Tag Archives: Asthmatic Airway

Dr. C's Journal, Medicine, Men's Health, Resources, Women's Health

DR. C’S JOURNAL: ASTHMA – DIAGNOSIS & TREATMENT

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Asthma is a lung condition with narrowing of the airways, especially on exhalation, or breathing out. This narrowing leads to the musical sound on breathing the air out of the lungs that I heard so often with  my stethoscope and over the phone, when I was in active allergy practice. With an asthma attack, the blockage to airflow can become severe enough to dangerously raise the carbon dioxide concentration in the blood stream, and lower the oxygen content.

Many attacks occurred at night .Over the phone, I had older kids and adults take a deep breath, and count from 1 to 30 as rapidly as they could. If they could count out loud to 30 with one breath, at least the obstruction and attendant blood gas changes were not usually serious at that moment in time. That helped me decide whether or not I had to see them in the emergency room.

Asthma is an inflammatory condition of the lining of the airway that stimulates the smooth muscle surrounding the airway to constrict and obstruct flow of air, particularly on exhalation. Early on in my medical practice the main pathology was thought to be overactive airway muscles, and the main effort was to relax those muscles so that breathing could be easier. This was typically done with adrenaline injections, or the inhalation of adrenaline-like agents such as albuterol.

More sustained opening the airway was accomplished by oral theophylline. As time went on, it became  known that its effectiveness required a certain blood level. We had an HPLC machine in the office to measure this. 5 to 10 µg per milliliter was required for relief, and anything over 20 µg per milliliter was dangerous. Many cases of convulsions have been recorded in people with excessive blood levels.

We were always aware of the fact that cortisone medications would relieve asthma, but regular use of these drugs caused worrisome side effects such as interference with growth in children, osteoporosis, weight gain and loss of sleep or other problems. Most worrisome was the possibility of adrenal insufficiency and sudden death. We used Cortisone only as a last resort.

There was a group of young children especially 1 to 6 years of age that developed extreme asthma a few days after they developed a common cold. I found that giving prednisolone for two or three days at the start of a runny nose would block the advent of this asthma, without suppressing the adrenal gland. Three days of prednisone was also used to blunt severe attacks.

The excellence of Cortisone in the treatment of asthma should’ve told us that inflammation was a particularly important factor. It is now known that Asthma is not a disease of airway smooth muscle sensitivity per se, but rather a chronic inflammation of the airways that causes the muscles to be irritable.

Asthma is more common in allergic individuals, particularly when they are young. For this reason, the allergies are treated by avoidance of exposure to such things as cats, dogs, house dust and pollen.  Allergy injections to the skin test positive items is also useful.
Currently,  asthma is treated by inhaling special cortisone  preparations and long acting bronchodilators.

The chain of chemical reactions that cause asthmatic airway inflammation has become apparent over the years. Drugs to block these are available, and include special antibodies can be exceptionally expensive; but very effective.

The youngest of my former partners is still practicing Allergy, and almost never has to deal with acute severe asthma.
The beast has been tamed, if not conquered.

—Dr. C.

Mayo Clinic Article

Men's Health, Resources, Women's Health

THE DOCTORS 101 CHRONIC SYMPTOMS & CONDITIONS #1 – THE “CHRONIC COUGH”

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In my 88 years, I have had at least a dozen medical problems. Some have gone away on their own, some have been removed surgically, and a few have become CHRONIC, lasting for years, ultimately becoming a part of my life.

I have compiled a list of these and other SYMPTOMS & CONDITIONS I have seen as a physician. Over the next year, I will discuss them one by one, appending these vetted articles for further reading.

The ‘CHRONIC COUGH’ will be the first discussed.

As an Allergist, I was involved with coughing all of my adult life. If my patients did NOT have asthma, they usually coughed from mucus pouring down the back of their throat (post-nasal drip), from their allergic nasal condition (allergic rhinitis), or sometimes from the associated SINUSITIS drainage.

Asthma was a much more common cause of Chronic Cough for my Patients, sometimes theIr main problem. All asthmatic have a chronic inflammation of their breathing tubes(bronchi), and the resulting BRONCHITIS irritates the airway nerve endings, causing Cough.

Without enough narrowing of the airways to cause wheezing, this is called “cough equivalent asthma”. With the addition of airway narrowing (constriction) to the above situation, ASTHMA results.

There is added shortness of breath (dyspnea), and the cough becomes the “tight” wheezy cough of full-blown Asthma.

COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) may be a residue of long-term asthma, but commonly results from cigarette  smoking. Where loss of alveolae (air sacs) predominates, dyspnea (shortness of breath) is more common.

Where bronchial tube inflammation is more prominent, mucus and cough result. This cough is useful in clearing the mucus; a USEFUL COUGH (although my Patients did not always appreciate their friend, which could be bad enough to cause hernias or incontinence). 

Gastro-esophageal reflux is a chronic condition where stomach contents are not retained in the stomach by the G-E Sphincter ( a type of “purse-string” Gate), but spill(reflux) up, when not restrained by gravity, at NIGHT. The ACIDIC STOMACH CONTENTS burn the esophagus on the way up(heart burn), and are often aspirated into the airways during sleep, causing inflammation and COUGH.

There are many other less common CHRONIC LUNG ( pulmonary) DISEASES (conditions) such as sarcoidosis, bronchiectasis, interstitial pneumonitis, TB, and cancer, that can be diagnosed by imaging (X-Ray, etc.). Heart failure can also cause cough, as can blood pressure medication (ACE inhibitors). 

Smoking is an obvious cause; chronic smoking, chronic cough. Smokers know what is causing their cough, and usually don’t bother coming to the Doctor unless they cough up some blood, or develop one of the myriads of diseases caused by their habit.

If you have a chronic cough, check with your Primary Care Doctor, who may refer you to an Allergist or Pulmonologist. The following article will be useful to your understanding of cough, and will provide a LIST OF QUESTIONS the DOCTOR will likely ask you.

—Dr. C.

Further reading #1

Further reading #2