ASTHMA

Asthma is a disease of the respiratory system. Your respiratory system is made up of your nose and mouth, your windpipe (also called your trachea, pronounced tray-key-uh), your lungs, and a bunch of air tubes (or airways) that connect your nose and mouth with your lungs (these tubes are called bronchi and bronchioles, prounounced bron-kye and bron-key-oles).

People who have asthma sometimes have trouble breathing. When people who have asthma have this trouble breathing, we call it an asthma attack.
When most of us breathe, the muscles that are wrapped around the air tubes (airways) are very loose and relaxed, and the lining inside the airways is very thin. This lets the airways open up very wide so that it is easy to get air in and out of the small air sacs that make up your lungs. These small sacs are called alveoli (pronounced al-vee-oh-lye). When air moves in and out of your lungs, we call it breathing.

The muscles that are wrapped around the airways are very thin and loose, and the airway is wide open. This makes it easy to move air in and out of the air sacs.
When you are breathing normally, it takes about the same amount of time to breathe in (inspire) as it does to breathe out (expire).
During an asthma attack, the muscles around the airways tighten, or "spasm" (like when you make a fist) and the lining inside the airways swell or thicken, and get clogged with lots of thick mucous. This makes the airways much skinnier than usual so it is harder to move air in and out of the air sacs. This makes it hard to breathe!

During an asthma attack, it is actually harder to breathe out than it is to breathe in. This means that during an asthma attack, it takes much longer to breathe out (expire) than it does to breathe in (inspire).
Since it is so hard to breathe out during an asthma attack, more and more air gets trapped inside the lungs making it feel like you can't breathe in or out!

What causes asthma attacks?

Lots of different things can cause an asthma attack. Something that causes an asthma attack is called a trigger. Some common triggers of asthma attacks are:

allergies
infections like colds or bronchitis
exercise
changes in the weather (from mild to cold)
smoke -->

Everybody doesn't feel the same things when they have an asthma attack.
sometimes during an asthma attack, people will cough and cough and cough,
sometimes during an asthma attack, people feel like they can't catch their breath,

Sometimes during an asthma attack, people feel like air is trapped in their lungs and they can't get it out,
Sometimes during an asthma attack, people have pain in their chest,
Sometimes during an asthma attack, people have very noisy breathing,
People who have asthma sometimes have trouble breathing. When people who have asthma have this trouble breathing, we call it an asthma attack. Lots of people have asthma attacks, even the two girls just below. Click on their pictures to hear what they feel like when they have an asthma attack.

There are many different medicines that doctors may use to help people with asthma. Some medicines are swallowed (pills or liquids), some medicines are inhaled (breathed in through your mouth or nose), and some medicines are injected (given as a shot in one of your muscles or veins). For most people, inhaled medicines are used first because they start working very fast (usually in less than five minutes!) and they don't have too many side effects. This is because inhaled medicines go right into the lungs and not into other parts of the body.

Medicines can work in different ways to help people who have asthma.
some medicines make the muscles around the airways to relax. These medicines are called bronchodilators

Some medicines lessen the swelling and irritation in the airways. These medicines are called anti-inflammatory agents (corticosteroids or steroids)
some medicines are used to prevent asthma attacks from starting (cromolyn sodium)

How can I help someone having an asthma attack?

get their inhaler for them
go find an adult