Introduction
Asthma is a common, chronic respiratory disease affecting 1–18% of
the population in different countries. Asthma is characterized by variable
symptoms of wheeze, shortness of breath, chest tightness and/or cough,
and by variable expiratory airflow limitation. Both symptoms and airflow
limitation characteristically vary over time and in intensity. These variations
are often triggered by factors such as exercise, allergen or irritant
exposure, change in weather, or viral respiratory infections.
Symptoms and airflow limitation may resolve spontaneously or in
response to medication, and may sometimes be absent for weeks or
months at a time. On the other hand, patients can experience episodic
flare-ups (exacerbations) of asthma that may be life-threatening and carry
a significant burden to patients and the community. Asthma is usually
associated with airway hyperresponsiveness to direct or indirect stimuli,
and with chronic airway inflammation. These features usually persist, even
when symptoms are absent or lung function is normal, but may normalize
with treatment.
Case
A man with initial A, 58 years of age, came to emergency room with
shortness of breath. He had difficulty on walking so he had his wife
accompany him. On the examintaions, the man tends to lean forward in
order to gain better access at breathing and he had trouble with
answering the General Practitioner questions. The man looked disoriented
and after physical examination, it was stated that the breathing rate was
36x/min with heart rate of 130x/min. The doctor also found wheezing
sounds from ausculation.
A few lung function tests were done to the patient and the results were
PEF rate < 60%, PaCO2 < 45 mmHg and SaO2 < 90%. It was also found that
the patient was formerly attended an event and due to the fact that it
was hot and overcrowded, he had his attacks. He didn’t have any other
background illness other than asthma he suffered from since 1996
Discussion
According to the consensus Guidelines diagnostic and Management
Asthma in Indonesia, an assessment of the weight of the attack is the first
key in the handling of acute attacks. The next step is to provide proper
treatment, further assess the response to the next treatment, and
understand what actions should preferably be done on sufferers. (Home,
observation, hospitalization, intubasi, require a ventilator, ICU, and others)
Those steps are absolute to be done, but unfortunately they only
scrutinise parts of the treatment without understanding when and how. The
inadequate treatment could worsen the asthma attacks and more likely to
induce recurrent attacks. If this not treated correctly it coukl become fatal
and lead to severe asthma attacks
Conclusion
Patients who waited longer had worse symptoms and reported greater
adverse effects of asthma on quality of life. They also were more likely to
be hospitalized, indicating that physicians thought they were worse
clinically and not responsive to usual ED care. Thus, teaching patients to
manage an exacerbation requires instruction in recognizing when
emergency care is necessary.
Most current selfmanagement education focuses on managing
relatively stable daily symptoms and optimizing control. Teaching patients
to gauge the severity of an exacerbation and the likelihood of it being
thwarted within an expected time period remains a daunting challenge
for clinicians and may be a weak link in the current treatment of asthma.
PENDAHULUAN