Asthma: emergency situations

What Happens in an Acute Attack?

In an acute attack, the airways are greatly narrowed by swelling, bronchoconstriction and mucus plugging. It's like running on the spot for a few minutes and breathing through a straw. Your diaphragm and chest walls become exhausted and the ability to adequately ventilate the air sacs in the lungs fall. The result is that not enough oxygen can get into the blood and excess carbon dioxide cannot be removed. Unless this situation is resolved, the asthma sufferer will die.

Who is at Most Risk of Suffering an Acute Attack?

There is evidence to suggest that asthmatics at risk for near-fatal or fatal asthma differ from other asthmatics. Important risk factors include advanced age, greater airway reactivity, prior mechanical ventilation and have been on long-term steroid therapy. Additional risk factors include prior asthma hospitalisations, current use of oral corticosteroids or recent withdrawal from oral corticosteroids, problems with treatment compliances and serious psychiatric or psychosocial problems.

The stages of an acute attack?

Studies have also suggested that regular use of bronchodilators may be associated with an unfavorable outcome in asthma.
In acute asthma, symptoms often start out similar to a usual attack; coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath and recession (drawing in the flesh between the ribs and sternum). In an acute attack, however, the symptoms persist, and become more marked or even change in nature.

The asthmatic often becomes quiet and withdrawn, focusing on the struggle to breathe. She sits hunched read more