If you live with asthma, you probably know your personal triggers (looking at you, Rover), but if you don’t, it’s easy to think of asthma as a single condition. While it’s true that what’s happening in the lungs is the same no matter what type of asthma you have, asthma is actually an umbrella term for a number of specific diagnoses.1
“The different types of asthma are linked to the trigger,” Neeta Ogden, M.D., an asthma specialist and immunologist in New York City, tells SELF. “Some people have allergic asthma, for example. It occurs when they’re exposed to their allergy triggers, such as spring pollen or fall ragweed,” she explains. For others, asthma is a year-round condition that isn’t necessarily tied to just one allergic trigger, but may flare during times of stress or extreme weather.
However, the different types of asthma all follow the same general process. Your airways—the tubes that extend between your nose and mouth to your lungs—get inflamed in response to triggers, and the swelling can cause the surrounding muscles to tighten, restricting the amount of air you’re able to take in. Your airways may also create more mucus than they usually do, making it even harder to breathe, according to the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute.
So, what are the different types of asthma?
Although they all have that same overarching M.O., they can each flare up for different reasons. Here are a few surprising types of asthma to keep on your radar:
Allergic asthma
Although asthma can be triggered by any number of things, allergies are the most common. According to a study published in the journal Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology,2 75% of adults with asthma between the ages of 20 to 40 have at least one allergy. With allergy-induced asthma, your symptoms are most often triggered by inhaling allergens like dust mites, pet dander, mold, or pollen.
With allergic asthma, you may be able to reduce your lungs’ reaction to allergens with immunotherapy, most commonly known as allergy shots. This involves exposing your body to the allergen in incrementally higher doses to desensitize your immune system, according to the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (ACAAI).
Non-allergic asthma
Unsurprisingly, this type of asthma is triggered by things other than allergies, which can include extreme weather, exercise, respiratory infections, and stress. Other possible triggers include irritants in the air, like smoke and certain medications and food additives, such as sulfites, which are food preservatives, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
This type of asthma can be a bit more challenging to diagnose since triggers aren’t as obvious, but you’ll likely still be referred to an allergist to rule out allergic triggers first, per the ACAAI.
Exercise-induced asthma
It’s one thing to have so-called regular asthma and find yourself huffing and puffing your way through spin class. But if you struggle with asthma only during any other heart-thumping aerobic exercise, you may have exercise-induced bronchoconstriction, which is just a fancy way to say exercise-induced asthma, according to the ACAAI. That’s especially true if your asthma symptoms kick in within a few minutes after you start exercising and continue for 10 or 15 minutes after you finish your workout.
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December 02, 2021 at 09:02PM
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11 Types of Asthma and How Triggers May Differ - SELF
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