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Do I have to take my asthma medicine every day?

If you have asthma problems maybe you’ve asked yourself if it’s really necessary to take your pills every day. This is especially true if symptoms are not often interrupting your daily activities. Maybe you have minor symptoms once or twice a week, and you are asking yourself, “Should I change my daily asthma treatment?”. Doctors have wondered about the same thing and after much research they have reached an encouraging conclusion. The research indicates that for some people who suffer from the easier forms of asthma don’t have to rely on daily treatment, especially if their symptoms don’t affect their daily regimen. Only your doctor can decide if this is right for you.

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Blog Review:
Fiber Optic 101

This blog has a series of posts about fiber optic technology. This is an exploration of the concept, technology, and application of fiber optics. This includes telephone, Internet, cable TV, and lighting applications. This blog is like an introductory course with a lot of things being touched on without many specific technical details; it is a good overview. The blog starts with a good introduction and overview for those who know little or nothing about fiber optic technology and who might find it interesting to know a little more about how digital cable images get into their homes, and why that image quality is so much better than before.

Blog Review:
Developmental Discovery Blog

This blog has posted a series of articles about developmental problems for this blog. Children with developmental problems have either stopped developing, have sluggish development, or have missed many of their normal developmental steps. The author writes about the conditions of children with developmental problems and describes the difficulties these children and their parents have in dealing with educational, behavioral, psychological, and medical service organizations. The author believes that our culture has created these developmental problems and that these cultural systems  (the service organizations for these children) make it much worse than it needs to be.

This blog posts these articles because the author and his wife have broken the code on developmental problems. In all the service organizations in this field, the professionals think that there is no cure for developmental problems (which range from ADHD, Learning Disability and dyslexia, to autism, Asperger’s, and PDD) and those professionals have no hope that these conditions can ever be solved. But, he says, he and his wife have figured out what has interfered with these children’s developmental process. They have developed a coaching program they call Developmental Discovery, that re-engages the faulty process and gets the child back on track to become age-appropriate (to become normal).

What is Asthma?

Asthma is a disorder of the respiratory system. It is very common in both children and adults. Its symptoms include shortness of breath, coughing, chest tightness, and wheezing. Asthma manifests itself in repeated episodes, usually triggered by various factors. Asthmatics are usually sensitive to things like cold air and stress. They often have various illnesses similar to the common cold. Many health care associations have focused their attention on asthma, because more than a quarter of urban children suffer from various forms of this disease.

Short History of Asthma

From a historical perspective, asthma was mentioned for the first time in Homer’s Iliad in 450 BC. In the second century AD, Galen wrote some studies about this problem but he didn’t provide solutions. His writings on this topic were based mostly on personals observation. In 1190 a treatise about asthma was written by a Jewish doctor, he described some methods of prevention and various treatments. Later in the 18th century an Italian, Bernardino Ramazzini, wrote about the relationship between dust and asthma. The first effective treatment was introduced in 1901 when bronchodilators were used for the first time. And, even though they appeared in the beginning of the century, anti–inflammatory medication was finally included in the asthmatics regime in 1960.

Asthma Symptoms

Asthma has many signs and symptoms. The most general involves chronic respiratory problems. These crises are usually triggered by the factors previously mentioned. Other triggers can cause problems depending on each individual’s weaknesses, for instance, general irritants like airborne allergens and air pollutants can bring on an attack. Acute asthma attacks can make someone turn blue in the face and even cause loss of consciousness, because for some, the pain can be severe.

Diagnostic Process 

Any doctor can give a diagnosis if he/she knows the patient’s health history and the family background. Asthma is often hereditary. It is difficult to diagnose a young child with asthma, because they don’t have a very long health record and studies may be needed to confirm the suspicion of asthma or not. Depending on the severity of the difficulty, asthma can be classified as mild intermittent, mild persistent, or the more serious forms as moderate persistent and severe persistent.

There is no cure

Asthma is yet another chronic illness for which the medical profession has no known cure. It seems that if you contract asthma, you have it for a lifetime. Because the medical profession has not developed a cure, doctors concentrate on providing ways to prevent attacks and reduce the severity and duration of attacks. Many people, particularly in urban areas, are effected by asthma every day and science still struggles to come up with a solution.