It is a controllable ailment, but can be seriously debilitating and even life threatening. There is no cure for asthma. Your comfort and piece of mind depend on how well you learn to live with it.
Asthma attacks can come suddenly or gradually, last for minutes or go on for days.
Breathing becomes harder and harder. They may be free of symptoms much of the time, with coughing and wheezing episodes once or twice a week. Things that people without asthma may not even notice can cause distressing and dangerous narrowing of the airway of someone with asthma. Each individual has a highly individualized set of triggers that he or she must learn to recognize and avoid. Between 10 and 20 million people in North America have asthma and the percentage of people with asthma has been increasing in recent years.