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Are you asthmatic? This should not prevent you from doing what you most enjoy
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San José, Costa Rica. May, 2015.
A patient with a well-controlled asthma may lead a totally normal life, including elite athletes and very active persons who suffer this illness. The key combination is an adequate treatment and avoiding the environmental factors that trigger the crisis, all this for a good life quality.
“The main manifestations of this disease are lack of air, chest oppression, and wheezing, dry or productive cough. Characteristically these symptoms vary over time, they improve or get worse throughout the day or the week, and they tend to appear when being exposed to any of the mentioned environmental factors”, commented Dr. José Rafael Rojas Solano, specialist in Pneumology of the Clínica Bíblica Hospital.
There are two main factors that produce this disease. The first one is the genetic or hereditary predisposition, which is not modifiable, and therefore it is frequent that asthmatics have relatives with asthma history. The second are the environmental exposures to some stimuli that cause the inflammation of the bronchi in pre-disposed persons, such as for example viral infections, cold, dust, mites, smoke, pollen, insects, pets and exercise among others.
Although we cannot easily control the genetic factors, we can regulate the exposure to environmental factors such as people with respiratory infections, crowds, keeping rooms and offices well ventilated and free of reservoirs of mites, dust and mildew, for example. Each asthmatic person is different, so there has to be an effort to recognize the environmental factors that affect one in order to avoid those factors.
Badly controlled asthma limits carrying out activities, sometimes basic ones that make life quality worse. It causes symptoms during the day but especially at night interrupting sleep, many times it prevents physical activity such as exercise, and it causes school and work absenteeism with its consequences for the productive system and the health system.
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The prevalence of asthma in Costa Rica varies according to age: more than 20% of the children and teenagers are asthmatic and nearly 12% of adults also are.
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Treatments
The most effective group of medications in the control of the disease is the inhaled corticosteroids, which reduce inflammation and their benefits have been well proven. However, the treatment and the medications of choice depend on various factors such as availability, cost and the patient´s understanding, among others.
“The advantage is that the doses used inhaled are minimum and have very little secondary effects. They are quite safe and their effectiveness requires that the device is used correctly. Generally, they are combined with other inhaled and oral medications that reduce even more the inflammation and control the symptoms.”
For further information or for requesting medical attention, please call the number 2522-1000, or write to the email citas@clinicabiblica.com or contact us via chat at the website: www.clinicabiblica.com.
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Clínica Bíblica Hospital
