Greetings, dear friends, it's another week in the Steemit Learning Challenge, and I'm delighted to join the contest organized here by @ashkhan. This week we are looking at a topic Asthma.
After carefully reading through the course and making my own little research to enhance my learning, I have come up with my participation below as I try to attempt all questions accordingly. Please read till the end and see my responses based on the lecture and the research made.
| What's Asthma? Write in your own words after getting knowledge from the lesson post. |
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When someone has a chronic respiratory conditions which makes it difficult for him or her to breath as a result of airways being narrowed then we can say that person has Asthma. Asthma is of different types based on how severe it is and these severity is triggered differently and some of the things that triggers it include exercise, respiratory infections, or irritants like smoke or strong odors or allergens.
To further discuss this indepthly, I also discover that the various types of Asthma is classified based on how severe it is on someone. So here we are going to be looking at a few of the most notable types which you may come across on daily basis for your information.
From the lecture, we have learnt that there are basically 3 types of asthma namely, occupational asthma, conventional asthma and exercise induced asthma but during my research I also found out a few other types of asthma which I will also want to discuss with us here in this task today.
Allergic Asthma (Extrinsic Asthma): The Allergic Asthma which is also called the Extrinsic Asthma is caused by allergens such as certain food, pollen dust mites etc.
Now the conditions associated to it, symptoms and the management must have the following paragraphs below.
Anyone who has such an asthma is always associated with high fever, eczema and many other conditions which are allergic in nature. The basic symptoms for this type of asthma include difficult breathing, coughing and many more. So to manage this one must avoid everything that has to do with allergic avoidance.
Non-Allergic Asthma (Intrinsic Asthma) : The Non-Allergic Asthma which is sometimes called the Intrinsic Asthma is caused by stress, string odors, infections and many more.
Now the Characteristics and what triggers this type of asthma the most is what I will be discussing in the paragraph below.
The major characteristics associated with this type of asthma is that is more severe when compared to the allergic type of asthma and the response to treatment is not as easy as it is in when compare to the allergic asthma. It is mostly triggered by Viral respiratory infections and many more.
Exercise-Induced Asthma (EIA) or Exercise-Induced Bronchoconstriction (EIB) : In this type of asthma as the name implies, it is caused after or during an exercise due to the narrowing of airways which doesn't allow free flow of air.
Now the trigger, symptoms and management of this type of asthma the most is what I will be discussing in the paragraph below.
Dry air or cold is one of the major triggers to this type.of asthma and consistent coughing and chest pain is the symptoms one will experience and the way one can manage this is to ensure regular warm up before doing any exercise.
Occupational Asthma : This type of asthma is caused due to exposure to work place such as a chemical producing factory or industries and many more like it.
A good example include those working in bakery as they get themselves expose to flour dust and also those working in a perfume industries as they get themselves expose to chemicals. To manage this one should think of changing a working environment.
Other forms of asthma I came across while doing my research but can't discuss it here at the moment because of time include Childhood Asthma, Adult-Onset Asthma, Severe Asthma, Aspirin-Exacerbated Respiratory Disease (AERD), Cough-Variant Asthma and lastly Nocturnal Asthma.
Common Causes and symptoms of asthma: In general, the basic cause and symptoms of asthma include cough, shortness of breath and chest pain. Asthma is majorly cause by genetic and environmental factors as early explained while discussing some of the types of asthma above.
Triggers and Treatment Of asthma in general: Some of the major triggers include allergens, smoke, exercise respiratory infection etc. One of the easiest ways to treat asthma is via the use of inhalers and avoidance of triggers which is staying aware from areas that causes the trigger of the asthma.
| How would you diagnose asthma? Any clinical investigation or assessment tests? |
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To diagnose asthma one must pass through a few step such medical history, physical examination and carrying out of various tests to determine how far the lung is functioning. In this section I will like to explaine a few of the steps.
Medical History: A proper check of how long the cough, chest pain and others are made. History is checked on the patient health to these regards properly. Also a check of what triggers the asthma is made to determine the type of asthma. Family history is also checked and finally occupation or environment of work is also checked.
Physical Examination: A physical check is made here such as listening to how the chest is breathing to know how far the airways are. Also feasible allergies are checked such as rashes etc., the shape of the chest is also checked to be sure.
Tests Carried out include
- Lung Function Tests
- Bronchodilator Reversibility Test
- Methacholine Challenge Test
- Allergy Testing
- Exhaled Nitric Oxide Test (FeNO)
- Chest X-ray or CT Scan
- Exercise or Cold-Air Challenge Test
The various tests are done based on the severity of the asthma issue and also to confirm the.tyoe.os asthma that is disturbing the patient. Take for instance Allergy Testing which detect allergens that may possibly trigger asthma.
| Try to practice at least 3 exercises that you have learned from the lesson. Share images, gifs or videos while practising. |
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Diaphragmatic Breathing Exercise
From the image above you can see myself performing the Diaphragmatic Breathing Exercise where I sat on a chair with my one hand on my belly and the other on my chest. I took a deep breath and then pushed my belly and my hand outward. The movement of my chest is at minimum and then I concentrated on the deep breathing.
Upper Chest Stretch
The image above shows the upper chest stretch where i stretched out my both hands behind my back and then I chest out and the pushed my head backward to level the pelvic. The entire body bones where in complete movement during this time. I did it for about some minutes.
Pursed lip breathing exercise
The above image shows me carrying out the Pursed lip breathing exercise where I took and appropriate position of myself and then I closed my mouth and breath deeply from my nose in and out for a while. Next I opened my lips and pursed it as though I wanted to whistle and then i breathed in with my lips for a while as well.
| Share your review after performing these exercises either on yourself, healthy individual or patient. |
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After performing these exercises I felt very relief and I noticed that they entire of my bones was stretched out completely. More also, I noticed that my breathing also became very easy and the flow of airways became even more better.
After performing the Diaphragmatic Breathing Exercise I was able to breath in and out very well because of the posture I had setting with my hand on my belly and the other on the chest.
Upper Chest Stretch, in this exercise the entire of my bones answered to the stretch I made and I felt a little relief as the airways was opened very well and I was also able to breath very well.
Pursed lip breathing exercise, during this exercise the posture I found myself was very nice and breathing from my mouth and nose was very nice as well. The entire airways was opened.
Finally I want to invite @josepha, @suboohi and @dove11 to also share their participation in this contest if they haven't done that already.
Thank you for understanding the lesson and sharing your assignment; I hope that you will enjoy this week's lesson and try to implement it in your life if you see any such case.
Observations
Task 1 (3/3)
You have shared a great knowledge about asthma, and it's causes, symptoms, types. You explain each thing in detail. I appreciate your effort.
Task 2 (2.8/3)
In the second question, you tell us about how you have to assess a patient by doing physical examination and history taking, performing the investigations of patients and specialized tests. But Spirometer is the best device to measure your lung function. Great.
Task 3 (3.4/4)
You try the pursed lip, diaphragmatic breathing and upper chest stretch. But while performing breathing exercises try to make a gif to elaborate it more and other can understand easily. Remember always take steam or nebulization before performing exercises to relax your muscles & dislodge sputum that can excrete out easily. I appreciate your efforts.
Overall you made a great attempt to answer all the questions. I appreciate your efforts. But next time try to avoid the above written suggestions. Keep learning and try to implement your knowledge to the people suffering from any asthma as winter is the trigger of most the people suffering from asthma. Thank you.
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I can see that you followed the lesson teachings well and your post is great wish you success in this contest sir 👌👍👍👍
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Upvoted! Thank you for supporting witness @jswit.
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