If you or a loved one suffers from asthma, you might be frustrated with how much it affects your life. It is not unusual for someone with asthma to be unable to join in on the fun or do activities that they enjoy for the fear of an attack. Luckily, there are things that you can do to help lessen asthma so that the body can function properly. Here are some things you need to know.

What Is Asthma?

Asthma is a immune response, in fact it is closely related to an allergy. People who have severe allergies, usually also have asthma. If you have asthma, there is a good chance you have other allergies that affect it. This is because asthma is caused by the immune system making a mistake. What happens with asthma is that the body is exposed to something safe, like some dust, and for some reason it sees the dust as being threatening to the body. So it sends the immune system into hyper drive. However, when it does that it actually creates more problems instead of helping. It contracts the lungs so that the person can't breathe, and stops them from doing what they were previously doing.

Asthma generally gives off the feeling that you can't breathe, but it can also be accompanied with rashes, and with a impending feeling of doom or even a panic attack.

How Do You Treat Asthma?

There are a couple things that you can do to treat asthma. Usually the most effective is taking some sort of steroid. Steroids help to suppress the immune system so when the immune system does decide to go into hyper drive it is not as strong so that the effects aren't as intense. This what a nebulizer or a inhaler do. They give small doses of a steroid medication that helps to relax the lungs. Additionally, you can get oral medication.

Another thing you can do is find things that trigger the response and avoid them. As previously mentioned many people with asthma also have additional allergies. Many times there are food or environmental allergens that exacerbate the problem. Thus, if you can determine what things are making it worse you can avoid these things, or get allergy treatments, like shots, for them.

Lastly, if the asthma becomes severe enough that it is fatal, you can get a shot of epinephrine to carry around so that you are protected.

By understanding these things you can protect yourself or loved ones from the negative of asthma.