Causes and Possible Prevention of Asthma and Allergies

By Brijesh Kumar

Allergy is a disorder in which a person becomes hypersensitive to particular antigens (called Allergens) which provoke characteristic symptoms whenever they are subsequently encountered. This book spells out detailed information on the causes, prevention, and treatment of Asthma and all other respiratory disorders, in general in relation to allergies caused by various allergens. Various lines of treatment are suggested in a simple and understandable manner. Hopefully, this book will serve as a true guide to the readers to mitigate their asthmatic and allergic problems.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Diamond Books
• Release date: Dec 7, 2021
• ISBN: 9788128828423

Book preview

The Human Respiratory System

Since asthmatic or allergic attack is primarily manifested in breathlessness and wheezing, it is better if the reader is acquainted with the system that is responsible for respiration in the human body.

This system comprises the lungs and the passage leading to them. The purpose of respiration (breathing) is entry and exit of air to and from the lungs. In in-breathing (or inspiration or inhalation) the chest cavity is enlarged and air enters, in out-breathing (expiration or exhalation) the chest cavity reverses its action and the air is thrown out. The object of breathing is to bring the oxygen of the air into contact with the blood with the purpose of (i) giving some oxygen to the blood and (ii) taking of waste products from the blood.

The passage to the lungs is through the nose or mouth and the larynx or voice box.

We normally breathe through nose or through mouth. There are two passages leading downwards from the nose and mouth into the body - one takes food and water to the stomach and the other takes air to the lungs.

The larynx or voice box is commonly known as Adam’s Apple and can easily be felt in the throat. It is a cavity (in the throat) holding vocal cords, just at its junction with pharynx. Vibration of cords produces vocal sounds. The air passes from the voice box to the lungs by means of the wind-pipe which is about four inches long and one inch wide. It has rings of gristles which keep it open. The wind pipe, at the lower end, is divided into two branches that go to the two lungs.

The lungs are the most complicated and important organ or respiration. They comprise two elastic spongy masses, each enclosed in a pleura, almost filing the chest cavity. The lungs are made up of millions of little air bags, which are, in fact, the ends of smallest wind-pipes. Around the air-bags are the blood-vessels which are extremely thin and delicate. Thus, the blood is always in contact with the air in the bag. To fill the lungs with air, the chest is expanded, the lungs also expanding, and the air from outside goes into them.

In the lungs, the air gets very close to the impure blood, that comes from the muscles by way of the heart. The impure blood, dark red in colour, has too much of carbon dioxide in it with very little oxygen. The blood comes from the tissues which have taken oxygen from it but have loaded it with carbon dioxide. In the tissues, oxygen is used every minute to burn up food material resulting in production of considerable quantity of carbon dioxide. The lungs’ function is to reverse this state of affairs, i.e., restoring its oxygen quota and expelling the excess carbon dioxide. Thus, the venous blood or the impure blood is rendered arterial (bright red in colour) in its passage through the lung capillaries. It goes back to the heart and is ready to do its work again. The new oxygen, taken by the blood all over the body, is picked up again by the muscles which need it for their normal functioning.

Asthma is normally a disorder of respiratory system characterised by severe paroxysms of difficult breathing. The onset of an attack is sudden, though the patient starts feeling uneasy, drowsy and a little irritable before the difficulty of breathing starts. Respiration becomes difficult and the breath comes with a wheezing and sometimes whistling sound. Although the apparent symptoms of asthma are manifest in basically the respiratory tract, their cause might be lying outside it. This is the topic of our next chapter.

2

What is Asthma ?

Is it an Allergy ?

Asthma, as hinted earlier, is characterised by difficulty in breathing, a sense of tightness, constriction around the chest, and a wheezing noise as the breath is expelled. Bronchial asthma, commonly called asthma, is normally an allergic state of the body. When an asthma patient comes in contact with an allergic substance, it behaves, as an antigen and reacts with the corresponding antibodies