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Obviously we all want our children to lead healthy and normal lives even if they are afflicted with an asthma condition. Inhalers have made it possible for people with asthma to live with the condition, although medications act according to their class. For example, albuterol quickly relaxes the muscles surrounding the air passages and wheezing and coughing rapidly decrease. One drawback of albuterol is symptoms disappear so fast that a person feels better even though swelling and inflammation of surface linings can still occur. Eventually wheezing and shortness of breath recur and the drug’s effectiveness is moot. In extreme cases, a combination of swelling, inflammation and excess fluids can lead to suffocation. Another drug, cromolyn acts slowly and reduces swelling and inflammation.

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One out of ten children suffer from an asthma condition today. The severity of the condition can vary and fortunately, recent advancements in treatments have markedly improved things for children with the disorder. Many will live completely “normal” lives with the use of inhalers to make their breathing easier.

The textbook definition of asthma is that it is a chronic lung disease in which air passageways become restricted and asthma sufferers’ airways contract in an abnormal and exaggerated manner. People who suffer an asthma attack are reacting to something that causes their airways to tighten. For one person, it may be smoke, for another, it could be the temperature of the air, or irritants in the air itself. Airways constrict in several manners. Muscle tissue that surrounds air passages ways can tighten making the airways narrow. Airways can be constricted by swelling and/or inflammation of the airway surface tissue or lining. Finally, fluids can collect in the airways causing severe congestion. These three events create the symptoms associated with asthma: wheezing, gasping for breath and coughing.