Essay On Asthma

Asthma is a chronic disease that affects 20 million people’s abilities to breathe in the United States alone. (Sheen, 8.) Asthma is known as the ‘silent tsunami’ in places like China where uncontrolled asthma contributes to ten percent of deaths from ages five to thirty-four. (Sheen, 10.) Asthma affects so many people’s lives, and I know personally I used to think of it as something so many people have, but never really looked into how detrimental it can be. I maintained this mentality until I had a moderate asthma attack after running at a softball practice. I started to freak out because I was having a hard time breathing, so I drank a ton of water not understanding what was going on. Later on, I told my mom what happened, and she just shrugged it off and told me to ask the doctor next time we went in. Finally, we visited the doctor, and I told him what was going on and he informed me that I suffer from exercise-induced asthma. I was prescribed an inhaler, and I had to use it before I participated in any exercise activity. Asthma snuck up on me, and if I had never gone to the doctor I would have eventually over exerted myself while exercising

Some of these moderate signs include coughing, shortness of breath, feeling weak when exercising, wheezing or couching after exercise, being moody or grouchy, changes in lung function, and trouble sleeping. (“Asthma Symptoms.”) Noticing these signs and being aware of what you should do if faced with these signs can prevent major symptoms of asthma. Some of then most common symptoms of asthma include couching, especially at night, shortness of breath, wheezing, and chest tightness, pain, or pressure. The biggest symptom of asthma is the asthma attack. During an asthma attack all the muscles in your airways close up making it hard to breathe and could possibly be life threatening if one does not know the signs and symptoms of