Asthma Diagnosis

An Asthma Diagnosis Preview

How I would Diagnose Asthma

Diagnosing asthma is usually pretty easy. However, for a proper Asthma diagnosis an individual should seek attention from their physician. There are some main symptoms associated with an Asthma Diagnosis. Some of these symptoms are: continued wheezing, coughing, trouble breathing, and chest tightness. These symptoms if present can often become worse at night. Additionally, some triggers of Asthma can be cold air, exercise or exposure to allergens such as pollen, mold, pet dander, dust mites or similar allergen triggers. All of which people dealing with asthma or asthma patients should be concerned with when addressing asthma treatment.

A part of the Asthma diagnosis is seeing if the patient is wheezing, this can be identified when a slight whistling sound is heard when a person breathes in and out. Wheezing can be heard slightly with a stethoscope by placing the scope on the back and chest. One of the first tools a used to diagnosis asthma is the doctors’ stethoscope; this tool can help detect wheezing which may not be obvious to the patient or family or friends.

Wheezing that is inherently heard out loud is usually obvious by a louder whistling sound when the person inhales and exhales. The person with the problem wheezing usually has noticeable problem breathing. The doctor will quickly recognize this when trying to diagnosis asthma. A interesting observation from my doctor was he said patients usually has become so accustomed to the difficulty breathing that it is a part of their daily lifestyle. I know this is true for me and often don’t realize when I am wheezing.

Due to patients not noticing how difficult their breathing has become, the doctor attempting to diagnosing asthma will usually ask someone close to the person if they notice the patient having difficulty breathing.

If you have been around a smoker, the wheezing and trouble breathing from a person suffering from a mild asthma attack can easily be compared to anyone that has been around a long term smoker. Wheezing is not only common to people with Asthma it is also a temporary problem for people suffering from bronchitis. Coughing as a symptom of Asthma most likely is a prelude to asthma attack and is only one of many symptoms to occur. Although coughing could be as simple as a tickle in an individuals throat it could be the beginning of something worse for an asthmatic.

An example of a trigger for coughing could result from exercising or being involved in a similar strenuous activity. The asthmatic could start to partially cough, then continue to cough harder. Most likely the next symptom of the beginning of an Asthma attack will be trouble breathing; this is usually after their coughing spell has subsided. If this experience is observed it will be beneficial to share with the doctor trying to Diagnosis Asthma. My experience is trouble breathing with slight wheezing is an excellent indicator that an asthma attack is about to occur.

Trouble breathing as related to asthma is usually caused by the combination of allergies, physical exertion or something irritating the individuals normal breathing pattern. If there has been coughing, wheezing followed by trouble breathing chance are person is likely on the verge of a full fledged asthma attack. Chest tightness and shortness of breath with the combination of wheezing is a prelude to the asthma attack. This is why it is is important to seek some form of asthma testing.

Although the following isn’t an “asthma diagnosis” it is still important to recognize what a possible attack is in the event you need to describe what you witnessed if a diagnosis needs to be made. Once the asthma attack is at the height of its final stage the individual will not be able to take a full breath and most likely rapid breathing begins in the hope they can be able to breathe normally. However, rapid breathing is a part of the problem and the person should try to prevent rapid breathing, this only cause’s tightness of the chest and some panicking, a partially panicked person can not get their breath. The problem with rapid breathing is the person having the attack is not taking in enough air to keep oxygen in the blood. This also can lead to dry land drowning as is with toxic chemical exposures. Although this is my version and experience of an Asthma attack it is still up to the doctor to accurately decide if he is correct in an asthma diagnosis.