Things that bring on a flare-up are called triggers. These can vary, but common triggers include:. Other things can trigger asthma flare-ups too: Some girls find their asthma gets worse just before their periods.
Even laughing, crying, and yelling can sometimes make the airways tighten. Many people with asthma compare a flare-up to the feeling of trying to breathe through a straw — it feels very hard to get air in and out of their lungs.
An asthma flare-up can last for several hours or longer if a person doesn't use asthma medicine. When a flare-up is over, the person usually feels better. Between flare-ups, breathing can seem completely normal, although some people may cough or feel as if they are always short of breath. To diagnose asthma, a doctor will do a physical exam and ask about the person's medical history, including whether anyone else in the family has asthma. The doctor might do tests like spirometry pronounced: spye-RAH-muh-tree or peak flow meter tests.
These involve blowing into devices that can measure how well the lungs are working. Allergy tests or exercise tests can tell doctors if asthma is brought on by allergens or physical activity.
Doctors may use X-rays to rule out other problems. There's no cure for asthma, but it can be managed to prevent flare-ups. Asthma treatment involves two important components: avoiding triggers and taking medicine. People with asthma need to avoid the things that might cause flare-ups. Of course, some triggers can't be completely avoided like catching a cold. But exposure to other triggers, such as pet dander , can be controlled.
Keep your environment clear of potential allergens, like dust or secondhand smoke. Don't smoke or quit if you do. Pay attention to the weather and stay indoors or limit your exercise to indoor activities when you know weather or air pollution may affect you. Doctors help people with exercise-induced asthma manage physical activity, not avoid it.
Exercise can help people stay healthier overall. Doctors can help people find treatments that allow them to them participate in their sports — in fact, many professional athletes have asthma. Most asthma medicines are breathed directly into the lungs inhaled , but some are pills or liquids. This workshop will explore the current state of science and future research directions in the definition, standardi See also. Causes - Asthma. Airway narrowing in an asthma attack. The image on the left shows the location of the lungs in the body.
The middle image is a close-up of a normal airway, and the image on the right shows a narrowed, inflamed airway typical of an asthma attack. Risk Factors - Asthma. Environment or occupation Things in your environment, including at work or home, may raise your risk of developing asthma or make asthma symptoms worse.
This exposure may also affect lung growth and development. Exposure to different microbes in the environment, especially early in life, can affect how the immune system develops. These effects on the immune system may either increase or protect against the risk of developing asthma.
Exposures that occur in the workplace, such as chemical irritants or industrial dusts, may also raise the risk of developing asthma in susceptible people. This type of asthma is called occupational asthma. It may develop over a period of years, and it often lasts even after you are no longer exposed. Poor air quality from pollution or allergens may make asthma worse.
Pollutants may include traffic-related air pollution. Allergens in the air may include pollen, dust, or other particles. Family history and gene s Genes may play a role in the development of asthma because they affect how the immune system develops. Other medical conditions Asthma is often linked to other medical conditions, such as: Allergies.
Asthma is usually a type of allergic reaction. People who have asthma often have other types of allergies. They may have food allergies or get a runny or stuffy nose from pollen. You may be at higher risk for developing asthma if you had allergic reactions in early childhood to substances in the air, such as pollen, dander, mold, or dust.
The more things you are allergic to, the higher your risk of asthma. Obesity can increase the chances of developing asthma or worsening asthma symptoms.
This may be because people who have obesity can have inflammation or changes in the immune system. Respiratory infections and wheezing. Young children who often have respiratory infections caused by viruses are at highest risk of developing asthma symptoms early in life.
Race or ethnicity African Americans and Puerto Ricans are at higher risk of asthma than people of other races or ethnicities.
Sex Among children, more boys than girls have asthma. Screening and Prevention - Asthma. Signs, Symptoms, and Complications - Asthma. Signs and symptoms Signs and symptoms of asthma may include: Chest tightness Coughing, especially at night or early morning Shortness of breath Wheezing, which causes a whistling sound when you exhale While other conditions can cause the same symptoms as asthma, the pattern of symptoms in people who have asthma usually has some of the following characteristics.
They come and go over time or within the same day. They start or get worse with viral infections, such as a cold. They are triggered by exercise, allergies, cold air, or hyperventilation from laughing or crying. They are worse at night or in the morning Asthma attacks, or exacerbations, are episodes that occur when symptoms get much worse and require a change in typical treatment. Diagnosis - Asthma.
Medical history and physical exam Your doctor will ask about your risk factors for asthma and your symptoms. During the physical exam, your doctor may: Listen to your breathing and look for symptoms of asthma Look for allergic skin conditions, such as eczema Diagnostic t ests Your doctor may ask you to perform the following tests to determine whether your symptoms are caused by asthma.
Pulmonary function tests , such as spirometry, which involves breathing in and out through a tube connected to a computer. This measures how much and how fast the air moves when you breathe in and out with maximum effort. Watch this video to learn more about taking a spirometry test. Spirometry with bronchodilator tests to measure how much and how fast air moves in and out both before and after you take an inhaled medicine to relax the muscles in your airway.
Bronchoprovocation tests to measure how your airways react to specific exposures. During this test, you inhale different concentrations of allergens or medicines that may tighten the muscles in your airways. Spirometry is done before and after the test. Peak expiratory flow PEF tests to measure how fast you can blow air out using maximum effort. This test can be done during spirometry or by breathing into a separate device, such as a tube. Fractional exhaled nitric oxide FeNO tests to measure levels of nitric oxide in your breath when you breathe out.
High levels of nitric oxide may mean that your lungs are inflamed. This test is done in adults and children age 5 and older. Read the FeNO fact sheet to learn more. Allergy skin or blood tests, if you have a history of allergies. These tests can tell your doctor which allergens, such as pet dander or pollen, causes a reaction from your immune system.
Diagnosing asthma in children younger than 6 It can be hard to tell whether a child under age 6 has asthma or another respiratory condition, because young children often cannot perform a pulmonary function test such as spirometry.
Treatment - Asthma. Watch our video to learn about treatment for asthma. Living With - Asthma. Follow your asthma action plan Work with your doctor to create an asthma action plan that works for you. Research for Your Health. Improving health with current research. Advancing the understanding of lung development.
Developing guidelines for the diagnosis and management of asthma. The expert panel reviewed summaries of the latest research to update the guidelines on diagnosing, treating, and managing asthma in six key areas, including inhaled corticosteroids, long-acting muscarinic antagonists a type of long-acting bronchodilator medicine , bronchial thermoplasty, immunotherapy, the effectiveness of indoor allergen reduction, and the use of fractional exhaled nitric oxide testing.
Providing resources for research. The program enrolls patients who are planning to have lung surgery, collects blood and other clinical data from these donors, and stores donated tissue that otherwise would be discarded after the lung surgery.
The LTRC provides tissue samples and data at no cost to approved investigators. Supporting research collaboration. The Pulmonary Trials Cooperative brings together patients, researchers, and healthcare professionals from more than 50 institutions, with a common goal of developing new treatments and testing current clinical care practices.
Working with medical associations, voluntary health organizations, and community programs, the NAEPP helps to educate patients, healthcare professionals, and the public about asthma. Advancing research for improved health. We perform research.
We fund research. The research we fund today will help improve our future health. Our Division of Lung Diseases and its Airway Biology and Disease Branch oversee much of the research on asthma we fund, helping us to understand asthma. Our Center for Translation Research and Implementation Science and its Health Inequities and Global Health Branch provide guidance to domestic and global implementation research on heart, lung, and blood, and sleep health disparities, including asthma.
We stimulate high-impact research. Our Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine TOPMed Program includes participants who have asthma, which may help us understand how genes contribute to differences in disease severity and how patients respond to treatment. Read more. Exploring new approaches to control asthma symptoms. A study supported by the NHLBI will look at the importance of osteocalcin, a hormone in bone tissue, in causing the constriction of airways in mice that have asthma, to help future treatments.
We support studies to figure out whether different bacteria play a role in development of dust mite allergy-related asthma. Gaining a better understanding of chronic inflammation. Previous studies have shown that epithelial cells, a certain type of cell in the airways, are involved in asthma inflammation. Reducing asthma disparities. The Consortium on Asthma among African-ancestry Populations in the Americas CAAPA aims to discover genes that raise asthma risk among people of African ancestry and to study genetic diversity in populations of African descent.
Read less. Trials at the NIH Clinical Center Responses to asthma treatment This study will gather general information over a year period about people who have had asthma to understand why patients respond differently to treatment. To participate in this study, you must be age 18 or older, have been diagnosed with asthma for at least one year, and not have any other major conditions. This study is located in Bethesda, Maryland.
This study will investigate the genes involved in the breathing process and in the development of lung diseases such as asthma or sarcoidosis to improve understanding of the role they play. To participate in this study, you or your child must be between 2 and 90 years old and have been diagnosed and living with a lung disease. This study will look at the differences between cells from the airways of people who do and do not have asthma. Doctors will use a procedure called bronchoscopy to collect cells.
To participate in this study, you must be between 18 and 75 years old, not have HIV, and not be pregnant or planning to become pregnant. This content does not have an English version. This content does not have an Arabic version.
Overview Asthma attack Open pop-up dialog box Close. Asthma attack If you have asthma, the inside walls of the airways in your lungs can become inflamed and swollen. Request an Appointment at Mayo Clinic. Share on: Facebook Twitter. Show references Weinberger SE, et al. In: Principles of Pulmonary Medicine. Elsevier; Accessed March 30, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
Accessed March 25, Asthma adult. Mayo Clinic; Global strategy for asthma management and prevention update. Global Initiative for Asthma. Accessed March 27, Khurana S, et al. Systematic approach to asthma of varying severity. Clinics in Chest Medicine. Ferri FF. In: Ferri's Clinical Advisor Wu TD, et al. Asthma in the primary care setting. Medical Clinics of North America.
Fanta CH. An overview of asthma management. Santino TA, et al. Breathing exercises for adults with asthma. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.
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