Asthma Symptoms & Causes

Asthma: A Worsening of Symptoms

You can do a lot to control your asthma. Avoiding triggers, taking controller medicines, and monitoring your symptoms can help keep problems at bay. Occasionally, though, your symptoms may still take a turn for the worse. When that happens, it’s important to act right away. By recognizing the early warning signs and talking with your health care provider, you can help keep little flare-ups from turning into big ones.

Asthma, COPD and Your Lungs

Asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are both lung diseases that affect a person’s ability to breath. While it is hard to tell the difference between asthma and COPD just by observing the symptoms, they do affect your lungs differently.

Signs of Asthma in Children

The signs and symptoms of asthma in children can be subtle and oftentimes mimic other diseases, especially in infants and toddlers. Knowing what to look for is the best way to get early treatment for asthma so your child can stay active without losing a step.

Occupational Asthma

Occupational asthma often begins with a cough or other asthma symptoms, such as wheezing, shortness of breath, runny nose, nasal congestion, eye irritation, and chest tightness, that may occur during exposure to the irritant(s) at work. The cause can be allergic or non-allergic in nature.

Sometimes, occupational asthma symptoms do not appear until several hours after the exposure, even while at home after work. At the onset of the disease, symptoms may subside during weekends and vacations, but exposure to an accidental irritant can cause asthma within 24 hours. However, during later stages of occupational asthma, asthma symptoms may begin occurring during exposure to other, more common asthma triggers, such as smoke, dust, and temperature changes.

Why Asthma Makes You Cough

If you have a cough that lingers, it might be more than just an annoying tickle in your throat. A chronic cough is one of the typical symptoms of asthma. And for some types of asthma, a cough may be the only symptom.