The Top 4 Asthma Signs and Symptoms

Asthma is a chronic respiratory ailment that affects millions of individuals in the United States alone. This debilitating and unpredictable condition accounts for about 20% of the hospitalizations being made each year, which on a depressing note claims about 3-5% of those afflicted. While this statistic may not appear high enough to cause alarm, you have to take into consideration that the total percentage of hospitalizations is shared by other ailments and accidents.

Asthma is still incurable up until now. Research has indeed been able to bring about safer and more effective treatments but have not been able to figure out the exact mechanisms involved in bringing the ailment about, which is also what is needed in order to formulate a cure. That is why, up until now, the closest asthmatics will ever come to a cure would be through greater control and better management. One way this could be achieved is through symptom recognition. By knowing the particular symptoms related to your condition you will be able to take immediate action when situations arise. The top 5 asthma signs and symptoms include:

Wheezing: Probably the most common asthma symptom there is. Wheezing is the "whistling" sound that you make when trying to breathe. Wheezing can be a good determinant of how severe the incoming attack will be since it is almost directly related to how bad the condition is becoming. Depending on the severity of your condition, you may or may not experience wheezing symptoms.

Coughing: The second most common asthma symptom there is. Coughing can mean big trouble as it can mean obstruction or gradual constriction of the air passages thereby triggering your body to cough just so air could move in and out of the body. The coughing associated with asthma can be characterized as either productive (with mucus) or unproductive (without).

Tightness of the chest: Another classic asthma symptom. Tightness of the chest can also somewhat
accurately determine the severity of the incoming attack as it can be directly linked to the condition of the air passages.

Pain in the chest: Probably one of the most misleading and inaccurate asthma symptoms. The pain that can be experienced may vary from moderately tolerable to something that mimics a heart attack. Not only that, chest pains can also be very misleading as you can experience mild tolerable pain one moment then have it followed by a severe attack and vice versa.

These are just some of the asthma signs and symptoms of course as there are many obvious and not so obvious symptoms out there. If you want to know more, check medical sites or ask your health care provider, both will surely be able to provide relevant information pertaining your condition.