Symptoms of asthma

Written by Han Shun Li
Pulmonology
Updated on December 04, 2024
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Asthma is a common respiratory disease. What are the symptoms after the onset of asthma? Typically, asthma patients exhibit characteristic symptoms, including episodic chest tightness, wheezing, and difficulty breathing, often accompanied by a wheezing sound. The breathing difficulty usually manifests as difficulty exhaling. However, some asthma patients show atypical symptoms, possibly presenting only with coughing or chest tightness, known as cough-variant asthma.

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Written by Hu Bai Yu
Pulmonology
1min 6sec home-news-image

What should people with asthma avoid eating?

If you have asthma, it is essential to pay attention to your diet and eat bland foods. Avoid spicy, greasy, cold, and irritating foods such as chili peppers, black pepper, onions, ginger, and garlic. These should be strictly avoided. Also, be cautious with carbonated drinks and alcoholic beverages. Additionally, foods like mangoes or items like shrimp, crabs, seafood, and any allergy-triggering foods should ideally not be consumed. Furthermore, it is advised to identify the underlying cause of asthma and then treat it accordingly. If allergies are causing the asthma, antiallergenic medication should be taken, along with asthma medication to treat and alleviate symptoms. Maintain a light diet, drink plenty of water, promote excretion, and enhance your immune system. Also, avoid coffee, strong tea, alcoholic beverages, fried and grilled foods, and pickled products.

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Written by Li Jian Wu
Pulmonology
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Asthma is not contagious.

It should be correctly recognized that asthma is an autoimmune disease associated with allergic constitution and genetic factors. It is not caused by a substantial pathogenic bacterial infection and generally is not contagious. Therefore, asthma is not contagious. We should have a correct understanding of this disease. During an acute exacerbation, one could choose corticosteroid drugs, as well as antiallergic medications. Symptomatic treatments that relieve asthma symptoms and using oxygen to alleviate hypoxia are also options.

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Written by Wang Xiang Yu
Pulmonology
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Can asthma be cured completely?

We often refer to asthma as bronchial asthma, which, whether it is cough variant asthma, allergic asthma, or caused by other factors, has not yet a cure found to date. It is now generally believed that bronchial asthma can be controlled, which means that as long as patients with bronchial asthma receive standardized treatment in reputable hospitals, most can be controlled and will not suffer from recurrent attacks. So far, there is no cure found, and all advertisements using Traditional Chinese Medicine or ancient secret remedies or any other means claiming that asthma can be cured are false. These are not to be trusted, and many asthma patients often suffer because they take some medications containing oral corticosteroids under these false beliefs. While these might control asthma in the short term, they are detrimental to the long-term management of asthma, and prolonged use of such non-standard corticosteroid treatments can lead to many adverse reactions, such as drug-induced Cushing's syndrome and medication-induced diabetes, among others.

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Written by Xia Bao Jun
Pulmonology
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Can asthma be cured?

Patients with bronchial asthma, if treated properly, can be cured. Although the pathogenesis of bronchial asthma is not very clear at present, it is currently believed that bronchial asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the airways involving multiple cells. This chronic inflammation leads to increased airway reactivity, manifesting as reversible airflow limitation. It is different from chronic bronchitis, which involves irreversible airflow limitation. Therefore, through proper treatment, the condition can be improved, controlled, and cured. Patients should regularly and properly use their medications, including inhaled corticosteroids such as budesonide, taken twice daily. It should be used for more than three months before any reduction in dosage can be considered. The medication can be stopped only if no asthma occurs for a year.

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Written by Yuan Qing
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Asthma: What to Avoid

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the airways involving various types of cells and cellular components, primarily eosinophils. This eosinophil-dominated inflammation is generally related to allergies. Substances that can trigger airway allergies include common allergens such as pet dander, pollen, dust mites, and mold. Therefore, it is generally recommended that individuals with asthma should avoid contact with these substances. Additionally, during the flu season, it is important to prevent colds by wearing masks to avoid viral infections.