Asthma, Allergies, COVID, and Travel may sound stressful. Thus, we have created a checklist to help you prepare for your trip, so you get the most out of your trip instead of getting bothered by the essentials that you didn’t consider before the trip.
As asthma is a common disease, most people are aware that it is a condition that affects the lungs. Asthma is a chronic illness—once a person has it, they will have it throughout their life, through periods of remission where they are asymptomatic do occur.
The main symptoms of asthma are coughing, chest tightness, wheezing (a whistling sound when exhaling), and dyspnea—also known as shortness of breath.
Asthma is controllable, but it can be scary and even dangerous if it’s not kept in check—and having allergies can be downright annoying. Having both asthma and allergies, though, can be the source of some major problems, and the two often coexist. Often, asthma worsens when allergies do—during the spring and late summer.
Valentine’s Day is the perfect time to show the people in your life how much you really care. If you’re lucky enough to receive gifts on this special day or are planning a fun activity, there are some things you’ll want to keep an eye out for especially if you suffer from breathing related ailments such as asthma!
Often, treatments developed for asthma can be used for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and treatments used for COPD can be used for asthma—because asthma and COPD are two different diseases, although, with similar symptoms, this may seem a bit perplexing. However, researchers have determined that these two lung diseases have many aspects in common.
Asthma and COPD remain two separate diseases with distinct characteristics and approaches to treatment, but an understanding of both diseases has helped us further our understanding.
Around 20 years ago, a gene was discovered by medical scientists that until recently, has been misclassified, and more recent studies shed more light on it. Researchers from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis published the findings of their study in eLife, an online medical publication. This gene was found to be a common link between asthma and COPD and a few different kinds of cancer.
On the surface, these diseases have some things in common. Shortness of breath, wheezing the inflammation of the lungs and excess mucus production in the lungs. The thing these have in common with this gene, in particular, is mucus production.
When one part of our bodies gets sick, it’s usually not confined to that part of the body. Everything in the body is connected in one way or another, which means everything, can be affected. If you have COPD, other parts of you can be affected, such as your heart, circulation, and even your mental state.
If you’ve been diagnosed with a chronic illness or something like cancer, your body will go through some changes. If you have severe asthma, you will probably find yourself unable to exercise, which can cause weight gain and even make you have trouble sleeping. The fact is something serious like this can cause a chain reaction of other medical problems. If we know this, why not prevent them or treat them right away?
Usually, when you see someone using oxygen therapy, what comes to your mind? Many people associate oxygen tanks and concentrators with someone who has a severe case of COPD (emphysema or chronic bronchitis), but this isn’t always the case. There is a stigma over those who need to use oxygen – “He/She smoked too many cigarettes and now needs to use oxygen therapy.” Even if they need to use it because they have COPD, people shouldn’t be so judgmental. There are several other reasons someone may be using an oxygen concentrator.
Those with moderate to severe asthma, especially those who were diagnosed as children, may have an increased risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). According to a 2015 study in the Journal of Thoracic Disease, 16% of people with asthma will develop “insufficient airway reversibility after 21-33 years” living with the disease. [1] This is because, if uncontrolled with medications, the inner walls of the airways can undergo “remodeling” over time, causing the airways to be irreversibly narrowed—this is where COPD comes in: when the narrowing of airways is no longer reversible. [2]
Catch any disease in the early stages is extremely important, and lung diseases and maladies are no different. The sooner a chronic disease or an acute illness is detected, the easier and quicker it will be treated, and the higher chance you have of living through it. Unfortunately, the signs and symptoms of the early stages of diseases like COPD and even lung cancer are usually subtle and often overlooked until the disease has progressed into the advanced stages.
Since this is often the case, it’s important to consider family history of chronic diseases, so you will know to pay close attention to your physical state and to get tested for any diseases that run in your family. If you had relatives who died of lung cancer, you will need to pay special attention, and your doctor will likely order a regular screening to be done.
