What is asthma?
Asthma is a chronic condition that occurs when your air passages (the bronchial tubes) become inflamed. The muscles of the bronchial walls tighten and extra mucus is produced, making the airways narrow. This leads to numerous symptoms and although this disease is treatable it is not curable.

What are the symptoms of asthma?

• Ranging from mild to very severe, a person may experience shortness of breath, wheezing, and or coughing. This can occur at any time- after climbing stairs, when breathing in cold air or even while sleeping.
• The symptoms you should look for in a child is an audible whistling or wheezing when exhaling, and frequent coughing or spasms which may occur at night. Asthma is difficult to diagnose in children since babies are unable to communicate that they are have a tightness in their chest.

Who is at risk?

• Someone is more likely to develop asthma if they have a close relative with the condition and are sensitive to allergens in the air.
• Asthma is the most common chronic illness in children. 10 percent of those living in the United States have the disease and 25 percent of those kids who live in urban areas are likely to have asthma.
• About forty percent of adults with the disease develop it for no known reason during their adult years. It is hard to diagnose the disease during adulthood, because the symptoms are similar to other obstructive lung conditions.

If you feel that you might be suffering from the above symptoms, your doctor can conduct a lung function test. If indeed you do have the disease, your doctor will work out a treatment plan. Asthma, like diabetes must be managed with medication in order to prevent a life threatening attack. With the right medication, there is no reason that someone with asthma could not lead a normal and active life.