Asthma and Bronchial

How to Recognize Typical Asthma Symptoms

Asthma is one of the most rapidly growing health problems – not only in the United States, but in the world. Between 2002 and 2004, the incidence of reported asthma rose over 4% - a startling statistic, and even more startling when you consider that many people don’t even recognize an asthma symptom, and it goes undiagnosed.

Asthma is one of the most rapidly growing health problems – not only in the United States, but in the world.

Between 2002 and 2004, the incidence of reported asthma rose over 4% - a startling statistic, and even more startling when you consider that many people don’t even recognize an asthma symptom, and it goes undiagnosed.

These people, suffering from what’s often called ‘hidden asthma’, are more prone to respiratory illnesses, get more severe colds, are more likely to get pneumonia and chronic bronchitis. In addition, their health may suffer from poor sleep (one of the signs of an asthma symptom is night time of coughing and restlessness), depressed immunities and general fatigue.

Knowing the asthma symptoms, can alert you to a possible problem with undiagnosed asthma. A doctor can evaluate lung function using a peak flow meter or other method, and prescribe an asthma relief and treatment plan that will reduce the chances of ever having an acute episode of asthma. This will have the effect of reducing the number of missed work days because of those hidden asthma symptoms.

Typical Asthma symptoms may include:

Wheezing

Wheezing is the telltale sign of an asthma attack, but may not be present in chronic mild asthma.

Wheezing at the end of an exhale is an asthma sympton

Wheezing throughout an exhale is also a severe asthma symptom

Wheezing on both inhalation and exhalation is an acute asthma symptom. Medical attention should be sought if medication doesn’t give asthma relief from asthma symptoms within five to ten minutes.

Chronic nighttime coughing, especially in the absence of another illness is one of the most common signs and asthma symptom in children.

The cough may sound ‘rattly’, but is seldom productive because the asthma cough is not triggered by a need to move mucus. Instead, it’s triggered by irritated and inflamed airways

Of all the asthma symptoms, coughing is the one most likely to appear alone. Cough-variant asthma should be diagnosed by a doctor using a special kind of test to ‘provoke’ a reaction using histamines.

Cough-variant asthma is very responsive to a combination of bronchodilators and inhaled corticosteroids to relieve inflammation.

Being out of breath after minimal exertion can be an asthma symptom

Exercise induced shortness of breath is most often diagnosed as asthma, but needs to be carefully evaluated by a medical professional.

In one study conducted at the University of Iowa, researchers found that over 60% of the cases of asthma in children were diagnosed as having exercise induced asthma.

They actually had nothing wrong with them at all except their own perceptions of how much they should be able to do without getting out of breath.

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