How Can You Tell If You Have Asthma
It can be hard to tell if someone has asthma, especially in children under age 5. Having a doctor check how well your lungs work and check for allergies can help you find out if you have asthma.
During a checkup, a doctor will ask if you cough a lot, especially at night. He or she will also ask whether your breathing problems are worse after physical activity or at certain times of year. The doctor will then ask about chest tightness, wheezing, and colds lasting more than 10 days. He or she will ask whether anyone in your family has or has had asthma, allergies, or other breathing problems. Finally, the doctor will ask questions about your home and whether you have missed school or work or have trouble doing certain things.
The doctor may also do a breathing test, called spirometry, to find out how well your lungs are working by testing how much air you can breathe out after taking a very deep breath before and after you use asthma medicine.
Give Yourself Some Time To Recover
After an asthma attack it’s important to try and rest as much as you need to. Lots of people feel physically and emotionally tired. Everyone’s different so it’s important to do what’s right for you.
Try to:
- rest and relax as much as possible
- get signed off work by your doctor dont go back to work until youre fully better
- ask friends and family to help with children or housework and shopping
- have a good sleep routine trouble sleeping is common after an asthma attack
- postpone social events until youre well enough
- call the Asthma UK Helpline on 0300 222 5800 for reassurance and support if youre frightened or stressed after your asthma attack. Or you can WhatsApp them on 07378 606 728.
book another appointment with your GP as soon as possible,
What Are The Symptoms Acute Bronchitis
The following are the most common symptoms of acute bronchitis. However, each person may experience symptoms differently. Symptoms may include:
- Back and muscle pain
- Watery eyes
- Wheezing
The symptoms of acute bronchitis may look like other conditions or medical problems. Talk with a healthcare provider for a diagnosis.
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How Is Asthma Classified
Asthma is classified into four categories based upon frequency of symptoms and objective measures, such as peak flow measurements and/or spirometry results. These categories are: mild intermittent mild persistent moderate persistent and severe persistent. Your physician will determine the severity and control of your asthma based on how frequently you have symptoms and on lung function tests. It is important to note that a persons asthma symptoms can change from one category to another.
What Are The Symptoms Of Central Chest Pain
I was asleep and my symptoms woke me up. I had several simultaneous symptoms, but the first one seemed to be central chest pain. It wasnt sharp or crushing or burning, more like a dull pressure. The pain radiated down my left arm and up into my neck and jaw. I had cold sweats, and I felt nauseated.
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What Happens During An Asthma Attack
Exposure to allergens can cause asthma attacks.
The lungs are like trees with many branches, but instead of leaves at the end, there are balloon-like air sacs that inflate and deflate to help a person breathe. The tree’s trunk and the branches that lead from it are all part of the airways.
These airways are usually open, allowing oxygen to fill the air sacs in the lungs. However, when a person has asthma, the linings of the airways become inflamed and irritated or can swell or have extra mucus present.
These situations can make breathing harder because a person cannot move as much air through a smaller airway.
Sometimes, people can experience an acute asthma flare-up known as an asthma attack.
Waiting Time With Chest Pain Before Going To The Emergency Room
Chest pain in a person with risk factors for cardiovascular disease should be promptly evaluated, says Hanifin.
People with a history of high blood pressure, smoking, diabetes, high cholesterol or a family history of heart diseases need to be educated regarding the warning signs of heart attack.
Another red flag for chest pain is the presence of associated symptoms. The presence of shortness of breath, nausea, sweating or lightheadedness can signal a potentially life-threatening problem and merit prompt evaluation.
Finally, different types of pathology are frequently characterized by different types of pain.
Heart attacks and angina are usually associated with a pressure sensation.
Aortic dissection is associated with a tearing sensation, and inflammation around the heart pericarditis is associated with a sharp pain. All of these should be urgently evaluated.
This means dont make up some time limit rule. Just get out the door .
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What To Do If You Have An Asthma Attack
If you think you’re having an asthma attack, you should:
Never be frightened of calling for help in an emergency.
Try to take the details of your medicines with you to hospital if possible.
If your symptoms improve and you do not need to call 999, get an urgent same-day appointment to see a GP or asthma nurse.
This advice is not for people on SMART or MART treatment. If this applies to you, ask a GP or asthma nurse what to do if you have an asthma attack.
How To Stop An Asthma Attack
Stopping an asthma attack is easier if you know what to do once one starts. In some cases, it may not be possible to stop an asthma attack entirely without an inhaler. However, there are certain steps you can take to lessen the duration and intensity of an asthma attack. These include:
- Use your inhaler
- Stay calm
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What Causes Chest Pain After A Balloon Angioplasty
Chest pain following successful balloon angioplasty or stent is a common problem. Although the development of chest pain after coronary interventions may be not a problem, it is disturbing to patients, relatives and hospital staff. The distinction between these causes of chest pain is crucial in selecting optimal care.
What To Do When Having An Asthma Attack
If you have asthma, then its important that you know what to do and not do if you have an asthma attack.
Its hard to predict exactly when an asthma attack will occur, so its also important to discuss your condition with your family, friends and employer. Its essential that they all become better acquainted with what happens and how to react and help if you have an asthma attack.
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Lifestyle Changes To Help Severe Asthma
As well as medication, there are lifestyle changes you can make that can help.
- Maintain a healthy weight and exercise routine. If youre taking long-term high doses of oral corticosteroids, they can increase appetite and cause weight gain. It can be difficult to manage your weight with severe asthma, as your symptoms may make exercise more difficult, and you may lack energy and motivation if youre feeling unwell. But even by making small changes to your diet and activity levels, you can make a difference.
- Quit smoking. is a major risk factor for asthma attacks, as well as being associated with numerous other health problems. If you smoke and have asthma, you should try to quit. Seek help from your doctor, nurse or a smoking cessation group to help make the change.
- Do breathing exercises. Regularly practising breathing exercises can be beneficial as they help to improve lung capacity, strength and health. There are various methods suitable for asthmatics, some of which are taught by experts or physiotherapists, and theyre easy to learn and practice at home.
- Reduce your stress levels. To reduce stress which can be a key trigger for asthma incorporating yoga, meditation or mindfulness practice into your lifestyle may be helpful.
Useful treatment tools
What Asthma Treatment Options Are There
You have options to help manage your asthma. Your healthcare provider may prescribe medications to control symptoms. These include:
- Anti-inflammatory medicines: These medicines reduce swelling and mucus production in your airways. They make it easier for air to enter and exit your lungs. Your healthcare provider may prescribe them to take every day to control or prevent your symptoms.
- Bronchodilators: These medicines relax the muscles around your airways. The relaxed muscles let the airways move air. They also let mucus move more easily through the airways. These medicines relieve your symptoms when they happen.
- Biologic therapies for asthma when symptoms persist despite being on proper inhaler therapy.
You can take asthma medicines in several different ways. You may breathe in the medicines using a metered-dose inhaler, nebulizer or other inhaler. Your healthcare provider may prescribe oral medications that you swallow.
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What Happens During An Asthma Episode
During normal breathing, the airways to the lungs are fully open. This allows air to move in and out of the lungs freely. Asthma causes the airways to change in the following ways:
These changes narrow the airways. Breathing becomes difficult and stressful, like trying to breathe through a straw stuffed with cotton.
After An Asthma Attack: Changing Your Asthma Management Or Asthma Attack Treatment
“After an asthma attack evaluation, your doctor may want to step up treatment, step down treatment, change treatment, or increase your doctor visits,” said Bernstein.
Some signs that your treatment plan may need to change include:
- Frequent asthma attacks
- Needing to take more asthma medication than prescribed
- Waking up at night with asthma symptoms
- Daytime activity limited by asthma
- Continued cough, congestion, and mucous production
- Poor peak flow rates
Knowing what to do after an asthma attack is part of learning how to manage your asthma. Each asthma attack is a chance to learn more about your asthma triggers and your asthma medications. Sharing this information with your doctor gives you and your doctor the opportunity to make the right adjustments to your asthma action plan â and that could mean fewer asthma attacks in your future.
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Managing Your Asthma Flare
Am Fam Physician. 1998 Jul 1 58:109-113.
See related article on .
To keep your asthma under control, you need to know what to do when you have a flare-up of symptoms . First, you need to know the symptoms that tell you your asthma is getting worse . Second, you need to know how to treat your asthma when it gets worse. Early treatment of flare-ups works the best and will help get your asthma under control quickly.
How To Avoid Asthma Triggers
If you know what your asthma triggers are, then where possible, its beneficial to try to avoid them.
If theres a particular allergen culprit you know of, then keeping your home clean and dust-free can help. For example, you could consider swapping carpets for wooden floors to reduce the amount of dust build-up or hiring a cleaner so youre not personally exposed to dust when cleaning.
It can be more difficult to avoid asthma triggers completely when youre at work, especially if your asthma is occupational and linked to your working environment. In an ideal world, you could simply change jobs to something more suitable for your health, but in reality this isnt always feasible.
Let your employer or the HR department know about your asthma. You should be able to discuss the options available for optimising your work environment to be more suitable to your needs.
Keeping on top of your asthma management plan, working alongside your doctor or asthma nurse and making sure you take your inhalers or other asthma medications should help to control your symptoms. Making practical lifestyle choices is important too, like eating healthily, exercising and not smoking.
It can also be beneficial to learn an asthma breathing technique. There are various breathing techniques that can help asthma and knowing how to breathe properly could help if something unexpectedly triggers an attack.
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Signs You Actually Have Severe Asthma
Breathing is just one of those things you take for granted until it feels like every inhale or exhale is a struggle. Unfortunately, people with severe asthma have to deal with breathing issues way more often than anyone should, and it can be completely terrifying.
Asthma is a respiratory condition that affects the airways that extend from your nose and mouth to your lungs, according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute . When youre exposed to triggers like animal fur, pollen, mold, exercise, and respiratory infections, these airways can narrow, restricting your airflow. This can then make the muscles surrounding your airways constrict, making it even harder to breathe, and cause your airways to produce more mucus than normal, further compounding the problem. All together, this can lead to asthma symptoms like shortness of breath, coughing, wheezing , and chest tightness or pain, according to the NHLBI.
Like most health conditions, asthma severity runs along a spectrum, Emily Pennington, M.D., a pulmonologist at the Cleveland Clinic, tells SELF. Some people have cases where they experience minor symptoms here and there . Others can have asthma that is basically an ever-present problem and might result in scary asthma attacks, which is when symptoms ramp up in severity and can even become life-threatening.
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Chest Pain And Heart Attack Symptoms
Chest pain is only one of the possible signs of an impending heart attack. If you notice one or more of the signs below in yourself or someone else, call 911 or your local emergency number right away.
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Uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness, burning, tightness, or pain in the center of the chest
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Pain, numbness, pinching, prickling, or other uncomfortable sensations in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw, or stomach
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Shortness of breath
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Heat/flushing or a cold sweat
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Sudden heaviness, weakness, or aching in one or both arms
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What Is Good Asthma Care
Your doctor or nurse will tailor your asthma treatment to your symptoms. Sometimes you may need to be on higher levels of medication than at others.
You should be offered:
- care at your GP surgery provided by doctors and nurses trained in asthma management
- full information about your condition and how to control it
- involvement in making decisions about your treatment
- regular checks to ensure your asthma is under control and your treatment is right for you
- a written personal asthma action plan agreed with your doctor or nurse
It is also important that your GP or pharmacist teaches you how to properly use your inhaler, as this is an important part of good asthma care.
How Do I Know If A Flare
Here’s a good way to see how bad a flare-up is: measure your peak expiratory flow using a peak flow meter. Your doctor can show you how to use a peak flow meter to keep track of your asthma. A peak flow meter costs less than $30, and you only have to buy it one time. First, you find out your personal best peak flow. This is the highest reading you can get on the meter over a two-week period when your asthma is under good control.
Here are some general guidelines you can use to find out how serious an asthma flare-up is:
During mild flare-ups, you may notice shortness of breath when you walk or exercise, but when you sit still, you feel okay. You can usually breathe well enough to talk in complete sentences. You may hear some wheezing, mostly at the end of exhaling . Your peak flow readings will be 80 to 100 percent of your personal best.
During moderate flare-ups, you may feel short of breath when you talk or lie down, but if you sit quietly, you feel better. You may talk in a few words rather than using whole sentences because you’re short of breath. You may feel anxious or tense. You may be using your neck muscles to help you take deeper breaths. You may hear loud wheezing, especially when you breathe out. Your peak flow readings will be about 50 percent to less than 80 percent of your personal best.
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