Bronchial asthma

Alternative names:

asthma; intrinsic asthma; exercise induced asthma; allergic asthma, status asthmaticus

Symptoms:

• Wheezing
  • Uusually begins suddenly
  • Ccomposed of a sequence of attacks (episodic)
  • Mmay be worse at night or in early morning
  • Aggravated by exposure to cold air
  • Aggravated by exercise
  • Resolves spontaneously
  • Relieved from bronchodilators (drugs that open the airways)
• Cough with sputum (phlegm) production containing mucus (mucoid sputum)
• Shortness of breath aggravated by exercise
• Breathing requires increased work
• Intercostal retractions

Emergency symptoms:

• Extreme difficulty breathing
• Bluish color to the lips and face
• Severe anxiety
• Rapid pulse
• Sweating
• Decreased level of consciousness (severe drowsiness or confusion) during an asthma attack.

Additional symptoms that may be associated with this disease:

• Nasal flaring
• Coughing up blood
• Chest pain
• Breathing which temporarily stops
• Tightness in the chest
• Abnormal breathing pattern, in which exhalation (breathing out) takes more than twice as long as inspiration (breathing in)

Signs and tests:

Listening to the chest (auscultation) reveals wheezing. However, lung sounds are usually normal between episodes.

Tests may include:

• pulmonary function tests
• chest X-ray
• Allergy testing by skin testing or serum tests
• eosinophils
• arterial blood gas (a type of white blood cell) count

Updated Date: 06/22/00

Updated by: Thomas O. Staiger, MD Assistant Professor of Medicine Division of General Internal Medicine University of Washington School of Medicine