About Disease :

Asthma is a very common chronic disease involving the respiratory system in which the airways occasionally constrict, become inflamed, in other words it is a chronic inflamation of the airways that result in the obstruction of the flow.

These episodes may be triggered by such things as exposure to an environmental stimulant such as an allergen, environmental tobacco smoke, cold or warm air, perfume, pet dander, moist air, exercise or exertion, or emotional stress. In children, the most common triggers are viral illnesses such as those that cause the common cold.
This airway narrowing causes symptoms such as

wheezing, (a whistling sound when you breathe),
shortness of breath,
chest tightness,
coughing.

Signs and symptoms:

In some individuals asthma is characterized by chronic respiratory impairment. In others it is an intermittent illness marked by episodic symptoms that may result from a number of triggering events, including upper respiratory infection, stress, airborne allergens, air pollutants (such as smoke or traffic fumes), or exercise. Some or all of the following symptoms may be present in those with asthma: dyspnea, wheezing, stridor, coughing, a tightness and itching of the chest or an inability for physical exertion. Some asthmatics who have severe shortness of breath and tightening of the lungs never wheeze or have stridor and their symptoms may be confused with a COPD-type disease.
An acute exacerbation of asthma is commonly referred to as an asthma attack. The clinical hallmarks of an attack are shortness of breath (dyspnea) and either wheezing or stridor.[4] Although the former is “often regarded as the sine qua non of asthma”,[4] some patients present primarily with coughing, and in the late stages of an attack, air motion may be so impaired that no wheezing may be heard. When present the cough may sometimes produce clear sputum. The onset may be sudden, with a sense of constriction in the chest, breathing becomes difficult, and wheezing occurs (primarily upon expiration, but can be in both respiratory phases).
Signs of an asthmatic episode include wheezing, prolonged expiration, a rapid heart rate (tachycardia), rhonchous lung sounds (audible through a stethoscope), the presence of a paradoxical pulse (a pulse that is weaker during inhalation and stronger during exhalation), and over-inflation of the chest. During a serious asthma attack, the accessory muscles of respiration (sternocleidomastoid and scalene muscles of the neck) may be used, shown as in-drawing of tissues between the ribs and above the sternum and clavicles.

During very severe attacks, an asthma sufferer can turn blue from lack of oxygen (so-called blue bloaters), and can experience chest pain or even loss of consciousness. Just before loss of consciousness, there is a chance that the patient will feel numbness in the limbs and palms may start to sweat. The person’s feet may become icy cold. Severe asthma attacks, which may not be responsive to standard treatments (status asthmaticus), are life-threatening and may lead to respiratory arrest and death. Despite the severity of symptoms during an asthmatic episode, between attacks an asthmatic may show few or even no signs of the disease.
 Cause
Asthma is caused by a complex interaction of environmental and genetic factors that researchers do not yet fully understand.
Environmental factors
Environmental tobacco smoke, especially maternal cigarette smoking, is associated with high risk of asthma prevalence and asthma morbidity, wheeze, and respiratory infections.[8] Poor air quality, from traffic pollution or high ozone levels, has been repeatedly associated with increased asthma morbidity .
Caesarean sections have been associated with asthma when compared with vaginal birth; a meta-analysis found a 20% increase in asthma prevalence in children delivered by Cesarean section compared to those who were not. It was proposed that this is due to modified bacterial exposure during Cesarean section compared with vaginal birth, which modifies the immune system .
Psychological stress, has long been suspected of being an asthma trigger stress modulates the immune system to increase the magnitude of the airway inflammatory response to allergens and irritants.
Antibiotic use early in life has been linked to development of asthma in several examples; it is thought that antibiotics make one susceptible to development of asthma because they modify gut flora, and thus the immune system .
The hygiene hypothesis is an hypothesis about the cause of asthma and other allergic disease, and is supported by epidemiologic data for asthma. For example, asthma prevalence has been increasing in developed countries along with increased use of antibiotics, c-sections, and cleaning products. All of these things may negatively affect exposure to beneficial bacteria and other immune system modulators that are important during development, and thus may cause increased risk for asthma and allergy.
Stimuli
• Allergens from nature, typically inhaled, which include waste from common household pests, such as the house dust mite and cockroach, grass pollen, mold spores, and pet epithelial cells;[citation needed]
• Indoor air pollution from volatile organic compounds, including perfumes and perfumed products. Examples include soap, dishwashing liquid, laundry detergent, fabric softener, paper tissues, paper towels, toilet paper, shampoo, hairspray, hair gel, cosmetics, facial cream, sun cream, deodorant, cologne, shaving cream, aftershave lotion, air freshener and candles, and products such as oil-based paint.[citation needed]
• Medications, including aspirin,[22] β-adrenergic antagonists (beta blockers), and penicillin.[citation needed]
• Food allergies such as milk, peanuts, and eggs. However, asthma is rarely the only symptom, and not all people with food or other allergies have asthma.[citation needed]
• Use of fossil fuel related allergenic air pollution, such as ozone, smog, summer smog, nitrogen dioxide, and sulfur dioxide, which is thought to be one of the major reasons for the high prevalence of asthma in urban areas.[citation needed]
• Various industrial compounds and other chemicals, notably sulfites; chlorinated swimming pools generate chloramines—monochloramine (NH2Cl), dichloramine (NHCl2) and trichloramine (NCl3)—in the air around them, which are known to induce asthma.[23]
• Early childhood infections, especially viral upper respiratory tract infections. However, persons of any age can have asthma triggered by colds and other respiratory infections even though their normal stimuli might be from another category (e.g. pollen) and absent at the time of infection. In many cases, significant asthma may not even occur until the respiratory infection is in its waning stage, and the person is seemingly improving. Eighty percent of asthma attacks in adults and 60% in children are caused by respiratory viruses.[citation needed]
• Exercise or intense use of respiratory system. The effects of which differ somewhat from those of the other triggers, since they are brief.
• Hormonal changes in adolescent girls and adult women associated with their menstrual cycle can lead to a worsening of asthma. Some women also experience a worsening of their asthma during pregnancy whereas others find no significant changes, and in other women their asthma improves during their pregnancy.[citation needed]
• Psychological stress. There is growing evidence that psychological stress is a trigger. It can modulate the immune system, causing an increased inflammatory response to allergens and pollutants.
Cold weather can make it harder for asthmatics to breathe. Whether high altitude helps or worsens asthma is debatable and may vary from person to person.

Comments on asthma by Dr. Parth :
As we can see asthma is having its cause in many environmental and other factors but actually all these factors could be told as only a triggering factor to arouse a state of asthma. For treatment we rush behind signs and symptoms of asthma and also doctors suggest avoidance of triggering factors. Truly these things can only modify the intensity but can not give cure till we don’t treat the hypersensitivity or tendency of the person to get this arousal of asthmatic attack. Any pump can relive the asthma , can’t cure asthma.
Homoeopathy has very good ans. For asthma. homoeopathy not only decreases the no . of asthmatic attack but also sees to the tendency of the person to get it . Along with making person asthma free, homoeopathy also takes care of the general psychological stress of the person which also improves one’s general health.