Informative Outline on Asthma

INFORMATIVE SPEECH OUTLINE

Name: Carla Conley
Title: Asthma: Chronic and Deadly
General Purpose: To Inform
Specific Purpose: To explain the nature of the chronic disease asthma.
Thesis Statement: Asthma is a disease that most people do not take serious, but I will discuss what is Asthma, what triggers it, and preventable treatment.
I. Introduction
A. Attention Getter: Asthma is usually a genetic opponent. If one parent have asthma, than chances are 1 in 3 that the child will have it. According to Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America around 44,000 people have an asthma attack. About 36,000 kids miss school due to asthma, and 27,000 adults miss work due to asthma. The emergency room sees around 4,700 people daily due to asthma, 1,200 admitted to the hospital and 9 people die from it.
B. Reason to Listen: Having an asthma attack may be like someone sitting on your chest and squeezing your noise shut and you’re trying to get air through your airways. Your breathing becomes harder and harder to breath. The scary part is I didn’t catch it until my late 20’s. Therefore, you may not had it as a child, but you can get as an adult in your later years.
C. Credibility: I wasn’t diagnosed with asthma until my late 20’s. One day all of sudden I started having issues breathing and notice that it started to get harder and harder for me to breath. I started having anxiety attacks, chest pains, and almost passed out. I was so scared. Luckily my mother was with me that day, and she called the emergency squad. That is when they said I have a serious case of Asthma. Ever since then I have been in out of the emergency room, admitted to the hospital, and have been on life support several of times. Last year really scared me because I was on life support for almost two weeks and had to be induced into a coma in order for them to try to starting getting air through my lungs. From what I have learned about Asthma is that your environment can cause this disease. Such as mold, smoking, pest and dust. I never smoked, but I have been around people who did smoke. I had my first my attack the night after I started my part-time job cleaning. Of course, I was around dust and dirt which is one of the first major starts for an asthma attack. Heat and cold can also cause asthma attacks. The cold weather really effects my Asthma. I have to start getting medicine through tubes, shots, and oral medication in order for me to start breathing on my own. After my near death last year, I have to get three Xolair shots every other week for the rest of my life. It’s unfortunate that all of this pollution in the air we breathe, where we work at and live can cause a development of asthma.
D. Preview:
1. What is Asthma
2. What triggers Asthma
3. Preventable measures to take from having an asthma attack

II. Body
A. What is Asthma?
1. National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute describes Asthma as a chronic (long-term) lung disease that inflames and narrows the airways which makes breathing difficult.
a. Asthma causes recurring periods of wheezing; a whistling sound to a tractor trailer sound once it starts getting harder and harder to breathe.
b. It also causes chest tightness and chest pains.
c. Once it becomes severe, asthma may result in decreased activity and ability to talk.
d. In addition, coughing occurs which causes you to cough up yellow or white mucus.
Transition Statement: Now that I have explained to you what asthma is we will discuss according to Asthma Society of Canada what triggers Asthma.
B. What triggers Asthma?
1. Really no one know what causes asthma attacks. The start of the attacks vary for different people. One known fact that is once the airways come into contact with a trigger, the airways becomes inflamed, narrow, and fill with mucus.
1. A trigger is anything or condition that causes inflammation in the airways, which then leads to asthma symptoms.
a. Dust mites are one trigger for an asthma attack. They are tiny, spider-like creatures that eat in kitchen particles humans shed. Dust mites are found in bedding, carpets, stuffed toys, sofas and mattresses, and curtains.
b. Many type of animals in or out can trigger an attack. People who are allergic to animals can trigger airway inflammation. Cats, dogs, mice, hamsters are a few animals that may trigger an attack.
c. Believe or not cockroaches have shown to trigger asthma symptoms.
d. Mold is another trigger which are types of fungus. They can grow in piles of leaves, stagnant water, composters, and food. Mold releases spores into the air that can trigger asthma episodes. You can also find mold in:
Basements
Bathrooms
Humidifiers
Old homes
e. Viral Infections which are viruses can both cause asthma episodes and makes people with asthma more sensitive and open for asthma triggers. The viral triggers are:
The rhinovirus (common cold)
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)
Certain flu viruses
d. Pollens one of the most common allergy substances that cause allergic substances that causes allergic reactions – that can also trigger severe attacks. Pollens are carried in the wind on hot and windy days. They are produced by:
Trees in the spring
Grasses in the summer
Weeds (especially ragweed) in the fall
Transition statement: We have the discussed the triggers of an asthma attack. Now we will get into ways how to treat it, prevention to keep it under control and not coming deadly. C: Prevention and Treatment:
1. Although, there is no real cure for asthma there are ways you and your doctor can come up with a step-by-step action plan to live with it and prevent asthma attacks.
a. Make sure you follow the plan your doctor came up with you by taking the correct medications to manage the attack. You need to monitor your asthma at all times due to it being an ongoing condition and you never know when something may trigger it for an attack.
b. and pneumonia shot. This may help prevent your triggers and flare-ups.
c. You can recognize your triggers by getting an allergy test. This will help you by finding out causes or worsens your asthma.
d. Monitor your breathing by blowing into a peak flow meter and write the measurements down.
e. One thing I had to learn is to recognize the signs early. If you act fast you’re less likely to have a sever attack. Your peak flow will also let you know if your asthma is worsening if the measurements starts to decrease. Once you see them decreasing take the necessary medications to avoid an attack. If the symptoms don’t approve make sure get medical right away. Remember too your asthma isn’t under control if you have to constantly use your quick-relief inhalers.
d. Most important factor is continue to take your preventable medications for an asthma attack such as Symbicort, Dulera, Alvesco, Advair and Xolair (shots). Another good one is Singulair, which is for both Asthma and allergies.
III. Conclusion A. Review of Main Points: 1. Today I discussed what is asthma? 2. What triggers asthma. 3. Ways to help prevent and treat asthma.
B. Restate Thesis: Asthma is a disease that most people don’t take serious, but I will discuss what is asthma, what triggers it, and preventable treatment.
C. Closure: According to cdc.gov/VitalSigns about 1 and 12 people (25 million) have asthma, and the numbers continue to increase every year. Number of people diagnosed with asthma has grew by 4.3 million from 2001 to 2009. The increase has really rose among black children 50% increase. This is, because most children who resides in poor inner-city areas, have the least access to get quality treatment or healthcare. Although, there is really no cure for asthma, and people continue to be diagnosed with asthma but with treatment, research, and knowledge most people can manage this chronic disease. Those of us with this disease or who may one day be diagnosed with asthma needs to make sure we have a good rapport with your doctor, tell them on your visits how frequent you have to use your quick relief inhalers. In addition, maybe sometimes go out and research yourself on websites such as Asthma Clinical Research Centers and WebMd.

References
Online Sources:
Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America-AAFA (2014). Asthma Facts and Figures. Retrieved on September 28, 2014 from https://www.aafa.org/display.cfm?sub=42&id=8.
Asthma Society of Canada. (September 2014). Common Asthma Triggers. About Inflammatory Triggers| About Symptoms Triggers. Retrieved on September 27, 2014 from http://www.asthma.ca/adults/about/inflammatoryTriggers.php#dustMites.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-CDC (May 2011). CDC Vitalsigns. Retrieved on September 28, 2014 from http://www.cdc.gov/VitalSigns/Asthma/index.html.
National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute-NHLBI. (August 2014). What is Asthma? Retrieved on September 28, 2014 from http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/asthma/.

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References: Online Sources: Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America-AAFA (2014). Asthma Facts and Figures. Retrieved on September 28, 2014 from https://www.aafa.org/display.cfm?sub=42&id=8. Asthma Society of Canada. (September 2014). Common Asthma Triggers. About Inflammatory Triggers| About Symptoms Triggers. Retrieved on September 27, 2014 from http://www.asthma.ca/adults/about/inflammatoryTriggers.php#dustMites. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-CDC (May 2011). CDC Vitalsigns. Retrieved on September 28, 2014 from http://www.cdc.gov/VitalSigns/Asthma/index.html. National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute-NHLBI. (August 2014). What is Asthma? Retrieved on September 28, 2014 from http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/asthma/. \