How Asthma Can Lead To a Lung Transplant

How Asthma Can Lead To a Lung Transplant

Asthma as we all know sucks but what sucks even more than asthma is the very real possibility of it leading to a lung transplant. In this article, we are going to go over how asthma can lead to a lung transplant.

There are airways in the human body that transports air from and to the lungs. Asthma is a chronic disease where the inside walls of the airways, commonly known as the bronchial tubes, gets inflamed or swollen. Due to this inflammation or swelling, the airways become quite sensitive to different irritations. It also increases the susceptibility of the airways to a different allergic reaction. To date, there is no full cure for an asthma patient but with proper asthma medication, it is possible to help the person lead a normal life. 

How asthma attack the lungs?

A person suffering from asthma has their airways of the lungs swollen or inflamed. Thus, these people are oversensitive to any changes in their environment. If there is a ‘trigger’ there are high chances that asthma attacks will be intense. This trigger can be anything, a cold-weather or some exposure to dust, pet dander, or air congestion. 
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When the patient breathes in the trigger the airways that are already affected swells more. Thus, the air inside cannot move in and out of the lungs properly. With time the muscles that are wrapping the airways also get tightened and thus breathing becomes tougher. This is known as an asthma attack.
The symptoms of narrowing of the airways are wheezing, coughing, breathlessness, and tightness in your chest. The larger airways of lungs have cartilage in their walls which will prevent any collapse during such attack, but the smaller bronchioles and the bronchi do not have this support. In these smaller airways, there may be mucus-secreting cells. Due to secretion from the mucous membranes, the smaller airways are sometimes blocked. Thus, the efforts to move air in and out become tougher and there is a huge problem in the lungs. There will be breathlessness and wheezing if the lungs are affected in such a situation. 

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Does it lead to a lung transplant?
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A lung transplant may very well be needed if with time the airways become narrower and the patient suffers more and more. In the early stages, inhalers and other medications help and most of the asthma medications do prove much fruitful. However, an estimated 11 people die every day from asthma which means that a lot of lives can be saved if more asthma patients took advantage of lung transplants.
Different research and conditions have shown that lung transplants may not cure a patient suffering from asthma totally, but what it can do is give the patient a ton of relief and a much better life.

​​Conclusion

1 in 12 people have Asthma as it’s one of the most common lung diseases in the world. 

Severe Asthma can get to a point where your lungs may stop functioning and you may need a lung transplant. 
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Did you know that lung transplants have the lowest survival rate among all transplants? Only about 50% of people live 5 years after having a lung transplant and patients have to take up to 50 pills a day!

We at The Sid Foundation want to increase that survival rate and help patients be able to afford that medication which is why we raise money for lung transplant research and development and lung transplant patients. 

We need your help in increasing the survival rate and helping lung transplant patients so please join the 200+ donors who have raised over $40,000 and donate what you think is fair to help lung patients everywhere.

If you donate $10 or more, we will send you a free Lung Girl comic book and put your name on our wall of donors so that you can be recognized for your contribution forever. ​​