Allergic asthma: symptoms and treatment

Allergic asthma is the most common type of allergy. Most children and almost half of the adult population are affected by it. Allergens cause it - particles that a person inhales with air. The medical term for this disease is atopic. What is allergic asthma? And how to deal with such an ailment?

Pathology characteristic

Allergic asthma, the symptoms and treatment of which require a detailed study, is characterized by inflammation of the respiratory system. This condition provokes the presence of allergens in the air and food. These substances, irritating the respiratory tract, do not harm most people. But the immune system of individual 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 allergic asthma affects adults. It is worth noting that the number of people suffering from this disease has been steadily increasing recently.

The development of pathology is as follows:

1. Allergens enter the body with inhaled air or food.
2. They irritate the smooth muscles of the respiratory tract. The latter, in normal condition, is usually relaxed. She easily passes an air stream.
3. 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.

The causes of the disease

Provocateurs that are the source of the disease are divided into the following categories:

1. Allergens premises. The culprits of their appearance may be: domestic animals (wool, feathers); cockroaches (scales and excrement); mycelium (fungus and mold); dust mites (their droppings that are in the air with dust).
2. Allergens of open space. Such provocateurs are caused by pollen from trees and herbs. Accordingly, the disease develops during flowering. Usually it is spring and early summer.
3. Food allergens. Most often, they are found in products containing antigens similar to plant pollen. It can be eggs, milk, peanuts, shellfish, strawberries, some types of fruits.

The most rare 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 can not be managed on an outpatient basis. Therefore, to eliminate respiratory failure, the patient is hospitalized. Sometimes allergic asthma triggered by food can be life threatening.

The causes of pathology in individual individuals have not been established. It is believed that this is the influence of the genetic predisposition of the body and the environment.

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 a family has an allergic person, then with a probability of 40% his relatives will experience similar reactions.

The progression of the disease is due to the following reasons:

• respiratory infections;
• smoking (passive also);
• close contact with allergens;
• long-term medication.

Symptoms of an attack

How is allergic asthma manifested? Symptoms are usually observed prodromal. Most often they appear in the evening hours.

Symptoms 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:

• difficulty breathing;
• dyspnea;
• noisy wheezing arising from breathing;
• chest pain and tightness;
• dry cough with the release of a small amount of sputum, which intensifies when a person lies down.

Atopic asthma can also occur amid existing respiratory diseases such as rhinitis or bronchitis.

Degrees of disease

There are four forms of development of atopic asthma:

1. Intermittent. The disease appears approximately once a week. At night, seizures occur no more than twice a month.
2. Persistent. Manifestations of the disease disturb a person more often than once every 7 days. Because of this, he can not fully get enough sleep. Accordingly, its vigorous activity decreases.
3. Medium. 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.
4. Heavy. The constant manifestation of allergic asthma, frequent suffocation, day and night attacks make it impossible for a person to exist normally.

The most dangerous is asthmatic status in a progressive form. This is a severe form of the disease known as allergic asthma. Signs of this condition are a constant increase in seizures and an increase in their duration. In this case, emergency medical attention is necessary, because a person may faint or even die due to severe breathing difficulties.

Complications

Allergic asthma is usually easily stopped. The treatment prescribed by the doctor allows you to stop the development of negative symptoms.

But sometimes it happens that the attack develops rapidly. As a result of this, quite severe consequences can be observed:

1. A sharp stop of breathing occurs or this process is extremely difficult. A person loses consciousness. This condition can even lead to death.
2. 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, a fatal outcome is possible.
3. In the future, rupture of the alveoli of the lungs may occur. But this happens very rarely. With this complication, intubation is required to remove air, which prevents the expansion of the lungs, from the pleura.

Diagnosis of the disease

Allergic asthma is determined in three stages:

1. The doctor finds out everything about the patient’s lifestyle. It studies the symptoms of the disease.
2. A blood test for immunoglobulins allows you to determine the presence of an ailment.
3. Conducting allergic tests to identify a specific provocateur that caused an unpleasant reaction in the body.

How to cure a disease

Everyone is interested, if they have been diagnosed with allergic asthma, how to treat such an ailment.

In order to successfully fight the disease or at least reduce the number of seizures, it is necessary, if possible, to remove from the environment all objects that are provocateurs.

The following measures are usually taken:

1. All things in which dust can accumulate are removed - carpets, blackout curtains.
2. Frequent thorough cleaning of the house is simply necessary.
3. Use for mattresses and pillows of a dustproof covering.
4. The windows are kept closed to prevent dust from entering the house from the outside.
5. Air conditioners are used with replaceable filters.
6. Humidity in the house should be no more than 50%. When this indicator is exceeded, a comfortable environment is created for the development of ticks.

If the measures taken do not help completely get rid of the symptoms of the disease, then drugs are used. But it is important to remember that allergic asthma is not treated on its own. Drugs for treatment should be recommended only by a doctor.

Drug therapy

What medicines treat allergic asthma?

Drugs to combat the disease are divided into:

1. Inhaled, not producing a therapeutic effect, but simply relieving suffocation. The patient may be recommended medicines "Terbutaline", "Fenoterol", "Berrotek", "Salbutamol".
2. Inhalation, treatment and anti-inflammatory effect. Effective medicines are Intal, Tyled.
3. Inhalation treatment. An excellent result will be provided by the preparations Pulmicort, Serevent, Oksis.
4. Combined. The patient includes Seretide, Symbicort drugs in the therapy.
5. Antihistamines. If allergic asthma is mild, treatment may include the use of Zirtek.

Breathing exercises

The above methods are not the only methods to combat such a serious illness. What treatment is still effective for a diagnosis of allergic asthma?

Breathing exercises have a good therapeutic effect in the fight against the symptoms of the disease. Special exercises help alleviate seizures. In addition, such gymnastics is a successful preventive technique to exclude 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 health. According to reviews of people and doctors, it is quite effective in combating a serious illness.

An approximate set of exercises for the respiratory organs in the treatment of allergic asthma:

1. In the morning, not getting out of bed, lie on your back. Draw your knees to your chest area. When performing, do measured exhalations with the mouth.
2. Take a standing position. Legs are shoulder-width apart. Take a deep breath, while spreading your arms to the sides at shoulder level. Then exhale sharply with your mouth, lower your hands along the body, slapping them on the hips.
3. Take slow steps in place. At the first step, raise your arms to the sides. Inhale slowly. Taking the second step - exhale with a noise, dropping his hands.
4. Starting position - sitting on the floor. Stretch your legs forward. Inhaling with your mouth, raise your arms to the sides. Then return the upper limbs to their original position. At the same time, slowly exhale through the mouth and pronounce the sound “F” with slightly parted lips.
5. Stand with your hands on your belt. Inhale slowly. Bulge your stomach at the same time. Then exhale sharply. The stomach should be pulled in with force. When performing this exercise, a person must breathe through the nose.
6. Breathe 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 - 10 minutes.
7. Standing - Standing. Get on your toes. Raise your hands up a little back. Twist fingers together. Then abruptly descend to the whole foot, leaning forward. At the same time, lower your woven hands as if you are chopping wood. A deep exhalation is required.
8. Take a standing position. Legs are shoulder-width apart. Raise your hands a little back. Open palms, as if trying to push something away. Then sharply move your arms, hugging yourself and making a clap on the shoulder blades. At this stage, take a deep breath and tighten the chest.
9. Exercise "Skier" is performed while standing. It is necessary to spread your legs a little. Stand on your toes, leaning forward and stretching out your hands, clenched in fists. The pose resembles a skier descending from a mountain. Then stand on a full foot and, exhaling, sit down. Hands alternately lower and retract. It is necessary to simulate the movement of ski poles. When returning to the starting position, take a deep breath.
10. Lying on your back, put your hands under your buttocks. Taking a slow, deep exhale, draw in your stomach. Then inhale with force. Belly stick out.
11. Standing on toes, raise your arms to the sides. Move them up and bend back. Then stand on your feet, leaning forward and rounding your back. Take a deep exhale. At this time, you should hug yourself with your hands.
12. Intermittently inhale with your nose. Exhale through the mouth, clenching your teeth. At the same time pronounce "Z" or "F".
13. I. p. - standing, hands at the seams. Raise your shoulders slowly, counting to four. Then exhale vigorously, lowering them just as leisurely.
14. In a standing position, bend a little hand. Take a deep breath, spreading the upper limbs to the sides. Then the hands need to be reduced, while drawing in the stomach. Exhale by pronouncing the sound “W.”
15. Exercise "Balls". Easy enough. It is necessary to inflate the balls until they burst. Repeat the procedure throughout the day. It is recommended to inflate up to three balls per day.

Allergic asthma is a rather serious and serious ailment. However, even with such a pathology, you can learn to cope. To do this, you must 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.