Types of asthma
The asthma attacks can vary in their severity and seriousness; these attacks are sometimes mild and sometimes very dangerous. This difference in severity of these attacks also affects the course of life and thus is a real matter of concern both in children and also in adults.
New classification of types of asthma:
There were pattern that existed in the types of classification of asthma and thus according to it asthma was earlier classified into two types:
1)Extrinsic asthma or the allergic asthma.
2)Intrinsic asthma or the non allergic types of asthma.
Today there have been changes in the classification and asthma is classified accordingly in different types like:
Allergic or non allergic
Nocturnal asthma
Exercise related asthma
Occupational asthma and
Steroid resistant asthma
Allergic asthma:
This type of asthma is basically caused by the allergens that are in the surroundings near us. These allergens are capable of causing various types of allergic reactions in the body.
The cause can simply be the allergens that are around be it the dust particles, the pollen grains and also the smoke that is around. These can cause the allergic reactions which may lead to asthma in the person’s body. There arte a few other causes like the bacteria, emotional reasons, stress, chemicals and also smoke and wooden particles that can cause these allergic reactions leading to asthma.
Childhood asthma due to allergy: the most prominent type of asthma in children is the allergic asthma this type of asthma is mostly common in boys than girls. The reasons like maternal smoking can be the cause that can contribute in asthma to the child. The continuous exposure to smoke can trigger asthma. This smoke makes children more vulnerable towards asthma.
Intrinsic asthma:
These types of asthma are caused by the non allergic reactions in the respiratory tract. These are not likely to affect children as they mostly affect people with age above 40 years. These are caused due to excessive smoking that can cause respiratory infections, and also perfumes and cold or other respiratory infections contribute to the cause of this type of asthma. These types of asthma are less responsive towards the medication than the allergic asthma.
Exercise induced asthma:
Out of the total non asthmatic population nearly 11% suffer from exercise induced asthma. These people might have a family history towards allergy and allergic reactions.
This can affect the body at any age and this type of asthma can be due to the exercises that one does which results in the loss of heat from the body. Frequent coughing while the person exercise is the only symptom in exercise induced asthma. During the cold season this type of asthma can be more serious and complicated. Proper medication can prevent this type of asthma.
Nocturnal asthma:
This type of asthma doesn’t mean that the symptoms or the affect is more frequent during night. This means that the symptoms are dominant while the person sleeps be it morning noon or even night time. The basic cause can be the presence of allergens in the place where the person sleeps; other reason might be the decrease in the room temperature or the GERD (gastroesophageal reflux). 75% of the asthmatic cases are this type of asthma.
Occupational asthma:
This type of asthma is caused due to the smoke fumes and other causes like wood or chemical particles at the work place. This type of asthma comprises of 15% of total asthmatic patients.
Steroid resistant asthma:
When we talk about asthma medications, steroids are not better if they are taken in excess. Over use of drugs can cause asthmaticus. This is a severe asthmatic attack that requires ventilation support for the patient. To prevent yourself from this condition the basic step to be followed is to listen and take your doctor’s advice properly.