If you feel suffocated as soon as you move into a new house, be careful of ghosts!

Author: Fang Baomin, Chief Physician, Beijing Hospital

Reviewer: He Quanying, Chief Physician, Peking University People's Hospital

There was a man in his 40s who moved into a new house to celebrate his new home. However, he felt suffocated right after moving in. The symptoms disappeared when he moved back to his old house, as if there was a "ghost" in the new house.

However, this "ghost" is actually the chemical materials used in decoration, which induce asthma.

1. What is asthma? Is it serious?

Asthma, also known as bronchial asthma, is a common respiratory disease. It is a chronic inflammation of the airways, which is a clinical syndrome caused by the high reactivity of the airways to various stimuli.

We know that the function of the lungs is to inhale oxygen into the lungs, circulate it throughout the body through the blood, and then expel the carbon dioxide produced in the body.

Figure 1 Original copyright image, no permission to reprint

When asthma attacks, the smooth muscles of the trachea will contract, causing inflammation and swelling of the distal airway walls, making it difficult for oxygen to reach the alveoli and effectively failing to exchange gases, causing the patient to experience shortness of breath.

If the condition is not effectively controlled for a long time, the gas in the alveoli cannot be discharged in time, which will cause emphysema and even decreased lung function. In more serious cases, it will lead to respiratory failure.

At the same time, long-term hypoxia in the alveoli can also cause pulmonary hypertension and lead to cor pulmonale.

Therefore, once you suffer from asthma, you must recognize its seriousness, seek medical attention promptly, and take medication as prescribed by the doctor in order to achieve better control results.

2. Is asthma related to genetics? What are the common causes?

Generally speaking, asthma attacks can be divided into two aspects:

The first aspect is genetic predisposition.

Studies have now shown that some genes in our body play an important role in asthma attacks. For example, there are gene mutations in chromosomes 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, 19, and 21, which may be related to asthma itself. This is directly related to its inheritance.

Therefore, when we are examining asthma patients, we need to ask whether they have a family history, whether their parents, or even grandparents and uncles have asthma. Often in a family, both the parents and the patient themselves may have asthma, and even their children may have asthma. This is related to genetic factors themselves.

The second aspect is external triggering factors.

If there is only a genetic tendency and no exposure to external triggers, the disease may not occur in one's lifetime. However, if there is exposure to external triggers, the disease may occur.

Figure 2 Original copyright image, no permission to reprint

Why are there more and more asthma cases and more frequent attacks? The main reason is that the development of industry has significantly increased our exposure to certain chemicals, such as car exhaust, decoration materials, etc.

The patient mentioned at the beginning of our article may have had an asthma attack due to the large amount of formaldehyde in the newly renovated house. In this case, the patient must leave this environment for the asthma to be cured.

In addition, some patients' asthma attacks are related to the season, such as spring or autumn, which is mainly related to pollen. In particular, pollen in spring often induces allergies, causing coughs, runny noses, itchy throats, and sore throats, followed by asthma attacks, which should also attract our attention.

Some patients are allergic to dust mites and Aspergillus in the house, which can also induce asthma.

At the same time, some drugs can also induce asthma, such as aspirin, certain antihypertensive drugs, and even some antibiotics, which may induce asthma.

There are also food allergies, etc., especially some patients are allergic to seafood, which may also induce asthma.

3. What are the symptoms of asthma? Can it lead to coma?

There are several characteristics of asthma:

The first is that before the onset of the disease, most patients have symptoms of tightness and itching in the throat. Under certain predisposing conditions, some patients begin to experience runny nose, sneezing, itchy throat, sudden coughing, coughing up a small amount of sputum, and wheezing, which indicates that asthma is about to attack.

Severe cases may cause more severe breathing difficulties, even hypoxia, and purple lips. In more serious cases, it may lead to coma, which we call a fatal asthma attack.

There is another type of asthma that is not mainly wheezing, but mainly coughing. We call it cough variant asthma, which is actually asthma in nature. Cough variant asthma is characterized by night coughing, especially between 3 and 5 in the morning, when the cough may be the heaviest, affecting nighttime rest.

Figure 3 Original copyright image, no permission to reprint

In addition, during an asthma attack, the throat may emit a high-pitched throat sound or wheezing sound, which can be heard by oneself. In more serious cases, this high-pitched throat sound can be heard in both lungs, similar to the sound of "pulling a bellows".

If the condition is more serious, the airway may completely spasm and breathing sounds may not be audible, which is a sign that the condition is getting worse.

If the patient's overall condition improves after the stridor and wheezing disappear, it means that the condition has been relieved; however, some patients cannot hear wheezing, which instead indicates that the condition is worsening. In medicine, we call it static lung.

In addition, some asthma patients do not have any symptoms during the remission or early stages. When we do pulmonary function tests, we find that the airway reversibility test is positive. We call this asymptomatic asthma.

These patients may develop symptoms without knowing when or what the triggers are, under the influence of certain factors.

4. What should I do if I suddenly have an asthma attack?

Asthma attacks can sometimes come very suddenly, with certain triggers causing sudden coughing, breathing difficulties, wheezing, and even more serious cases, respiratory failure. What should you do in this situation?

First, don’t be nervous when it’s about to happen. Nervousness itself can also cause an asthma attack, so you must relax, this is the first thing.

Second, you must have medicines on hand. For example, bronchodilators. Asthma patients are familiar with this acute spray method. In addition, you can also inhale some glucocorticoids for emergency treatment. But don't use too much. For example, if the dosage of bronchodilators is too large, it will cause a rapid heartbeat and side effects.

Third, you must go to the nearest hospital for treatment in time, and let the doctor judge the severity of asthma and whether it needs intravenous glucocorticoid treatment and intravenous infusion of aminophylline, etc. If it is even more serious, whether it needs comprehensive treatment with non-invasive mechanical ventilation methods such as nasal masks and face masks to avoid further aggravation of the disease.

Therefore, during the entire process of self-treatment, in addition to avoiding mental stress and inhaling some emergency medicines, you must also go to the hospital in time and not delay the condition.