about asthma?

[OtisTheMarsupial]

Do we have any doctors, med students, or others knowledgable about asthma? Everything I read about it says "there's no known cause." True or not?

[Brainwalter]

It's not genetic?

[OtisTheMarsupial]

[ QUOTE ]
It's not genetic?

[/ QUOTE ]

Not entirely. Kids from urban areas have it more often than kids from rural areas. More Americans have it now than ever before. Sometimes it's related to allergies. And allergies can develop overnight. You can get asthma in your 20s out of nowhere...

[BoogerFace]

I think 'no known cause' means that medical science doesn't really understand it/can't cure it.

And no, inhaling steroids isn't a cure - it's a treatment.

[meanjean]

[ QUOTE ]
Do we have any doctors, med students, or others knowledgable about asthma? Everything I read about it says "there's no known cause." True or not?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, I do this stuff.
not true...they know quite a bit about it...what you might be reading is information about severe asthma or asthma that doesn't respond to convential treatment...much less is known about it

[LALDAAS]

I had very serious asthma growing up. I was a double bronchal asthmatic.

My case when I was a child was so serious they paid my parents royalites to publish it medical books. This didnt not even cover my medical bills.

Horror is not the word for this. It is enough to make a grown man cry.

I am lucky enough to have grown out of this around the age of 20.

Usless you have it you will never know the suffering.

Try this in a 8x8 foot bathroom turn on the shower as hot as it will go for 30 mins and have 25 smokers chain smoking in there.

Try to breath and this isn't half as bad as an attack.

[wh1t3bread]

[ QUOTE ]
Not entirely. Kids from urban areas have it more often than kids from rural areas. More Americans have it now than ever before. Sometimes it's related to allergies. And allergies can develop overnight. You can get asthma in your 20s out of nowhere...

[/ QUOTE ]

This is pretty true. There are tons of causes of Asthma. Allergies is probably the main cause. People whose parents smoked are at a higher risk of developing asthma too.

Asthma attacks can be caused probably by thousands of things including allergies, change in seasons/weather, exercise or even mental things like a panic attack.

I've had asthma since I was about 7. Sometimes it was bad but it never really prevented me from doing anything that I wanted to do. For that I am thankful. But it's a bitch. I mostly grew out of it by the time I was in High School. I'm 25 now and I still have problems from time to time usually caused by my arch enemies - dust mites or [censored] cats.

[CD56]

[ QUOTE ]
Do we have any doctors, med students, or others knowledgable about asthma? Everything I read about it says "there's no known cause." True or not?

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm a med student, I'll do my best to explain what I know.

I think what they mean when they say that they are uncertain about the cause is that they are not sure why some people get it and others do not. As opposed to something like lung cancer where we know that smoking is the primary reason people get it. We know an awful lot about what it is, and what is happening pathophysiologically.

It's an extremely complex process with lots of factors leading to one endpoint-an inappropriately constricted airway. Having so many factors is why there are so many different treatment options, and also why it is so tough to individualize treatment, each person has a different combination and of those factors and will thus respond differently to treatment.

The factors include (but are not limited to):
1) Hypersensitive allergic response
2) Smooth muscle hypertrophy in the bronchioles
3) Hyperplasia of mucous secreting cells
4) Increased sensitivity to airway stimuli like cold air/exercise

In many ways it is idiopathic because it can appear out of nowhere in a young adult or more rarely an older adult. It can also disappear in a young adult who has been suffering for their whole life.

There is a correlation with family history.

hope this helps.

[Skipbidder]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Do we have any doctors, med students, or others knowledgable about asthma? Everything I read about it says "there's no known cause." True or not?

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm a med student, I'll do my best to explain what I know.

I think what they mean when they say that they are uncertain about the cause is that they are not sure why some people get it and others do not. As opposed to something like lung cancer where we know that smoking is the primary reason people get it. We know an awful lot about what it is, and what is happening pathophysiologically.

It's an extremely complex process with lots of factors leading to one endpoint-an inappropriately constricted airway. Having so many factors is why there are so many different treatment options, and also why it is so tough to individualize treatment, each person has a different combination and of those factors and will thus respond differently to treatment.

The factors include (but are not limited to):
1) Hypersensitive allergic response
2) Smooth muscle hypertrophy in the bronchioles
3) Hyperplasia of mucous secreting cells
4) Increased sensitivity to airway stimuli like cold air/exercise

In many ways it is idiopathic because it can appear out of nowhere in a young adult or more rarely an older adult. It can also disappear in a young adult who has been suffering for their whole life.

There is a correlation with family history.

hope this helps.

[/ QUOTE ]

You aren't on rounds. You don't get to say idiopathic here. Try again, explaining it as if you are talking to a patient. /images/graemlins/smile.gif