Today is World Asthma Day,
and as common as it is too many,
there's still plenty that
we need to learn about it.
So we have our Nine News medical
expert here to break it all down.
Dr. Pio Coley,
thank you so much for joining us today.
So we're actually just chatting a little bit.
But before we get into it,
how does asthma affect our lungs?
Yeah, you know, it's really interesting.
Think about our lungs like a tree.
So the main trachea is kind of the
trunk and all the little Airways
are the branches of the tree.
And you have two things going on
in the lungs when you have asthma.
The 1st is the lungs go into spasm.
So those kind of branches get tighter.
The trunk gets tighter,
so air can't get in and most importantly,
air can't get out.
So it's kind of like breathing on top
of breathing, holding your breath,
and then this triggers inflammation
in the lungs.
To get mucus production,
you get clogging of those Airways
in those branches and that can cause
many of the symptoms that we know
are classic of asthma like wheezing,
chest tightness and shortness of breath.
We were just talking about kind of
the differences in adults and kids
and how it affects and you know,
diagnosing can be difficult too.
And I was sharing my story,
so I have asthma when I was.
10 I was, you know,
training at an indoor track
where the air quality is poor.
And I had an asthma attack
and then went on to, you know,
go through all the testing
and get on medication.
But had I not been exerting myself like that,
we don't really know when I would have
been diagnosed because I wasn't having,
like, daytoday issues, Right.
Yeah. That's the hard thing,
especially in our kids.
You know, it can be a little bit subtle.
So parents really need to have their
radar up to watch for signs and symptoms.
And you bring up a really good example,
which is the air quality.
Yeah. So sometimes.
And asthma is episodic,
so it's not there all day, every day.
And sometimes when you go to the doctor,
in fact, you can even have
normal breathing in normal lungs.
So what they'll do is they'll basically
push a chemical into your lungs
to see if they can induce asthma.
It's called a methycholine challenge.
And sometimes they'll give you
asthma medicine and see if the
lungs breathe better with it.
So it's really hard to know,
especially in our kids.
But if you notice that your child is
getting a little more short of breath,
a little wheezier,
especially in certain environments
like indoor spaces,
when there's a lot of air pollution outside,
when there's mold around,
those types of things.
Talk to your pediatrician about
getting tested for asthma.
Nothing scarier than an asthma attack.
We certainly don't want
that happening to anyone.
So what are other ways we can tell
if we might have it as an adult?
Maybe we've never been diagnosed.
Yeah. I would say night time coughing.
So that's a subtle one that
sometimes people miss.
And what can trigger that is often
a little bit of silent reflux.
A little bits of acid from our
stomach can come up into our lungs
and that can trigger that spasm
in our Airways and we can cough.
But if you go up into the mountains
and the cold dry air seems to
trigger wheezing or coughing,
that's a sign that you make
with asthma if you exercise.
Just like your story pointed out,
exercise induced asthma is
a common phenomena.
Some people need a little albuterol
to relax their Airways before they
exercise in our kids strong emotions.
Even in adults, actually, you're upset.
You're fighting with somebody.
You're angry, You're crying elevated
and that triggers your asthma.
Exactly. So.
And then strong smells can do it as well.
So you have to be really
careful about perfume.
And really strong smells can induce
that reactivity in the Airways.
Yeah.
And you were talking about
elevations when I, you know,
moved here from, you know,
lower normal elevation coming here.
I really had to ease into training.
I could feel it just walking around.
So there certainly is a sensitivity here.
I think there really
is. And even for people who don't
have asthma, actually, you know,
coming to altitude can certainly be
a little stress test for the lungs.
But then when you have asthma and you have
cold dry climates that can trigger it.
You have different kind of our
pollen and our trees are different
here because of the altitude.
Then it would be at other climates.
That can certainly trigger it.
And then for some people it's
also occupational exposures.
What types of things you
might be exposed to at work,
what type of environment you're working in.
But if here in Colorado,
we certainly need to have our guard up
because we have less oxygen in the air.
So an asthma attack here can progress
more quickly and it can, you know,
because of less environmental oxygen,
it can actually be worse.
Now, very rarely people die from asthma,
but it certainly can be fatal.
So it's not something we should take lightly.
And if people aren't treating it,
it can get a lot worse.
Like you were explaining
the Airways and all of that,
and it you can have permanent damage
if you're not on a medication.
And you should be.
That's what I've learned from my doctors.
I need to stay on it there.
That inflammation can cause scarring.
You know that chronic bronchospasm
can cause changes in the lungs that
can pop open lungs because you're
trapping air in your lungs so you can
pop open the balloon that is our lungs.
So you really have to talk to your
doctor if you think you have asthma.
Don't just use the rescue.
Sometimes people really need something
every day because the idea is to have
something for control all the time,
not being reactive,
but actually being proactive, right?
Absolutely. So, I mean, I've.
My allergist has treated my
pulmonologist who who's going
to be the best person to to go
to for any concerns with asthma.
You know, your primary care can do it,
your allergist, your pulmonologist.
But it it brings up the issue that
asthma is a complex disease and
if you have a lot of allergies,
you may have a little bit of asthma. Totally.
Those two sort of tend to run together.
And there are wide different types
of doctors that treat asthma because
it's sort of affects so many systems.
Yeah, exactly. But the most
important thing is to recognize that,
get it treated, and if you're not sure,
it's a simple breathing. Sure.
You do attach. Yeah, it's very easy.
Yeah. You blow into the too.
You
blow in and then, like you said,
give you a little puff of the
inhaler and you check and
see if your levels increase.
So, Doctor Cooley,
thank you so much as always.