Disorders Of Ventilation And Gas Exchange

Disorders of Ventilation and Gas Exchange Author Name University Name Asthma is a severe disorder of lower airways, characterized by bronchospasm, reversible airflow obstruction and recurring and variable symptoms. The most prominent signs and symptoms of the disease are episodes of coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath and chest tightness. Depending on the severity of illness, these signs may become worse during exercise or at night. Emmanuel is using a corticosteroid inhaler for managing his asthma. His disease was caused by a combination of environmental and genetic factors such as exposure to allergens and air pollution. Just like other main treatments for asthma, corticosteroid inhaler helps Emmanuel prevent disease attacks to an extent. It works by reducing swelling, mucus production and inflammation in his airways, strengthening them in a way that they don’t get inflamed or react to disease triggers. Despite corticosteroids or steroids, other treatment options that Emmanuel can try are leukotriene modifiers, immunomodulators, and anticholinergics. But he still depends on inhaled steroids for preventing asthma attacks. This drug has helped Emmanuel reduce the need for hospitalization to an extent (Chandrashekara, 2014). It should be noticed that both corticosteroids and β2-agonist inhalants are different from one another. For instance, corticosteroid inhaler is used orally to treat asthma while the latter can be used in another form too. Corticosteroids are suitable for people of all age groups, but β2-agonist inhalants are beneficial for people over twenty. It is widely believed that β2-agonist inhalants shouldn’t be used by children or teenagers, which is why Emmanuel’s doctor didn’t recommend him this pharmaceutical drug. With the passage of time, the recognition of asthma as one of the significant inflammatory disorders has led to changes in treatment strategies. For instance, β2-agonist inhalant was highly recommended regardless of the age of patients. But now, patients below 20 are not asked to use this inhalant due to its side-effects. On the other hand, corticosteroids are recommended to patients of all age groups, and its action of the mechanism is far better and more powerful than β2-agonist inhalants or any other similar treatment (Eming, Martin, & Tomic, 2014). It’s impossible for Emmanuel to imagine surviving without corticosteroid inhaler. Unlike β2-agonist inhalant, it helps reverse the pathogenic function of bronchial asthma. Furthermore, corticosteroid enhances beta-adrenergic responses to relieve muscle spasms. This pharmaceutical drug also reverses mucosal edemas, decreases vascular permeability, and inhibits the release of Leukotriene C4 and Leukotriene C5. Unlike β2-agonist inhalants, eosinopenic effects of corticosteroid inhaler help prevent cytotoxic effects of inflammatory mediators and basic proteins released from eosinophils. However, limitations of using both β2-agonist inhalants and corticosteroids are their negative effects. Until or unless their proper doses are used, patients are likely to get cured at a fast speed; but if either β2-agonist inhalant or corticosteroid is used improperly, the chances are that patients will have to suffer from suffocation or another similar p...