Asthma Medicines

Although there are differences from patient to patient, the asthma attack is typically characterized by shortness of breath and wheezing. Cough and mucus production may be prominent symptoms. In some patients wheezing may not occur and a cough may be the dominant symptom. The patient demonstrates a rapid rate of breathing, often with heaving of the chest and use of neck muscles to assist each breath. During an attack the patient is totally disabled. Even speech may be impossible due to severe breathlessness. The patient may be totally consumed by the effort to breathe and unable to eat or dress. The patient is often restless and unable to lie flat. Severe attacks may end in exhaustion, with ominous slowing of the respiratory rate and arrest of breathing.

Depending on the severity of the patient’s disease the attack may be totally or partially reversible, allowing the patient to assume normal activities between episodes. Patients with severe asthma, however, may remain to some degree symptomatic at all times.

It should be noted that the degree of wheezing can be misleading. The severity of the asthmatic attack should never be judged on this basis alone. Some patients who are capable of moving large amounts of air may produce more turbulence and audible wheezing than others who are so severely obstructed that their breaths are shallow and incapable of producing much sound.

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