Therapy
The therapy of asthma is essentially based on the severity of the disease, which is carried out according to a certain step-by-step scheme that is particularly oriented on the frequency of the symptoms. The focus is on drug therapy. This consists of the use of short-acting drugs for an acute asthma attack and long-acting drugs to control and contain the bronchial inflammatory reaction.Short-acting drugs (called reliefers) include short-acting beta-agonists, inhaled anticholinergics and theophylline.
They all cause a dilatation of the bronchial tubes during an acute asthma attack. Long-acting drugs (called controllers) such as corticosteroids, leukotriene antagonists, theophyllins, long-acting beta-2 antagonists and long-acting inhaled anticholinergic drugs are intended to reduce the inflammatory reaction of the bronchial mucosa in the long term and thus contribute to a reduction in asthma attacks. Non-drug therapy includes above all respiratory therapy for learning special breathing techniques and asthma groups.
Asthma vs. COPD
Although both asthma and COPD are diseases of the respiratory tract and show similar symptoms such as shortness of breath, they are nevertheless two completely different diseases. COPD is mostly caused by smoking and results in chronic bronchitis, while asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the respiratory tract caused by hypersensitivity of the bronchi. Unlike COPD, asthma is variable in severity and often seasonal.
It concerns with asthma thus not a progressive illness like COPD. When making the diagnosis, there are several characteristics that distinguish asthma from COPD. For example, a typical feature of asthma is that the narrowing of the bronchi is reversible (reversible) and the hyperreactivity of the bronchi is variable.
Thus, asthma attacks can be of varying severity and can vary greatly. COPD, on the other hand, usually occurs in adulthood and is the result of years of nicotine consumption. Asthma often occurs at a young age. Both illnesses are considered so far as incurable, contrary to COPD asthma can be however usually better medicamentously treated. For the concerning means that in most cases the everyday life with asthma can be denied more easily than with COPD.