What is asthma?
Asthma is a condition where the breathing is restricted. We breathe through airways to get the air into our lungs, and it's the airways that are involved with asthma. The airways become inflamed or the airway lining becomes irritated. Secondarily, the airways may become constricted by the muscles that surround them.
This results in difficulty getting a good, deep breath. Other symptoms include wheezing, cough and tightness of the chest.
Is asthma a serious problem or just a nuisance?
Asthma is both a nuisance for people who aren't breathing well and a very serious problem, in that it can cause death. Asthma is a fairly common condition in the United States today, affecting 5 percent to 10 percent of the population. It generally starts sometime in childhood, but it can occur at any time of life. There are approximately 5,000 deaths a year from asthma in the United States. The good news is most of these could be prevented with appropriate identification of the condition and appropriate treatment. So although it's very serious, it's also very manageable.
What symptoms do people experience?
There is a broad range of symptoms that people can experience with asthma, from intermittent tightness or wheezing only when they do heavy exercise, to more serious symptoms and signs of asthma. These can include tightness of the chest, difficulty getting a good deep breath, even disruption of sleep with difficulty breathing at night.
