You Take My Breath Away... No Wait, That's Asthma

 As someone who struggles with asthma, (as does my sister), I thought this would be a fitting "disease" to look at. I have a much more moderated case than my sister, as she is on multiple daily medications for it, and was once hospitalized when we were five. My mom was asthmatic when she was young, but mostly grew out of it.

Asthma is a condition in which your airways are restricted and can sometimes form a mucus-like substance. This then leads to the inability to catch one's breath, wheeziness, and coughing. Triggers can include environmental things like cold air, allergens, and smoke, and it is a heritable condition. Many cases of asthma are in children, being 6 million of the 26 million people effected by it. Cases have steadily risen since the 1980's, as has the death rate from asthma.

Asthma has actually been known about since ancient Greece, and was probably around before that too. Hippocrates was the first person to give asthma a name, and to also connect its symptoms with environmental triggers. About 1,900 years later, Aretaeus of Cappadocia was one of the first to not just see asthma as a symptom, but as a disease. He had a special remedy to help alleviate symptoms: wine and owl's blood (no thanks!). 

In the 1800s, Dr. Henry Hyde Salter made popular descriptions and depictions of what occurs during asthma attacks. Around 1892 a man named Sir William Osler began to separate asthma from allergies, and began to focus on the bronchial spasms associated with it. This lead to the production of over-the-counter bronchodilators from pharmaceutical companies, which was wonderful at the time, but only a short-term fix. Overreliance on these OTCs was the main cause of many asthma related deaths from the 60s through the 80s. 

During the 80's asthma was finally seen as an inflammatory disease, and trials of corticosteroids seemed to help keep the symptoms at bay. Daily treatment for asthma was also found to be very important; monitoring it when there are no symptoms is just as important when there is a flare-up. Corticosteroids are still what is used today to help treat asthma, for constant control of symptoms. Bronchodilators are also still used; in fact, my sister and I both have one- inhalers. While bronchodilators can be dangerous when overprescribed, they are a quick-relief medicine and are used to help calm and decrease the symptoms. Doctors will let you know how many uses a week are too much, and at what point you would need to look into a stronger, long term medication.

It is interesting to see how the understanding of asthma has changed throughout time, as well as the corresponding methods in which humans have tried to fix it. In this article, they suggest that identifying and altering genes in the lungs might be the next big step in mankind's plan to lessen the effects of asthma (or get rid of it all together). I think that once the technology is available, this wouldn't be a bad idea since asthma is very much a hereditary condition. 

Timeline of asthma: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323526#takeaway 

Info on how asthma is treated: https://www.aafa.org/asthma-treatment/ 

Comments

  1. Bridgett WinzerNovember 19, 2021 at 10:24 AM

    First of all, love the title! Second of all, it was really cool to hear the development of treatments for asthma. I would not opt for the wine and owl's blood treatment though. But it so exciting to think that one day we will be able to altering genes in the lungs!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Megan BNovember 19, 2021 at 9:22 PM

    Wow, it's surprising that it was only recognized as an inflammatory disease. Is that the reason that cases started rising in the 1980s, because it was better understood and recognized more easily? Very interesting post Katie!

    ReplyDelete

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