Do you suffer from asthma and recurrent wheezing attacks? Have you tried several meds but only in vain? If most forms of treatment and medication bring you no respite, then it may be the time for you to try oxygen therapy.

Would you like to know more? Keep reading.

Asthma – An Overview:

Asthma, known as a chronic inflammatory disease, is caused by a mix of environmental factors and genetic roots. It is characterized by symptoms like breathing difficulty of varying intensity, chest tightness, coughing and wheezing (1). It can be extremely taxing, and some attacks can be fatal. People from literally all age groups can get affected by this menace. It inflames your air passage and narrows it down, blocking the oxygen intake path. There is no sure shot cure for this long-term disease, but you can resort to various measures to control it.

Treatment Options For Asthma:

Asthma attacks can be very unpredictable, and so you need to take some preventive measures. Most commonplace treatment options are:

• Oral corticosteroid medications like prednisone (2).
• Short-acting beta agonists like albuterol (3).
• Mechanical ventilation and oxygen treatment

Additionally, asthma patients should be kept away from dust, pollens and other allergens that can affect and irritate the nasal passages.

Nuances Of Oxygen Therapy For Asthma:

Generally, asthma victims can cope with their symptoms. Using specified inhalers and taking recommended medications can help. Unless the asthma attack is of severe nature and the affected person does not show improvement even after administering drugs, oxygen therapy may not be needed. Administering oxygen to an asthma victim does help him or her in breathing properly.

When a child or adult is diagnosed with an attack of acute or severe asthma, oxygen therapy can be of great help. It can be administered both at the home or hospital. The provisions are likely to be better at a medical setup.

At home setups, oxygen therapy is given to asthma patients using a mask or nasal cannula and the oxygen is stored in air-compressed cylinders. In most medical setups, more elaborate devices are used to supply oxygen (4). Generally, in hospitals, oxygen therapy is administered using an outlet in the wall that is linked by a pipeline to a central supply point. There are options to control the flow of oxygen as well.

Points To Keep In Mind:

In most situations, applying oxygen therapy to an asthma patient can save his or her life during a severe attack. A few aspects need to be remembered in his regard.

1. Unless the asthma attack is of severe nature, patients should be given medications first. For minor or small attacks, both kids and adults can recuperate without oxygen.
2. Asthma patients who are given oxygen with nasal cannula may face problems if the cannula contains some substance like irritants that can affect the nasal lining. For someone facing an attack of asthma, this can actually be counterproductive. To evade this, the cannula should be checked well before setting it up on the nose of the affected person.
3. Like excess of anything is bad – the same thing is true about excess oxygen supply artificially- even for asthma patients. Long term supply of concentrated oxygen results in the lung lining tissue getting damaged. This is called pulmonary oxygen toxicity. This happens when the oxygen flow rate is set at a limit higher than suitable. It can make things tougher for asthma victims.
4. A number of studies showed people suffering from acute exacerbations of asthma, who were administered high concentration oxygen, exhibited a rise in CO2.
5. Kids facing asthma attacks are not treated with oxygen therapy at the beginning. Medications are advised to treat asthma in infants and toddlers. However, in extreme cases, doctors recommend this therapy. Kids may also need high flow oxygen supply when suffering from severe attacks of asthma. To be on the safe side, such therapies should be administered in hospitals.

To sum it up, yes, oxygen therapy can indeed be a boon to many suffering from acute bronchitis and wheezing when administered by professionals.

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by Daiwik Suresh Gejji via STYLECRAZE