When should you consult a doctor for asthma?

When should you consult a doctor for asthma?

When you assume that you or any of your family members may have asthma, consult your doctor. Some common symptoms that point to asthma are as follows:

Wheezing: 

Not every one of the patients may have the same symptoms. Some people experience asthma symptoms very often, whereas other asthmatics get the indications in long gap. When you hear a high-pitched whistling sound during breathing, it can be wheezing. It happens by the narrowing of the airways of the lungs due to inflammation, swelling, and constriction.

 Recurrent, spasmodic coughing;

If your cough lasts for a long time and it worsens when you laugh, cry or exercise, then it can be chronic cough and asthma. But when the coughing arises often at night and after some days it is also found in day time, it is called cough-variant asthma. Some doctors say, cough-variant asthma cannot be detected easily, because the cough is the only symptom in this disease and you may not experience other symptoms like chest tightness, wheezing and shortness of breath etc.

Shortness of breath:

Shortness of breath is the stage when you cannot hold your breath and also feel like out of breath and the lungs cannot get the required amount of air smoothly.

Tightness or pain in the chest:

When you feel tightness or pain in the chest, you should consult your care provider, as it is one of the major symptoms of asthma. Without ignoring this symptom visit the doctor, because there are so many diseases like COPD, asthma, pulmonary embolism etc. Besides these, heart diseases are associated with this.

When you should go to the hospital?

When you or your baby has asthma, prepare an asthma action plan with your health caregiver. The health caregiver prepares a chart with instructions about what you have to do when an asthma attack occurs, when you will call the health care giver and when you need to go to the hospital etc. When you will call health caregiver and when you need to go to the hospital etc. When you experience the following symptoms, you will seek advice from your health caregiver or need to go to the hospital.

1.When your cough lasts for more than a few weeks, then go to the doctor. If you feel difficulty in breathing nausea or severe chest pain, visit the doctor for emergency treatment.

2. Also, if you feel tightness in the chest and you have not been detected with asthma earlier, contact your health care provider. You have to give the complete picture of your problems to the doctor for correct diagnosis.

3. When you have trouble in breathing, take two breaths of rescue medication or inhaled Beta-agonist with a gap of 1 minute. If there is no improvement in breathing, then take more breathe from the inhaled Beta-agonist in every five minutes. After 8 breaths in 40 minutes, if no improvement is found, you should call your health caregiver. You should also call your health caregiver when you have an asthma attack and you do not get any relief after using the steroid inhaler.

4. If you have an asthma attack, you experience trouble breathing and you cannot reach your health caregiver, then go to the nearest hospital for immediate treatment.

5. When you hear a high pitched or squeaky sound during breathing, especially at the time of exhaling (wheezing), you can also seek doctor’s advice.

6. Similarly, sometimes, you may feel breathlessness or you cannot hold breathe. At that time, you need an inhaler or reliever.

7. When you wake up at night due to continuous coughing and wheezing and these symptoms worsen during morning, at the time of laughing, playing or during exercise, it may be clear case of asthma.

8. During physical activity, you may feel tightness in the chest or some heavyweight thing is kept on your chest.

9. You are requiring some time off from your work and study, as you feel tired after some time of work.

10. You feel out of breath when you walk in a faster speed or by doing some labour.

11. You observe that you are unable to do your regular work and exercise comfortably.

12. Your asthma symptoms like coughing, feeling of breathlessness get worse when you come in contact with smoke, strong odor, cold air etc.

13. If you are a heart patient and you have crossed 40 years of age and sometimes you experience dizziness, heavy sweating, and fainting associated with chest tightness.

14. When your symptoms do not improve after taking the medication for asthma attack according to your asthma action plan.

15. You expel bloody or dark brown mucus during coughing.

16. Your wheezing and coughing symptoms get worse.

17. You have a high fever.

18. You require quick-relief medicine more than two days in a week, mainly it is prescribed only to take for exercise.

19. You cough deeply and more often.

20. When you experience wheezing for the first time

21. Your skin color changes with other asthma symptoms.

22. Besides these, if wheezing occurs after beaten by any insect or after taking some specific food.

When you will take your child to hospital?

Asthma in children is found in an early age before 5 years and it persists till teen age. Sometimes the asthma symptoms occur with other conditions. So in this situation, it is difficult to diagnose asthma. However, by observing the below described symptoms, you need to consult the doctor or take him /her to the hospital immediately.

1. Some children experience symptoms like wheezing, coughing, but they don't have detected with asthma.

2. Recurrent coughing and coughing worsens during and after energetic activity or playing.

3. Breathing sounds more than normal breathing and sometimes a high pitched breathing occurs.

4. When the child suffers by allergies by pollen or by pollution.

5. When the child has some skin allergies.

6. High fever occurs with coughing and runny nose

7. If the child has wheezing symptoms even in the absence of infections and cold.

8. When the child is found absent in the school frequently.

9. Less participation in physical activities

Which medical tests are done to detect asthma?

After experiencing symptoms like wheezing, shortness of breath and chest tightness, you go to doctor for treatment. Then the doctor will try to gather information for proper diagnosis. He will ask questions about your symptoms and will ask you to do some physical tests. Here are the tests the doctor will do.

Questionnaire Test

In the first step of diagnosis the doctor asks about the symptoms and the health condition. From your answers the doctor will trace whether it is asthma or anything else which is creating these symptoms. The doctor will ask about the triggers which foster to worsen asthma symptoms. His/her questions may be as following:

* What types of symptoms do you experience and in which time they occur? Are the symptoms found in a certain time in a year or in certain place? Is there anything which worsens them? Are the symptoms getting worse at night?

* Does fever come when the symptoms are found or do you have any allergy?

* Do you come in contact with tobacco smoke, dusts, pollens or any airborne allergies?

* Is there any hereditary condition of asthma, allergy or high fever?

* Is there any other health problem with you?

* What type of medications or any alternative treatments you are taking?

* Which type of work you do?

* Do you keep any pet animals or bird at home?