Asthma is a lung disease that can be life threatening.
Asthma is a chronic, or long-term disease, which can affect you for the rest of your life.
Asthma causes breathing problems. The airways in the lungs get blocked, causing the lungs to get less air than normal. Symptoms of an "asthma attack" can be difficulty with breathing, a tight feeling in the chest, coughing and wheezing. Asthma can develop quickly and it can range from being a mild discomfort to a life-threatening
attack if breathing stops completely. Asthma problems are often separated by symptom-free periods.
When asthma causes breathing problems, the breathing problems are called asthma attacks or episodes of asthma.
During an asthma attack, three major changes that can take place in the lungs include:
- Cells in the air tubes make more mucus than normal. This mucus is very thick and sticky, and tends to clog up the tubes.
- Cells in the airways get inflamed, causing the air tubes to swell.
- The muscles around the air tubes tighten.
These changes cause the air tubes to narrow which makes it hard to breathe.
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