Asthma is one of the commonest of all medical conditions. There are several different patterns of asthma which may represent a number of closely related diseases which cause similar symptoms. There is a lot of research going on in area of asthma therapy.

Asthma most commonly starts in childhood when allergies, respiratory infections or other factors often trigger attacks. However, it is important to understand that in the majority of patients allergy aggravates asthma rather than being the fundamental cause of it. When asthma starts in adult life, allergic factors are less likely to be found and attacks are more likely to be provoked by other triggers, for example the common cold, aspirin, or beta blocking drugs (medicines sometimes used to treat angina or high blood pressure). Some patients with asthma will deteriorate without any obvious provoking cause. Many occupations can cause asthma for the first time or aggravate existing asthma.

The commonest asthma symptom is paroxysmal wheezy breathlessness which is often worst or most frequently occurs at night or in the early morning. However other patients are more troubled by a cough and may also produce sticky sputum which can even look yellow or green, mimicking a chest infection. A child with a recurrent cough often turns out to have asthma and sometimes it can be difficult for the doctor to make a diagnosis of asthma straight away. Measuring the Peak Flow Rate (a simple breathing test) with a simple meter at home is often very useful in making the diagnosis and monitoring treatment.

What is happening in patients with asthma is that there is chronic inflammation in the bronchi (airways). This makes their walls swell up so that they become narrower and muscles around the air passages become irritated so that they contract, causing sudden worsening of symptoms. The inflammation can also make mucus glands produce excessive sputum which further blocks up air passages which are already narrowed. If the inflammation is not controlled with treatment, as well as causing acute attacks, it can lead to permanent narrowing and scarring of the air passages so that eventually asthma drugs won't relieve the symptoms any more. This process is known as airway remodelling.

There is no cure for asthma at present but modern drugs can control the inflammation to stop it causing symptoms and leading to disability in the future from airway remodelling. Nevertheless, pharmacotherapy of asthma still remains a serious problem. In many cases steroids and other drugs are not effective for reaching the stable and complete remission. Many scientists try to perform researches in area of new ways of asthma pharmacotherapy.

Our searches also are in this field. We suppose that some antiepileptic drugs, like carbamazepine or phenytoin, are very effective in prevention of asthma attacks, and in treatment of inflammation in airways. Many antiepileptic drugs are effective in therapy of neurogenic inflammatory diseases, like migraine and trigeminal neuralgia. Taking into account that exacerbations of migraine, asthma and trigeminal neuralgia are possible under the influence the same inflammatory agents, we use some antiepileptic drugs in therapy of asthma.

In our site physicians may find detailed data about our findings, and also scientific background of our approach to asthma therapy. If your physician became interested in our approach to asthma, it is possible to connect with us for further detailed information.

Our or neuroasthma@gmx.co.uk

Kind regards,

Merab Lomia, MD, PhD,
Head of Neuroasthma Group
18a Vazha Pshavela ave.
Tbilisi, Georgia

Telephone: +995 99 985433