While the word ‘breathing’ can be equated to an easy, involuntary mechanism designed to sustain human life, simply looking at the global statistics of pulmonary diseases can lead us to think otherwise. Is breathing so easy for all? Millions worldwide suffering from asthma is a conspicuous reflection of the disease’s extensive reach and our apparent helplessness before its advent. Asthma is a long-time inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs that is either genetically inherited or environmentally induced. It causes the airways to constrict and swell with excessive production of mucus, making it difficult to breathe. Symptoms majorly involve wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness, coughing and anxiety. Here are some key pointers to help you understand Asthma better:
Asthma doesn’t have a permanent cure, and the symptoms can be largely evaded by identifying the stimuli and making the best efforts to stay away from them. Corticosteroid inhalers and anti-leukotriene agents are prescribed by physicians to be used perennially or as and when the asthma symptoms recur. Environmental pollutants and exposure to specific pollen grains is known to spur asthmatic repercussions and there’s no wonder why we cannot gauge its emergence from 193 million affected people in 1990 to a massive 358 million by the end of 2015 – for asthma, as the statistics imply, is clearly an ailment of the developing world. As the roots of medical research continue to surge deeper in its conquest of assailing asthma, let’s resolve to breathe free and happy by keeping a safe distance from recognized potential triggers that worsen the consequences of this grave pulmonary disease.