General Q and A Forum - What could mimic the symptoms of asthma ?

You wrote:

"Current medical status: I am said to have asthma. I have been to a specialist, and have had my lung capacity tested, and it said to be normal, even when I am feeling symptoms (tightness in chest). I experience tightness in the chest.

Current medical treatment: Currently, and as I have for several years, I am treating my asthma with a combination of Advair, and singulair for long acting, and albuteral as neccasary. Recently however, I have found that I need my inhaler much more often (almost every day), and that it provides little to no relief. The pain that i experience feels exactly like what I experience when I have an asthma attack. It's not really a pain at all, but a tightness in my chest, and I am chronically out of breath."

Asthma does not manifest with either chest pain or chest “tightness”. Asthma manifests with hard breathing (dispnea) or, more precisely, with difficult expiration that can be heard as “whizzing”. An asthma attack can be easily confirmed or excluded with a physical examination (auscultation). Additional functional tests (measuring the vital capacity and expiratory flow) can be also done. In cases of asthma, a person's vital capacity is normal - peak expiratory flow is decreased during the attack. Gas analyses (O2 and CO2 in the blood) can be also done.

Another condition that is similarto asthma is chronic bronchitis. This disease, however, is not typical for people your age (15) and gas analyses would not be normal in such case. A third but very possible option is anxiety. Anxiety can manifest with subjective symptoms of a real disease (somatoform disorder).

Pulmologists are specialists for asthma but a GP can usually lso determine if you are experiencing an asthma-attack or not.

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