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HWN Suggests

What Exactly Is Reactive Airways Disease Anyway?

I think that she has a component of reactive airways disease,” the doctor said, describing her otherwise healthy 22-year-old patient with a lingering cough and chest tightness after a respiratory tract infection. “That’s why she has this persistent, wheezy-sounding cough. I’m going to prescribe a bronchodilator and some inhaled steroids.”

“Reactive airways disease.” What is that? I think that I know what the doctor means, but it is hard to be sure. She probably means that following a viral respiratory infection, her patient has sensitized, inflamed bronchial tubes, with asthma-like “twitchiness,” that will benefit from anti-asthmatic medications to relax bronchial smooth muscle…

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 Scary Mom Experience – Our Run-In With Reactive Airway Disease

Every mommy, at some point I am sure will have a completely terrifying moment as a parent. For some, it could be your kid having a bad fall and breaking a bone. For others it might be an instance, where maybe your kid ran away in public and you couldn’t find them. For me, reactive airways disease created my scary moment.

 What does reactive airway disease mean?

This article explores how reactive airway disease differs from asthma, its symptoms, and potential causes. It also considers what treatments are available for reactive airway disease.

Articles of Interest

A Lazy Term of Uncertain Meaning That Should Be Abandoned

The term “reactive airways disease” needs to be distinguished from reactive airways dysfunction syndrome (RADS) and from airway hyperreactivity—two terms that have value and meaning in pulmonary medicine.

Definition of reactive airways disease

Unfortunately, I cannot give you a precise definition of reactive airways because such does not exist. Before attempting to define the term, however, since you mentioned it in the same context as asthma, it should be stated that the two terms are not synonymous.

Reactive Airway vs. Asthma

Those of you who've been reading this blog for any length of time know that I think the diagnosis of "Reactive Airways Disease" is a load of bologna with a capital "BS."

Reactive Airways Dysfunction Syndrome (RADS)

Over time, many in the medical community have begun to mistakenly use RADS as a synonym for asthma. There is agreement among the authors of the article I read that RADS is distinct from asthma.