Symptoms: Asthma
Are you wondering if you have allergic asthma? Need a list of asthma symptoms to help you start the conversation with your doctor?
Any time you have difficulty breathing, you need to have a talk with your doctor–breathing difficulties can indicate many different health concerns, some very serious, others not serious. You don’t want to leave this diagnosis to the internet ;-), so go in, armed with your list of symptoms, and talk to the doctor about what’s going on with your breathing.
Common symtpoms of asthma include:
- Difficulty breathing
- Wheezing
- Tightness in your chest (feeling like you’re wearing a corset)
- Feeling like you’re hyperventilating (I mistook my first asthma attack for a panic attack)
- Coughing
- Feeling like there’s a stack of books on your chest or back (especially when you’re in bed)
- Rawness/soreness when you take a deep breath
- Inflamation in your trachea (usually felt as mild, hot pain)
- Feeling like you haven’t taken a deep breath in days
- Tension in your chest, ribs, sides, or shoulders
- Feeling out of breath even though you’re not exerting yourself
- Feeling light headed like you’re holding your breath when you’re breathing normally
All of these symptoms can indicate asthma, or they can indicate something else entirely (both stuff that’s a lot less serious than asthma and stuff that’s a lot more serious than asthma), so that’s why you want to make sure you talk to your doctor about this. It can be easier to make sure you’re thorough if you make a list before your appointment–that way you don’t forget an important symptom.
Your doctor will likely run a couple of tests, including having you blow into a tube (this is just about the weirdest test ever–it’s much harder than you’ll expect, and each time I did it, I was sure I was failing, but I actually wasn’t doing that badly) to test your lung capacity. Your doctor will also listen to you breath and may take xrays. If your symptoms point to something other than asthma, there will likely be other tests involved as well.
Stay relaxed and clear and you’ll be fine–your doctor wants you to feel better and will do his/her best to get to the bottom of your symptoms.
(At my appointment, I had xrays, the lung capacity test, and my doctor listened to my lungs. We also talked a lot about my health history and family health history [lots of asthma]; we talked about my allergies, too. In the end, he suggested we try a rescue inhaler and see if that helped to make the final determination.)
If you’ve already had this appointment with your doctor, post about your experiences below so that visitors who are preparing for their first “Do I have asthma” conversation with their doctor will have more examples of what to expect.
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