Pollens occur in the powder-like substance seen in some of the flowers. Pollen grains are very small in size. In a majority of cases, they are yellow in colour.
Only some of the pollens cause asthma. Out of thousands of different pollens, only about a hundred are known to cause this disease. A plant must have the following characteristic features before its pollens can be suspected of being the cause.
We have, over the years, seen many cases of asthma having their symptoms only during the Diwali season. Our investigations have shown that it is not the Diwali weather which is detrimental , to the health of these people. It is the customary cleaning of the house among north Indians at this time which raises so much dust that those who are allergic to it, experience symptoms of asthma.
Henry Hyde Salter has provided the first accurate description of the attacks of asthma on exposure to a cat.
The cause of this asthma is the proximity of a common domestic cat; the symptoms are very similar to those of hay fever, and, as in the case of hay fever, are occasioned by some sudden influence inappreciable by the sense. I cannot recollect at what time I first became subject to the cat asthma, but I believe the susceptibility has existed from the earliest period of life.
Insect bites normally cause pain and swelling. This is due to the effect of the venom. The degree of reaction produced depends upon the type and quantity of venom introduced. But in some people the venom acts as an antigen and, with the antibodies already present, causes an allergic reaction.
During the rainy season, all of us have noticed that if bread is left unused for a few days, a green fibrous growth appears on it; this happens also if a pair of shoes is left unused for a few days in the same weather. These fibrous growths, which appear in humid weather, are moulds or fungi.
Bronchial asthma is a common condition; it is estimated that roughly one per cent of the world population have bronchial asthma. Its incidence is a little more in boys than in girls; in adult life, this difference disapperrs. Incidence is high or even slighty more, in the upper income groups than in the lower.
Continue reading Asthma Treatment: Influencing Factors of Asthma
Allergy to different foods is a well recognized phenomenon. Hippocrates, the famouse Greek physician generally regarded as father of medicine in the fifth century B.C., was perhaps, one of the first to record a case of stomach upset and vascular reaction to the skin (urticaria) in a patient who took milk.
Asthma manifests itself differently in children, adults and elderly people. In children, it is usually manifested as cough and wheeze; in adults, as paroxysmal attacks of breathlessness; in older people, while paroxysmal attacks may continue, exertional dyspnoea (breathlessness on exertion) also set in due to the complications of chronic bronchitis and emphysema.
Asthma, many a time, starts in childhood, but the picture of asthma then is different from that observed in adulthood. In children, generally speaking, asthma is present as recurent atacks of cough and wheezing only; in some attacks, it is accompanied by fever and braethlessness also. Breathlessness in asthmatic children, usually, does not come in the form of paroxysmal attack.
Asthma is treated firstly, to remove or lessen its symptoms and agony, and secondly, to remove its cause as far as possible. It is better and desirable that both aspects be undertaken side by side. Let us first take the drug treatment of asthma.