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Asthma pathophysiology in children
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Chronic Asthma
What do Beethoven, Bill Clinton, and Bob Hope all have in common? They all suffer from a condition called Asthma. When you look up the definition for Asthma in the dictionary, you will find that it is a respiratory condition marked by spasms in the bronchi of the lungs, causing difficulty in breathing. Asthma is a chronic long-term lung disease that inflames and narrows the airways, which has no cure. A person diagnosed with Asthma could feel fine; however, it can flare up at any time. Asthma affects people of all ages; however, it most often starts during childhood. In the United States, more than 25 million people are known to have asthma. About 7 million of these people are children.
There are many symptoms of asthma which include; wheezing (sounds like a whistling sound), chest tightening, shortness of breath, and coughing. Asthma usually results from
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It is always best to work with your doctor to treat other conditions that can interfere with asthma management. It is best to avoid things that worsen your asthma and/or trigger it. Asthma can be diagnoses by three core components: a medical history, a physical exam, and results from breathing tests. A doctor will administer tests and, if you have asthma, determine your level of asthma severity as intermittent, mild, moderate, or severe. This is a typical asthma test that people are be asked to do when they are trying to figure out why they are being affected by asthma. How much time did your asthma keep you from getting as much done at work, school or at home? How often have you had shortness of breath? How often did your asthma symptoms wake you up at night or earlier than usual in the morning? How often have you used your rescue inhaler or nebulizer medication (such as albuterol)? How would you rate your asthma control? It would be good idea to keep a record of what may trigger an asthma attack, when it may happen, what happens,
Secondly, severe asthma can be life-threatening. Suffering from asthma can be frightening to experience and people often feel scared and anxious. The fear and scare can also lead to breathlessness and so mak...
There are two forms of bronchodilators, a short acting and a long acting form. Short acting relieves or stops asthma symptoms and is very helpful during an attack. They are also called ‘rescue’ medications because they are best for treating sudden or severe asthma symptoms. Long acting bronchodilators are used to control asthma, they take longer to work but they also last longer, up to 12 hours, whereas a short acting would only last for about 4-5 hours. Ventolin is a short acting form, it is the recommended medication to use 15-20 mins before exercising.
Duerden, M. & Price, D. (2001). Training issues in the use of inhalers. Practical Disease
Oxygen, inhaled bronchodilators, inhaled steroids, combination inhalers, oral steroids, phosphodiesterase-4 inhibitors and theophylline are effective medications for COPD (Mayo Clinic, 2016). “Patients with COPD have persistent high levels of CO2, their respiratory centers no longer respond to increased levels of CO2 by stimulating breathing. Therefore, COPD patients with more severe hypoxemia are at higher risk of CO2 retention from uncontrolled CO2 administration” (Van Houten, p. 13). For nurses, “It is important to administer the lowest amount of O2 necessary to patients” (Van Houten, p. 13). Some COPD medicines are used with inhaler and nebulizer devices. It is important to teach patients how to use these devices correctly. (Potter & Perry,
Asthma is a disorder that interferes with the lungs and the airways to the lungs. It causes attacks of wheezing and difficult breathing. An asthma attack occurs when the airways respond to some kind of trigger, Some examples of triggers for Asthma attacks are dust, mold, pets, exercise, cold weather, and some attacks start for no known reason. The triggers may irritate the airways to the lungs, allowing disease-fighting cells to build up and causing the lungs to swell up. In addition, the airways could get blocked when the muscles surrounding the lungs tighten. This keeps air from circulating freely in the lungs. Or, mucus may clog and narrow the airways in the lungs, making breathing even more difficult.
Imagine a young child competing with his or her fellow classmates during recess and immediately losing the ability to breathe normally. He or she stops in the middle of the competition and falls to the ground while holding his or her chest trying to find air. When you are young, being able to keep up with your peers during recess and sporting events is very important, however, having asthma restricts this. Asthma has a significant impact on childhood development and the diagnosis of asthma for children 18 years and younger has dramatically increased over the years. Asthma is known as a “chronic inflammation of the small and large airways” with “evident bronchial hyper-responsiveness, airflow obstruction, and in some patients, sub-basement fibrosis and over-secretion of mucus” (Toole, 2013). The constant recreation of the lung walls can even occur in young children and “lead to permanent lung damages and reduced lung function” (Toole, 2013). While one of the factors is genetics, many of the following can be prevented or managed. Obesity, exposure to secondhand smoke, and hospitalization with pneumonia in the early years of life have all been suggested to increase children’s risk of developing asthma.
Asthma is a condition of the bronchial tubes characterized by episodes of constriction and increased mucous production. A person with asthma has bronchial tubes that are super sensitive to various stimuli, or triggers, that can produce asthma symptom.In other words, asthmatics have special sensitivity that causes their lung tissue to react far more than is should to various stimulating factors or triggers. For this reason, people with asthma are said to have "twitchy airways."Some symptoms that people with asthma commonly experience are chest tightenings, difficulty inhaling and exhaling, wheezing, production of large amounts of mucous in their windpipes and coughing.Coughing can be frequent or intermittent, and can be loose-reflecting extra mucous secretion in the airways or dry and deep-reflecting tight bronchospasms. Not all these symptoms occur in every case of asthma.Sometimes people may have coughing without and symptoms for months or even years before it's realized that they are asthmatic. Interestingly enough, asthma symptoms are most severe at night, while we're lying down our airways narrow as a result of gravity changes. Also our lungs do not clear secretions as well at night, which leads to mucous retention, and that can increase the obstruction to air flow.
Asthma is chronic inflammatory disorder of the airways characterized by recurring episodes of wheeling and breathlessness. It often exists with allergies and can be worsened through exposure to allergens. In fact, asthma is complicated syndromes that have neither single definition nor complete explanation to the point. In light of its treatment, it is worthwhile to notice that asthma cannot be cured, instead can be only managed by avoiding exposure to allergens and/or by using medications regularly.
Asthma is a disorder of the respiratory system in which the passages that enable air to pass into and out of the lungs periodically narrow, causing coughing, wheezing, and shortness of breath. This narrowing is typically temporary and reversible, but in severe attacks, asthma may result in death. Asthma most commonly refers to bronchial asthma, an inflammation of the airways, but the term is also used to refer to cardiac asthma, which develops when fluid builds up in the lungs as a complication of heart failure. This article focuses on bronchial asthma.
Asthma is a serious ongoing disease that affects the airways of both adults and children.5 It is a type of inflammatory disease in your lungs with multiple triggers which may include the flu, indoor allergies, pets, dust mites, exercise, and tobacco smoke. Asthma has been recognized since ancient Egyptian times. Researchers found prescriptions written in hieroglyphics. Aretaus of Cappadonia an ancient Greek master clinician wrote the initial clinical description of asthma. Aaezein is the Greek word from which the current medical term Asthma come. The original Greek term mean ' sharp breath'. There are many people who have this chronic disease. Approximately 7.1 million children are diagnosed, and 18.9 million adults; 8.2 percent of the population of the United States.
Asthma is treated with two types of medicines: long-term control and quick-relief medicines. Long-term control medicines help reduce airway inflammation and prevent asthma symptoms. Quick-relief, or "rescue," medicines relieve asthma symptoms that may flare up.
Most of you may not think of asthma as a killer disease, yet more that 5,000 Americans die of asthma each year. According to the Mayo Clinic web page, asthma also accounts for more that 400,000 hospital discharges annually. As the number of people with asthma increases, the more likely you are to come in contact with a person who has the disease. As far as I can remember, I have had asthma my whole life. My mother and one of my sisters also have asthma, so I have a first hand experience with it. This morning, I will discuss some interesting facts about asthma, I will specifically focus on what it is, warning signs, symptoms, causes, and the treatments that are used.
...ering to medication antibiotics which fight off infections, bronchodialators used to decrease dyspnea relieve broncho spasms , and pulmonary rehabilitation help betters their condition. The nurse expects the patient to be able to perform suitable activities without complication, avoid irritants that can worsen the disease (contaminated air) and reduce pulmonary infection by abiding to medications.
Nursing Diagnosis I for Patient R.M. is ineffective airway clearance related to retained secretions. This is evidenced by a weak unproductive cough and by both objective and subjective data. Objective data includes diagnosis of pneumonia, functional decline, and dyspnea. Subjective data include the patient’s complaints of feeling short of breath, even with assistance with basic ADLs. This is a crucial nursing diagnosis as pneumonia is a serious condition that is the eighth leading cause of death in the United States and the number one cause of death from infectious diseases (Lemon, & Burke, 2011). It is vital to keep the airway clear of the mucus that may be produced from the inflammatory response of pneumonia. This care plan is increasingly important because of R.M.'s state of functional decline; he is unable to perform ADL and to elicit a strong cough by himself due to his slouched posture. Respiratory infections and in this case, pneumonia, will further impair the airway (Lemon, & Burke, 2011). Because of the combination of pneumonia and R.M's other diagnoses of lifelong asthma, it is imperative that the nursing care plan of ineffective airway clearance be carried out. The first goal of this care plan was to have the patient breathe deeply and cough to remove secretions. It is important that the nurse help the patient deep breathe in an upright position; this is the best position for chest expansion, which promotes expansion and ventilation of all lung fields (Sparks and Taylor, 2011). It is also important the nurse teach the patient an easily performed cough technique and help mobilize the patient with ADL's. This helps the patient learn to cough and clear their airways without fatigue (Sparks a...
Asthma is a disease that currently has no cure and can only be controlled and managed through different treatment methods. If asthma is treated well it can prevent the flare up of symptoms such as coughing, diminish the dependence on quick relief medication, and help to minimize asthma attacks. One of the key factors to successful treatment of asthma is the creation of an asthma action plan with the help of a doctor that outlines medications and other tasks to help control the patient’s asthma ("How Is Asthma Treated and Controlled?"). The amount of treatment changes based on the severity of the asthma when it is first diagnosed and may be the dosage may be increased or decreased depending on how under control the patient’s asthma is. One of the main ways that asthma can be controlled is by becoming aware of the things that trigger attacks. For instance staying away from allergens such as pollen, animal fur, and air pollution can help minimize and manage the symptoms associated with asthma. Also if it is not possible to avoid the allergens that cause a patient’s asthma to flare up, they may need to see an allergist. These health professionals can help diagnosis what may need to be done in other forms of treatment such as allergy shots that can help decrease the severity of the asthma ("How Is Asthma Treated and Controlled?").