Why is it that some people with asthma experience very few symptoms, while others seem to suffer day and night?
It is all to do with the intensity level of the condition.
It can be difficult for people who don’t suffer from asthma to understand why different people’s symptoms present in different ways.
But asthma falls into four categories of intensity for all different asthma types, whether it is allergic, non-allergic, exercise induced, occupational or aspirin induced.
These categories include mild intermittent, mild persistent, moderate persistent and severe persistent.
The least intense level of asthma is mild intermittent. This means the patient suffers symptoms a maximum of two times a week during the day and a maximum of twice a month during the night.
People with this level of asthma do not normally experience any symptoms between these episodes.
When symptoms do arise, they will only be present for a short period of time.
With the second level, the sufferer will experience symptoms more frequently. Those with mild persistent asthma will have symptoms more than twice a week during the day and more often than twice a month at night.
While people on this level do not have symptoms every day, their asthma has more of an effect on their daily life than those with mild intermittent asthma.
People with asthma characterised as moderate persistent must keep their asthma medications on them at all times.
This intensity level means the sufferer will have symptoms every day and more than once a week during the night. The daily life of those with asthma on this level will be greatly affected.
Patients with asthma at a level of severe persistent have to be very careful about the activities they participate in. They experience symptoms all day and night.
Two people can have asthma caused by identical factors, for example allergy-linked, and experience their condition in different ways depending on which intensity level they fall in to.
Keeping a close eye, and recording your symptoms will give you a good idea of which category your asthma falls under.
Knowing how intense your asthma is will help your doctor prescribe the treatment that will best treat your condition.
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