Bronchial Asthma

Good mroning, I am Dr Ashok Rajput, a Pulmonologist, practising in Delhi. Today I will talk to you about very common disease, that is, Bronchial Asthma.

Asthma starts in early childhood and may persist in adult life. It is an episodic disease which is intermitted initially. Later, if left untreated, it become continuous and perennial. Whne one is exposed to dust, fumes, pollen and smoke then the inner lining of the airways swells and becomes inflammed and the lumen narrows. So it becomes difficult to breathe. So these patients get cough, wheezing, snoring and running nose.

The diagnosis of this condition is very easy. What you have to do?

You do Spirometry or a lung function study in which you blow into a computer and you get a graph. You repeat the test after giving bronchodilators, say 15-20 minutes. If you find an improvement in FEV1, one of the parameters, more than 12% you clinch a diagnosis of Asthma. 

The treatment of Asthma is very simple these days. The main stay of treatment is inhaled corticosteroids which is given through the inhalers. There are many types of inhalers available with good drugs which act for 12 hours which you need to take only in morning or evening and your Asthma gets controlled. When I say controlled, that means you will no longer have cough, wheeze or sneeze. You can sleep undisturbed in the night and can perform all the activities. You can lead a normal life.What you require is small dose of this inhaler.

Thank you for listening to me.

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