Bronchial asthma, commonly known as asthma, is a condition in which an individual finds it challenging to breathe due to blockages in their respiratory system. People living with this condition experience issues such as chest congestion, wheezing, and coughing. There are several different indicators of this health condition. While asthma is not curable, it can certainly be controlled. Based on these and similar symptoms listed below, healthcare experts can diagnose this condition in people.

Shortness of breath
Breathing difficulties in people with bronchial asthma stem from their breath being short and shallow. Normally, deep breathing indicates that a person’s respiratory system is healthy. People with asthma tend to have several triggers that aggravate their condition and cause an attack. Such triggers, some of which are pollen grains, dust, and animal fur, cause the muscles surrounding the walls of their airways to tighten up. This results in the bronchi narrowing, preventing air from flowing freely in and out of their lungs, causing shortness of breath.

Chest tightness and pain
One of the common signs of bronchial asthma is chest pain. Normally, asthma patients tend to have hyper-alert immune systems too. So, when one encounters certain irritants or triggers, their immune system reacts aggressively, causing inflammation in their airways. This results in their airways becoming swollen and large, causing congestion and tightness in and around the chest. This chest tightness then triggers the pain that is associated with bronchial asthma.

Chest tightness and pain typically take place during or before an asthma attack. During that phase, the health condition is at its most rampant, and people living with it suffer the most.

Difficulty in finding sleep
Steady, rhythmic breathing is essential for sound, comfortable sleep. However, when someone has bronchial asthma, they experience symptoms such as shortness of breath, wheezing, and coughing throughout the night at different levels. Therefore, due to insufficient oxygen for breathing, asthma patients find it incredibly challenging to find sleep.

To counter this, healthcare professionals may prescribe certain solutions for such individuals to use before sleeping. These solutions are used to soothe inflammation and provide a way to momentarily open up the airways so that breathing becomes easier at night while a person sleeps.

Difficulty in finding sleep due to breathing difficulties is one of the signature symptoms of bronchial asthma.

Incessant coughing
Coughing is most commonly experienced during an asthma attack, a phase during which the bronchitis asthma symptoms are heightened. Therefore, an asthma attack is commonly known as asthma exacerbation. In this phase, the airways along a person’s respiratory system become progressively worse in terms of swelling and inflammation. This causes pain and constriction in this and surrounding areas.

Additionally, this constriction also brings about extra mucus production in the airways. The excessive amounts of mucus cause the bronchial tubes to narrow drastically. This results in coughing in individuals. Coughing is associated with an individual trying their best to breathe through an asthma attack.

The key to getting an asthma attack under control is to detect and treat an asthma flare-up in its early stages. Once that is done, healthcare professionals can recommend the best possible solutions to create a comprehensive treatment plan for people with this health condition.

This treatment plan contains all the dos and don’ts regarding things to do when an asthma attack is first felt and ways to make it progressively less severe with time.

Wheezing while breathing
Inflammation brings about many more problems in a person’s airways. One such problem is swelling inside the airways. Additionally, the inflammation, if it is not treated on time, can cause the membranes in the linings along the airways to produce mucus and other fluids. This, more or less, triggers an asthma attack in people. The large amounts of undesirable mucus block the airways and cause people to make deep and hoarse sounds while they attempt to breathe in oxygen. These sounds are commonly known as wheezing.

Wheezing, just like coughing, is indicative of someone trying their level best to breathe normally to sustain themselves in the middle of a nasty asthma attack.

An urge to use a quick-relief inhaler
Healthcare professionals advise people with bronchial asthma to use prescription-based products such as inhalers to improve their condition. However, such experts ask their clients to use the solution judiciously so that it does not become a kind of a crutch for breathing normally. Moreover, the usage of this solution is supposed to be occasional rather than frequent.

Nevertheless, while experiencing an asthma attack, people tend to get desperate urges to relieve their condition through the use of such inhalers.

If people with bronchial face these urges, then they need to consult their local healthcare expert for alternate solutions.

Increased heart rate
Certain kinds of asthma are also associated with increased blood pressure, anxiety, and heart rate in people. This is mainly caused by the activation of the chemoreceptor reflex triggered by hypercapnia/hypoxia, conditions brought about by bronchial asthma in people. While this may be one of the underrated symptoms of bronchial asthma, it is a vital and common one nonetheless. Whenever people feel a sense of breathlessness and an asthma attack building, their heart rate may also increase due to the sheer panic one can associate with the situation.