How Asthma Can Impact Your Overall Health

Millions of people cope with asthma, a respiratory condition that affects their breathing. But what kind of effect does asthma have on the rest of the body? Read on to find out.

Asthma is a chronic lung illness that affects over 28 million American children and adults, with attack rates slightly more common in children.

It’s easy to focus on the immediate risk of breathing problems associated with this condition, but it’s important to know that without proper care, asthma can affect whole-body health.

Dr. Temekah Johnson and the medical team at Quality Health Source in Mableton, Georgia, assist their patients with various illnesses, including the long-term complications associated with asthma and other chronic conditions.

Asthma facts

Respiration requires taking in air and delivering oxygen to your bloodstream, and your lungs play a vital role. Asthma affects small air passages in your lungs, causing inflammation and making respiration difficult.

This inflammation leads to the airways swelling and filling with mucus, reducing how much air can travel through and affecting your breathing. That’s referred to as an asthma attack, which can complicate your ability to perform basic activities.

Causes and symptoms

Experts don’t entirely understand what causes asthma, but the illness comes in multiple forms. Allergic asthma, the most common, occurs when people have an adverse reaction to otherwise harmless particles (allergens). However, non-allergic asthma causes the same bodily response.

Allergic triggers include animal dander, pollen, various foods, and dust. Non-allergic asthma triggers include burning wood, cigarette smoke, viral diseases, cleaning products, air fresheners, air pollution, and perfumes.

During an asthma attack, you may experience wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness or pressure, pain, and coughing. These symptoms can persist or appear only during attacks.

Asthma effects on the body

Poorly managed asthma exposes your lungs' airways to chronic inflammation issues, increasing your risk of several other medical conditions, including:

Obstructive sleep apnea

Because you’re already dealing with asthma-related airway inflammation, your risk of sleep apnea increases. With sleep apnea, an airway obstruction causes you to stop breathing temporarily as you sleep.

This condition can consistently leave you feeling tired in the morning, even after a night’s sleep.

Reduced tolerance to exercise

The inability to breathe limits your physical capabilities, making walking, running, and other essential everyday activities exhausting and challenging.

Higher risk of lung infection

The chances of infections like pneumonia increase with chronic, untreated asthma, as excess mucus facilitates bacterial growth in the lungs.

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)

Researchers continue to study the connection between asthma and GERD, but acid reflux likely triggers problems when esophageal inflammation spills over to the smooth muscles of the airways.

Respiratory failure

In extreme cases, you can’t get enough oxygen through your lungs and into the bloodstream, leading to a severe type of attack (status asthmaticus). The resulting drop in blood oxygen (hypoxemia) and increase in carbon dioxide (hypercapnia) can cause respiratory distress.

Asthma isn’t curable, but managing symptoms is vital to your long-term health and reducing complications. To help with your asthma, make an appointment by phone or online today with Dr. Johnson and the team at Quality Health Source.