A sharp periodic narrowing of the airways, causing suffocation or shortness of breath, in medicine is called asthma. This pathology has various causes, occurs at any age. It is proved that it is easier to prevent attacks of a disease than to treat them. Therefore it is important to know how asthma manifests in the early stages - the symptoms in adults are very specific, they are difficult to confuse with other diseases. This allows you to almost immediately stop the onset of an attack.
The first symptoms of bronchial asthma in adults
Early clinical manifestations of the pathology in question are as follows:
- rare episodes of dry cough;
- feeling of pressure in the chest area;
- a periodic feeling of lack of air.
If you immediately go to the hospital with such signs, you can prevent further development of the disease.
The main symptoms of bronchial asthma in adults:
- attacks of painful cough, usually at night or early in the morning;
- audible rales during breathing, whistling;
- shortness of breath ;
- episodes of suffocation;
- insomnia;
- a feeling of squeezing the chest;
- rapid breathing.
It is worth noting that the manifestations of asthma may differ in different people depending on their age, health status, the presence of harmful habits (smoking), lifestyle. In some cases, there are almost no signs of pathology until the immunity decreases due to a viral or bacterial infection of the respiratory tract.
Symptoms of cardiac asthma in adults
The cause of this form of the disease is aggravation of left ventricular failure. It occurs against a background of various heart diseases - hypertension, cardiosclerosis, acute coronary syndrome.
Clinic of the type of asthma described:
- night attacks of suffocation;
- severe shortness of breath;
- dry prolonged cough, sometimes - excretion of foamy sputum with blood impurities;
- lowering blood pressure;
- increased frequency of breathing and pulse;
- allocation of sticky, cold sweat on the face.
In some situations, an attack of cardiac asthma can go to the stage of pulmonary edema. Then they join such a symptomatology:
- blue skin around the nose and lips;
- wet loud wheezing when breathing;
- convulsions;
- vomiting and nausea;
- loss of consciousness.
Symptoms of allergic asthma in adults
This type of disease is considered the most common. It develops because of the hypersensitivity of the immune system when various stimuli enter the body.
The clinical manifestations of allergic asthma are usually as follows:
- dry cough that can not be stopped;
- severe shortness of breath;
- loud whistling with inspiration or exhalation;
- pain in the chest;
- increased respiration rate up to 40-55 times per minute;
- a feeling of tightness in the chest;
- sensation of acute shortage of air.
When the described attack of the disease occurs, a person begins to panic, to be afraid that he will suffocate. Because of this, inadequate behavior can be observed in conjunction with a sharp increase in heart rate, acceleration of the pulse, increased blood pressure.
In addition, in the case of progression of atopic or allergic asthma, there are other signs of pathology that allow differential diagnosis of this form of the disease. Among them:
- copious lacrimation;
- reddening of the mucous membranes of the eyelids;
- itching, burning in the eyes and nose;
- runny nose, sometimes - strong, with the allocation of liquid clear mucus;
- sneezing;
- headache;
- nausea;
- rarely - temperature increase to subfebrile markings;
- general malaise, drowsiness;
- deterioration of night sleep, insomnia.