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Breathe Easy

Living with Asthma

It's a wonder that anyone with asthma can live a normal life.

That's because the long list of causes that can trigger an asthma attack include a wide range of everyday items floating around in the air we breathe, like pollen, mold, animal dander or house dust. A "trigger" can also be common airborne elements such as air pollution, tobacco smoke or a cold virus, or something as simple as cold air.

But there is a happy ending--asthma sufferers can breathe easy by following a treatment plan and close follow-up by a health care provider who helps them manage it successfully.

Asthma, from a Greek word meaning, "breathe hard," is a chronic disease in which the lining of the airways of the lungs is swollen or inflamed. The airways are unusually sensitive to irritations, or "triggers," induced by allergies.

When the airways react to a trigger, the muscles around the airways tighten and the lining of the airways swells and produces thick mucus.This causes the airway to narrow and makes it harder to breathe. This breathing difficulty is called an asthma attack, often accompanied by coughing and wheezing. An asthma attack can occur intermittently or more regularly, categorized as mild, moderate or severe.

Adam Davis, director of asthma programs for the American Lung Association of the East Bay, says what asthma sufferers should know is that the prognosis is not as bleak as it might seem.

"With knowledge and the right medications, people with asthma don't need to suffer--asthma is a manageable disease," he says. "But what people need to understand is that asthma is constantly present; it just doesn't happen when attacks hit."

Davis says there are reliable steps to take for successfully managing the disease. First, sufferers need to identify their triggers. What might trigger one person will not necessarily trigger another.

Next, asthma patients can use controller medicines or anti-inflammatory drugs on a daily basis. Taken this way, the drugs can prevent attacks because they work slowly to reduce the swelling of the airways.

"It's best to take these daily, even when you are feeling good," he advises.

Davis is responsible for directing the Oakland Kicks Asthma project, which seeks to reduce asthma morbidity and the negative outcomes of asthma, like hospital visits and days absent from school. According to the Community Action to Fight Asthma Web site (www.calasthma.org), asthma is the most common chronic disease among children and one of the leading causes of school absenteeism in the United States today, affecting 4.8 million children nationwide. It accounts for one-third of all pediatric emergency visits.

While asthma affects children of all ages, teenagers are the highest risk group for the serious consequences of asthma, which can be deadly.

"Teenagers don't want to take their medication, because they don't want to be seen as different--sitting out at gym class or not being involved in sports and activities," says Mary Frazier, a pediatric nurse working at Children's Hospital Oakland. She also represents the West Oakland Asthma Coalition, and she has taught asthma education since 1990. Asthma educators, she says, focus the Open Airways program on third- to fifthgraders, who are the most willing to learn how to deal with the disease.

Frazier, it turns out, became an asthma sufferer herself as an adult. From her own experience, she reiterates Davis' advice about managing the disease successfully by following a preventive plan daily.

"If you knew you had high blood pressure, you would take your medications every day, not just when you have symptoms," she explains."You have to think of asthma in the same way. It just takes practice."