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You’ve been diagnosed with lung disease.
You’re not alone.
Today there are millions of people just like you, learning to control the symptoms of Asthma and COPD.
More is known about these diseases than ever before.
Therefore, more can be done to help you manage your symptoms and live a further life.
Asthma affects more than one hundred fifty million people in the world.
And COPD which your doctor may refer to you as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease is the fourth most common serious illness to affect people living in the United States.
Take a moment to learn about Asthma and COPD and what you and your doctor can do to control them.
Great strides have been made in understanding Asthma.
The medical field now agrees that Asthma is a disorder characterized by twitchy airways known as hyper-reactivity and inflammation in the lungs.
There are different types of drugs used to treat these two characteristics of the disease.
By focusing on the underline inflammation, you can better control the symptom to reduce the occurrence of Asthma attacks.
Inflammation is a response that normally occurs when your body needs to fight a disease or a disturbance to its natural balance.
Asthma, allergies, cold, stress or exercise can all cause inflammation.
Inflammation can also be the result when you breathe in cigarette smoke or have a viral infection.
You probably know the feeling of an Asthma attack.
The tightness in the chest, the feeling that you can’t breathe or perhaps even wheeze when you breathe.
But do you know what’s actually happening inside your lungs?
In people with Asthma, the inflammatory response is exaggerated and many different kinds of cells are involved.
These cells go through a complex set of activities to release chemicals.
The chemicals are what causes the symptoms of an asthma attack.
If this happens on a regular basis, your lungs may be damaged.
Although you may always have Asthma, there are treatments that can minimize and control the occurrence and alleviate the symptoms of an Asthma attack.
In fact, the inflammatory cells and chemicals in your lungs can be controlled when you use an inhaled corticosteroids, ICS, the most common treatment for Asthma.
This medication is usually delivered to the cells in your lungs through an inhaler.
Let’s have a closer look at how an ICS works.
When you are having an Asthma attack, chemicals released from an inflammatory cells in your lungs cause access fluid to leak from blood vessels in the lungs, tightening of the muscles surrounding the airways, and an over production of mucus.
When you inhale the ICS, the drug travels through the airways and is recognized by the inflammatory cells in your lungs.
When the drug interacts with the cells, the cells stop their production of the active chemicals causing inflammation.
Thus, the ICS is able to reduce the occurrence of Asthma attacks by stopping the inflammatory process, resulting in a decrease in the fluid and mucus buildup in the lungs and better control of your Asthma.
Even though ICSes are an effective maintenance treatment for Asthma, as with all drugs including placebo, there may be side effects associated with your medication.
Please talk to your doctor about these and other potential side effects.
You may also use a bronchodilator to relieve symptoms during an Asthma attack.
These drugs are known as rescue drugs as they begin to work immediately.
Bronchodilators work by relaxing the muscles around the airways resulting in an increase in airflow.
Beta agonists and Anticholinergics are two commonly used bronchodilators.
Usually the medicine is delivered into the lungs though an inhaler but can also be prescribed as peels or liquid or given as an injection.
There are side effects associated with bronchodilators.
Please talk to your doctor about these and other potential side effects.
Another class of medication called leukotriene receptor antagonists, LTRAs can also be prescribed.
These drugs work against inflammation by only acting on a certain group of cells that contribute to congestion, mucus, and construction of the airways.
Some side effects are also associated with LTRAs.
Please talk to your doctor about these and other potential side effects.
Another respiratory disease resulting from an overactive inflammatory response is Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, COPD.
COPD is a broad term used to describe a certain kind of blockage of air in the lungs.
COPD is often progressive, meaning it can’t get worse over time.
An individual with COPD experiences shortness of breath, a chronic cough, and limited pulmonary function, making daily activities such as walking or doing household chores difficult.
COPD may mean you may have chronic bronchitis or emphysema.
Chronic bronchitis is a long lasting series of infections caused by bacteria in your airways.
The mucus created over time due to infection can make it hard to breathe as well as damage your lungs.
Emphysema is lung damage caused by weakening or breaking of air sacs in the lung.
As with Asthma, inflammation is a key component of COPD.
Let’s take a closer look at COPD.
Long term exposure to an irritant such as cigarette smoke may activate inflammatory cells, some of which are not involved in Asthma.
These cells cause other cells to release chemicals that create mucus and break down lung tissue.
Over time, COPD may damage the alveoli cause the lung tissue to collapse, increase mucus buildup and create scar tissue.
These factors can obstruct air movement and actually change the shape of the lung.
Today, medications used to relieve the symptoms of COPD include inhaled bronchodilators that my partially open the narrow airways in your lungs to relieve the tightness and help prevent spasms.
These drugs do not address the long term decline in lung function but may provide temporary relief.
As with Asthma, several different bronchodilators can be used.
Using any kind of bronchodilator can cause side effects.
Please talk to your doctor about these and other potential side effects.
Oxygen to ease the sensation of not getting enough air in your lungs and improve the strain that the blocked airways put on your heart.
Antibiotics, to treat an infection and avoid further lung damage.
Expectorants, to loosen mucus.
Diuretics, to control fluid retention which can lead to heart problems.
Each of these medications have side effects that you would want to discuss with your doctor.
COPD is a disease that you will have for the rest of your life, however with proper medication, you may be able to control the symptoms associated with the disease.
Researchers needed to find new and better ways to treat COPD.
New path of research are being explored to find other targeted treatments for Asthma and COPD.
It is clear that controlling and preventing inflammation in both of these diseases is key to addressing that need.
Our goal is to develop medicine that helps fight respiratory inflammation.
At ALTANA, we’re opening new pathways.
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