Allergy and Asthma Attacks

Allergy and asthma are often related to one another. A common misconception about allergy is that it only manifests on the skin with rashes and itchiness. What many of us do not know, that beside the usual lip bulging, is that asthma can also be an allergic reaction. There are many cases where an allergic reaction is manifested through asthma. The pathophysiological process on asthma caused by allergens is different from a real asthma attack. Once an individual has been exposed to an allergen, he or she may experience difficulty of breathing, rapid and struggling respiration. Hyperventilation is caused by narrowing of the airways, particularly on the wind pipe,or the relaxation of the diaphragm muscle that is essential for respiration. For example, if a patient has some certain allergy to dust particles and become expose to it, the next thing to expect is an asthma attack. Now in this case, the allergen component is the cause and the asthma attack is the reaction. However, the real physiological anomaly is the asthma itself and not the allergy. The allergy would just be the mere trigger for asthma but on the other hand, the asthma can also be caused by a lot of other factors beside that certain allergen. This is commonly called as the allergen- induced asthma. Many asthmatics and allergic patients are highly sensitive to micro particles that can be accidentally inhaled and invade the airway. Pollens, fumes, strong fragrance and dust particles are the usual culprits on many cases. Every time a particle invades the body, our immune system become hyper reactive thereby triggering the allergic reaction mechanism (most of the time in a form of a mere sneeze) toward of the foreign body. Asthma attacks that can also be caused by allergic reactions narrow the bronchioles essential for oxygen like any other asthma. It therefore decreases the patient’s oxygen capacity leading him/her to feel like drowning. Fatal cases lead to status asthmaticus where an asthma attack doesn’t react on medications and treatment and were left unsupplied by oxygen. This is an important concept to understand why allergy and asthma are correlated.