Asthma

How to manage asthma

Do you or does a loved one have asthma? Learn how to take control to limit attacks and ease them when they happen. When you have an asthma attack, the walls of your lungs' airways swell, making less room for air. Mucus also reduces airflow. Your body gets less oxygen during an asthma attack. Symptoms can include: • Coughing. • Tightness in the chest. • Wheezing. • Being unable to do regular activities because you're short of breath. • Feeling tired. The causes of as...

Does my child have asthma?

As a parent, you know that a child's cough can mean many things. It could be something as simple as a cold. But did you know it could also be asthma? Asthma is a common chronic disease in children. Although it usually starts before age 5, kids can be diagnosed with asthma at any age. And while any child or adult can have asthma, it is more likely in kids with risk factors, such as allergies or a family history of allergies or asthma. In addition to coughing, the most common asthma warning signs ...

Could it be Asthma?

Imagine the challenge of trying to breathe through a straw for minutes or hours on end. That's how breathing can sometimes feel for people who have asthma—a chronic lung disease that causes the airways to narrow, making it difficult to breathe. More than 25 million Americans now live with asthma, and that number continues to rise. While the disease affects people of all ages, it most often starts in childhood. It's important to recognize the symptoms of asthma and to get medical ...

3 Key Things to Know about Asthma

Breathing is a breeze for most people. But asthma can undermine this simple act. If you've recently been diagnosed with asthma, learning about the disease and its treatments can help you stay in control. Start here with these three key facts: 1. Asthma doesn't go away . Asthma is a chronic lung disease that develops in people of all ages. When you have asthma, you won't always have symptoms, but the airways in your lungs are always inflamed. They become tight and narrow if you breathe in what's ...

What's Up with That Cough?

You have a chronic cough. But you don't have other symptoms that would suggest asthma—such as wheezing, shortness of breath or tightness in the chest. So clearly you don't have asthma, right? Not necessarily. You might have a specific type of asthma in which chronic cough is the sole symptom. It's called cough-variant asthma. Trouble in the lungs Asthma is a lung disease that causes your airways to swell and constrict, making it hard to breathe. Airways that are inflamed are more sen...