Does Anyone Know What Causes Asthma?

Millions of Americans (many of them children and young adults) suffer each day with debilitating asthma symptoms: coughing, wheezing, inability to sleep through the night, and difficulty breathing at times so sever as to be life threatening. Incidence of allergic asthma are especially high in certain parts of the country such as Georgia and Tennessee; in Chattanooga RUSH immunology is often considered for some sufferers. But what exactly causes asthma? What triggers the attacks?

Inherited Atopy

Atopy is a predisposition to the development of allergic sensitivities and it's thought to have a genetic component. Similarly there's an allergic component to asthma that is thought to be passed on genetically. In other words if one or both of your parents suffered from asthma the chances that you will be susceptible to it are increased.

Allergic Reactions

An allergic sensitivity, obviously, needn't be inherited. Here are just some of the frequent airborne allergens known to be capable of triggering asthma attacks: animal dander, dust mites, cockroach particles, moulds, grasses and pollens. There are ingested allergens too that are often linked to asthma attcks they include: ASA, nuts, shrimp, and some food and drink preservatives. A patient's susceptibility to various allergic triggers can frequently be suppressed through the deployment of allergy shots (effectiveness isn't universal for all allergens but can prove quite effective for some).

Repiratory Infections in Childhood

It's believed that early childhood respiratory infections as well as childhood exposure to airborne allergens can increase a person's predisposition to the development of asthma later on in life. On the other hand some have proposed what has come to be known as the Hygiene hypothesis which suggests that our overly hygienic environments in which our children are growing up fails to introduce sufficient exposure to some infectious agents and allergens to promote the development of robust immune responses. These underdeveloped immune systems are, it is suggested, less capable of mounting appropriate responses to these infectious agents and allergens later on.

Some Physical Stimuli

For certain asthma sufferers their attacks can be triggered by purely physical stimuli like laughing, crying, shouting, vigorous exercise or even exposure to cold air.

What's crucial if you or someone you know is suffering with asthma symptoms is that you get checked out at certified allergy/asthma clinic. Experts there ought to be able to get to the root cause of your symptoms and recommend a suitable course of treatment.