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Special
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| "OH" GOD WHY YOU GAVE ME ASTHMA? |
Human being is one of the finest example of engineering skills
of the god. In the body it has made beautiful eyes. But then
HE worried about its safety from environmental irritants and
therefore provided a guard in form of eyelids. It is not the
end of the security system of god. Any irritant if bypasses
lids there is another defense line in form of increase tear
production that will wash away the foreign substance. Not only eyes but also lungs have a
similar system of defense.
The opening of windpipe has guards called vocal cords. If some
unwanted ailment bypasses these vocal cords then airways
constrict. God has made asthmatic patients as an aristocratic
class of human beings who are made to live in the clean
environment. Therefore it has enhanced power of constriction
of airways to keep this airways clean. Bronchoconstriction is
a special sense by which they can detect dust, smell,
pollution and other irritant trigger factors in much easier
way than others and can make an early escape before irreversible
injury takes place.
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Thus asthma is a byproduct of protective mechanism of
the god. In some cases common notions
of asthma are not correct and therefore responsible for late
diagnosis of the disease. Commonly prevailed notions and
reactions of the patients about having asthma are as follows,
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common man's picture of asthma is of a patient with visible respiratory distress with sunken
eyes, sweat drops on face, gasps for breath and
intermittent cough. He is unable to speak long sentences
and even going to toilet is very distressing. This is
the picture of a patient with extreme severity. Sometimes it
is difficult to convince patients with the diagnosis of
asthma specially in mild cases.
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Majority
of patients have milder disease. Such patients may have
episodes of wheezing and cough only once or twice in a year
especially when they have throat infection. Such patients
usually does not agree to accept the diagnosis. In
milder forms, symptoms occur only during night and at the
time of examination no abnormality is detected.
- When
a doctor gives diagnosis of asthma first time, a patient
does not accept it and usually changes the doctor. Due
to such a reaction of patients many doctors are scared to give diagnosis first time and therefore put
terms such as asthmatic bronchitis or bronchiolitis.
- Image
of stigma: Asthma is a chronic disease and it is
considered as a stigma in the society. It is considered
as an important barrier in marriage, personality and
profession. Therefore diagnosis of asthma is often
concealed.
- Many
times parents
are not aware of symptoms of asthma, and sometimes
asthma measuring devices/equipments are not available
with every doctor. Therefore in such a piquant situation
often asthma is misunderstood and wrongly diagnosed as a
Bronchitis, Bronchiolitis or Asthmatic bronchitis.
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Mild Asthma |
Severe Asthma |
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When
a person is told first time that the disease he is
suffering from is asthma his instant reaction is
aggression. It may be one of the following,
- As
soon as a patient comes across the diagnosis of asthma
first time he tries to negate it. He usually consults
another doctor and if he makes a diagnosis other than
asthma he accepts it.
- In
patients with intermittent asthma the disease is very
mild and symptoms may some times appear once or twice in
a year. In such a situation patient usually does not
accept the diagnosis.
- If
the disease manifests with chronic symptoms the patient
tries hard to search any "wonder
treatment" and gets inclined to alternative
therapies like Homeopathy, Ayurvedic or/and Unnani. From
one kind of medical therapy to another one, the disease
gets to no avail. The expectations of poor patient ends
up with agony and he might be left in greater frustration or
depression.
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