Asthma Symptoms

What is Asthma?

Asthma is a disorder of the lungs obstructing the breathing process. The condition is caused by inflammation of the air passages, which narrows down or tightens them. As a result, free flow of air in to the lungs is impeded, making the breathing difficult. The sufferer feels suffocated. Asthma is not restricted to a particular age group or gender. Anyone can become asthmatic at any age but it is generally found in children and elderly persons. In females it is found proportionately much less. Asthma is neither a psychological condition nor contagious.

Asthma Symptoms

Symptoms of asthma are quite variable and not the same for everyone. Main indications are as follows:

• Suffocation. One feels breathless. In severe cases the sufferer feels as if the breathing would stop any moment.
• At times inspiration is impeded while at another, expiration is impeded. Generally one of these conditions is found at a time.
• Wheezing (sort of whistling sound), which may be audible even without a stethoscope and may occur during inspiration or expiration. At times there may be no wheezing at all but the chest might still feel constricted.
• Tightness of chest as if full of something or as if tied up externally by something with the feeling that chest cannot be expanded.
• These conditions may be accompanied by cough, which may be dry or with rattling sound of mucus.

Severity of the symptoms does not necessarily depend on how old is the case. It depends on cause and several other related factors. If the cause of asthma continues to persist, asthmatic condition would continue to aggravate with the passage of time. While planning the treatment, modalities must always be taken care of, which are different in every individual according to the type of asthma and should not be mixed up with the symptoms. For example, in one person expectoration of mucus may relieve temporarily but in another it may give no relief at all. Similarly, a person may long for fresh air while in the room and want the windows open even in cold weather, with feelings that if windows are not opened, he/she would suffocate. This is a particular condition but is neither a symptom of asthma nor a psychological condition. It points to particular homeopathic medicines.

Getting out of breath with very little physical exertion may not necessarily indicate asthmatic condition. It could be due to other reasons calling for proper investigations. Sometimes the attack of asthma may subside with medicine whereas at times it may subside even without medicine. In advanced cases, emergency treatment may be necessary to relieve.