Common symptoms of asthma

Sometimes it is difficult to identify the symptoms of asthma but generally, the most common ones are:

1) A wheezing sound during breathing. Sometimes this is more frequent when one has a cold.

2) Coughing is another obvious symptom with mucus being discharge at times. The cough may last for more than a week.

3) Shortness of breath i.e. difficulty in breathing. It seems there is not enough air in the ambient. Frequency of this varies widely from one person to another.

4) The chest may feel “tight” especially during cold weather or during exercise. Chest tightness could be one of the signs that asthma condition is getting worse.

What is asthma?

Asthma is a breathing problem that makes it more difficult for you to get air in and out of your lungs. When you inhale, fresh air comes in through your nose and passes into your lungs through tiny tubes (called bronchi). When you exhale, air with carbon dioxide from your lungs is breathed out through the same tubes.

When you have asthma, the breathing tubes become sensitive to smoke, pollen, dust, air pollution, or other triggers. The breathing tubes may start to narrow and tighten, becoming inflamed and swollen after reacting with all these allergenic materials.

The end result is you find breathing difficult to a varying degree. People who are known to be allergic to pollen, pets, or dust have to be extra careful as they are at higher risk of developing asthma.

The diagnosis of this could be complicated especially for older people because the problem could be due to other organic problems such as lung disease or heart disease. Good examples of lung diseases that could cause similar problems are bronchitis and emphysema, particularly with smokers.

Smoking cigarettes, cigars, pipes, or anything else, increases your risk of developing asthma symptoms. If you smoke at home, other members of the family would have a greater chance of developing asthma.

Of course it is also possible for people with lung and heart diseases to be suffering from allergy and asthma as well.