What triggers allergic asthma?
You are probably aware of many things that can trigger your asthma. Mold, dust mites, cockroaches, and pet dander are common examples of year-round allergens. What you may not know is how something as simple as visiting a friend who has a pet can lead to an asthma attack. The reason, in part, is a substance produced by the body called IgE. What is IgE? IgE is short for Immunoglobulin E. This substance, which occurs naturally in your body in small amounts, plays an important role in allergic asthma. If you have allergic asthma, you body makes more IgE when you breathe an allergen. This can cause a series of chemical reactions known as the allergic-inflammatory process in allergic asthma. It can result in 2 things: (1) the muscles that surround the airways in your lungs begin to tighten (this is known as constriction of the airways); and, (2) your airways become irritated and swell up (this is known as inflammation of the airways). Together, constriction and inflammation of the airways m
