Most people will have heard of exercise induced asthma which happens during bouts of physical activity but another chronic variety of the condition is allergy asthma.
So What Is It Really? Asthma itself is a disease that occurs in the lungs and airways.
When a person is having an asthma attack their airways become constricted, limiting the air flow.
The lungs work harder to try and produce more air for the body, but it is unable to be processed through the airways.
There are some schools of thought that asthma is a condition that can be inherited.
This disease is often found in families, so scientists believe there must be a genetic link to the disease.
The condition can sometimes be one that a child will outgrow by adulthood, but this doesn't always happen.
Allergy induced asthma is a form of the condition that is triggered by a person's allergies.
As in exercise induced asthma, the trigger is exercise, so with allergy asthma the trigger is allergies.
When a trigger is introduced into the body, the bodys reaction is to have an asthma attack.
Discovering what triggers these attacks is the most important component of a patients care.
Allergic asthma can be very serious, and a patient needs to be aware of what allergies they may have so they can avoid those triggers.
When a patient has allergy asthma they must have tests to find out just what it is they are allergic to.
The triggers can be identified by testing and they can be any number and variety of outside substances.
A patient will more than likely be advised by their physician to have the testing done to determine exactly which the allergies that affect them are.
This testing can be an entire days worth of effort but is well worthwhile.
The patient is scraped with a small needle that contains specific substances.
These can be animal dander, pollen, weeds, dust, mold or even foods can be used.
The patient then waits to see if they have a physical reaction.
The test is done by dividing the patients back into a grid and then scraping small sections of the back.
The physician then evaluates whether there has been a reaction or not.
Once it has been determined what a patient is allergic too, further treatment will be suggested.
When someone has allergy asthma and they discover they are allergic to say cats, they then know to avoid cats and this will help prevent further asthma attacks.
The condition can be controlled by different medications and the patient needs to be in charge of their own health by following the instructions of the medical advisor.