How is asthma diagnosed?
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Asthma is in fact a clinical diagnosis, based more on symptoms than tests. It is characterised by a triad of cough, wheeze and breathlessness, sometimes accompanied by mucous production. It is sometimes loosely defined as reversible airways disease.
Pulmonary function tests are often used to quantify and check the progress of the disease, but they do not define it and can often be normal.
The nearest to a specific test is perhaps the histamine challenge test, where patients are subjected to a combination of histamine and exertion, in order to produce wheeze. Again, though this test can be useful it is potentially dangerous and always unpleasant. Additionally if an asthmatic is particularly stable at the time the test is carried out, it may give a false negative.
Finally asthma is much more a disease of young children than older children or adults. The largest group of significant asthmatics are 2-6 years old. Within these ages neither pulmonary function tests nor histamine challenge can be performed anyway.
They do a test where you breath forcefully into a tube. It checks how much air is held in the lungs.
i have asthma but it was diagnosed when i was only like 3 or 4 so i dont remember the tests but i do remember having to stay n hospital a few days, if you are concerned about whether or not you have asthma its not a big deal if you do, if you have a healthy lifestyle it shouldn't effect you much at all!!, so keep up the exercises and healthy food and you wont have anything to worry about!!
good luck!
They do a "peak flow" test which determines the amount of air flowing in and out of your lungs.
Asthma is a disease of diffuse airway inflammation caused by a variety of triggering stimuli resulting in partially or completely reversible bronchoconstriction. Symptoms and signs include dyspnea, chest tightness, and wheezing. The diagnosis is based on history, physical examination, and pulmonary function tests. Treatment involves controlling triggering factors and drug therapy, most commonly with inhaled β-agonists and inhaled corticosteroids. Prognosis is good with treatment.
Signs and tests for asthma:
Allergy testing may be helpful in identifying allergens in patients with persistent asthma. Common allergens include pet dander, dust mites, cockroach allergens, molds, and pollens. Common respiratory irritants include tobacco smoke, pollution, and fumes from burning wood or gas.
The doctor will use a stethoscope to listen to the lungs. Asthma-related sounds may be heard. However, lung sounds are usually normal between asthma episodes.
Tests may include:
* Lung function tests
* Peak flow measurements
* Chest x-ray
* Blood tests, including eosinophil count (a type of white blood cell)
* Arterial blood gas
Please see the web pages for more details on Asthma.
I remember being checked for asthma, they do a peak flow test, a simple test where you breathe in and then force the air out of your body as hard as possible into a tube. Its very simple and you get used to doin it (trust me!). They also made me run round the car park for 5mins then do peak flow again.
they listlen to ur lungs and ur chest, then they get u to breath as hard and fast as u can into a tube that measures how hard and fast u can braeth out so they know how much of ur lung capacity that ur using and thats about it
My daughter seemed to have a cough and was slightly wheezy from October to May which was worse at night . There was also a tone in her voice which when you know it you can recognise as being Asthma She had had whooping Cough when she was 2 3/4 and I thought this was a condition left over from that . When she had a medical at school she told them about this and they sent me a letter home saying these were classic asthma symptoms .She had to do peek flow tests others have described this to you and was put on medication a preventative inhaler {brown} and Byrecany [It treats the sumtoms by opening up the air ways. ]the blue one. hope this helps you there are many triggers to attacks and if you find what triggers you and avoid that it helps.
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