What is Asthma?
Asthma is a chronic disease that affects breathing by affecting airways. The airways are the tubes that carry air in and out of your lungs. The inside walls of your airways are inflamed (swollen) causing the passage to become very narrow. The inflammation makes the airways very sensitive, and they tend to react strongly to things that you are allergic to or find irritating. This causes symptoms like wheezing (a whistling sound when you breathe), coughing, chest tightness, and trouble breathing, especially at night and early in the morning.

Asthma cannot be cured, but most people with asthma can control it so that they have few and infrequent symptoms and can live active lives. There are many hakims and homeopaths who claim to cure asthma. This is not true. Children do grow out of asthma by the time they are 16 years old.

When your asthma symptoms become worse than usual, it is called an asthma episode or attack. During an asthma attack, muscles around the airways tighten up, making the airways narrower so less air flows through. Inflammation increases, and the airways become more swollen and even narrower. Cells in the airways may also make more mucus than usual. This extra mucus also narrows the airways. These changes make it harder to breathe.

Signs and Symptoms of Asthma
Common asthma symptoms include:
* Coughing. It is often worse at night or early in the morning, making it hard to sleep.
* Wheezing. It is a whistling or squeaky sound that comes when you breathe.
* Chest tightness. This might feel like something is squeezing or sitting on your chest.
* Shortness of breath. You may feel like you can’t get enough air in or out of your lungs. One gets short of breath climbing stairs. * Faster breathing or noisy breathing.
Symptoms may vary from one asthma attack to another in their frequency, intensity and duration. Sometimes symptoms can be so serious that they are life-threatening. With proper treatment, however, most people with asthma can expect to have few or no symptoms.
Diagnosis of Asthma
Some questions your doctor will ask about include:
* Periods of coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, or chest tightness that come on suddenly, occur often, or seem to happen during certain times of the year or season
* Colds that seem to “go to the chest” or take more than 10 days to get over
* Medicines you may have used to help your breathing
* Your family history of asthma and allergies
* Things that seem to cause your symptoms or make them worse

Your doctor will listen to your breathing and look for signs of asthma or allergies. He will use a device called a spirometer to check how your lungs are working. The test measures how much air you can blow out of your lungs after taking a deep breath, and how fast you can do it. The results will be lower than normal if your airways are inflamed and narrowed, or if the muscles around your airways have tightened up.

Danger Signs in Asthma
If your asthma is not under control, there will be signs that you should not ignore. The following are some signs that your asthma is getting worse:
* You have asthma symptoms more often than usual.
* Your asthma symptoms are worse than they used to be.
* Your asthma symptoms are bothering you a lot at night and making you lose sleep.
* You are missing school or work because of your asthma.
* Your peak flow number is low or varies a lot from day to day.
* Your asthma medicines do not seem to be working very well anymore.
* You have to use your short-acting quick-relief, or “rescue,” inhaler more often. (Using quick-relief medicine every day or using more than one inhaler a month is too much.)
* You have to go to the emergency room or doctor because of an asthma attack.
* You end up in the hospital because of your asthma.
Helping your Child live with the Condition
Children with asthma need the help of parents, other care-givers, teachers, and health-care professionals to keep their asthma under control. Help your child with asthma by:
* Taking your child to the doctor for regular check-ups and treatment.
* Making sure your child has an asthma self-management plan and that you know how to follow it.
* Helping your child learn about asthma and how to control it.
* Helping your child learn what things cause his or her asthma symptoms and how to avoid them, if possible.
* Protecting your child from tobacco smoke by not smoking and not allowing people to smoke in your home.
* Finding ways to reduce your child’s exposure to allergens that bring on asthma attacks, like pollen, dust mites, cockroaches, or animal dander.
* Making sure your child knows how to take asthma medicines correctly (if your child is old enough to use an inhaler without your help).
* Encouraging your child to take part in physical activity. Work together to keep his or her asthma under control. Your child can be active.