is common due to lack of oxygen in the blood.

Complications

High Altitude Pulmonary Edema:

This is a more serious illness that can follow an episode of acute mountain sickness. It occurs when fluid accumulates in the lungs. Shortness of breath is present with the slightest effort made, a tickling dry cough may turn loose and bubbly with production of phlegm which is pink or blood tinged.

High altitude pulmonary edema may worsen quickly and become life threatening within just a few hours.

High Altitude Cerebral Edema

This is the most serious of all complications and needs to be treated promptly. It usually develops within 24 to 96 hours after arriving at higher altitudes. High altitude cerebral edema may be preceded by acute mountain sickness or high altitude pulmonary edema.

Fluid accumulates in the brain causing difficulty walking (ataxia). The ataxia is accompanied by clumsy hand or finger movements. Headaches will be more severe than with acute mountain sickness, hallucinations may develop as the condition progresses. The higher the altitude, the greater the impairment of function and perception will be. This condition can also progress from mild to life threatening very quickly.

Treatment

Most people recover from acute mountain sickness quickly after being moved to a lower altitude. Increased oxygen to the body helps to relieve symptoms. Mild acute mountain sickness is usually treated by replacing fluids lost during sweating and rapidly breathing dry, thin air. Persons with high altitude pulmonary edema need to be observed closely. Usually bed rest and oxygen therapy are enough. If this doesn’t relieve symptoms, the person should be taken to a lower altitude at once. High altitude cerebral edema is a serious condition,. People suffering this should be moved to a lower altitude immediately. Delaying the move will worsen the condition. After descent the condition improves quickly.

Prevention

It is best to make a climb gradually. Try to take at least two days to reach 8,000 feet and another day for each 1,000 to 2,000 additional feet. Camping midway reduces the risk of acute mountain sickness. Once altitude is reached, avoiding strenuous activity for a day or two will reduce risks. Avoid alcohol and tobacco consumption, extra fluids, salt and medications that cause sleeplessness. Extra sleep is not helpful because it slows the breathing.

When climbing over 8,000 feet symptoms of acute mountain sickness should be carefully watched for. Each person in the party should be evaluated at the end of each day of climbing. Performance, level of fatigue, weakness or shortness of breath, lung function and heart rate should be checked after a few hours of rest.