Diagnosing asthma

Diagnosing asthma is the first step towards effective treatment. Studies show that up to half of all asthmatics do not receive proper treatment because they don’t recognise the signs, and so they suffer needlessly.

However, there are also cases where people have been misdiagnosed with asthma and receive unnecessary treatment. This is particularly common in children who have a greater tendency to wheeze because their airways are small and their immune response involves mucus as a major factor. Two thirds of infants under one year old who wheeze with respiratory infections do not develop asthma.

Dr Anne Chang of the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, Australia says that parents should not be in too much of a hurry to ask for asthma treatment. She further recommends that if there is no positive response after taking asthma medication for one week then the answer is not to increase the dosage but to look for other problems.

So How Do I Know I Have Asthma?

Many people (and you or a family member could be one of them) can have asthma without even realising it. This makes you an undiagnosed asthmatic. If you cough persistently, wheeze or suffer shortness of breath, you should see a doctor. Even if these symptoms occur occasionally, they shouldn't be ignored. You might cough only at night or with exercise; wheezing might only occur when doing housework or gardening; and shortness of breath may only be experienced at work. Yet, all these symptoms can indicate asthma.

These common asthma symptoms are present only some of the time - wheezing, chest tightness, coughing, excessive mucus, tiredness.
This is because asthma is episodic - i.e. you don't always have symptoms
Asthma has a read more