With all the different asthma types, you will see the same asthma symptoms. The one exception is cough variant asthma. So whether you have exercise asthma, allergic asthma or any of the other types of asthma, your asthma symptoms will be very similar. The difference that you will see from person to person is how bad those symptoms are.
Many people have been suffering with asthma for many years and hardly a day goes by that their asthma symptoms don't act up at least a little. Other people are much more fortunate in the fact that their symptoms might only show up a few times a year. As I mentioned earlier, there are some typical symptoms for all types of asthma which I list below.
1. Coughing - this is a very irritating cough and is almost always accompanied by gunk or mucus. This cough can be worse at night for some reason.
2. Wheezing - this sounds like you are trying to whistle when you breathe and usually happens when exhaling. The reason for this is that your airways are much smaller than normal and the air is having trouble getting through.
3. Tightness or Pain in the Chest - the muscles surrounding your airways are doing their best to clamp them shut. This can almost feel like a cramp as your muscles get very tight.
4. Shortness of Breath - you just can't take a normal breath with all that is going on in your lungs and airways.
Some extra asthma symptoms that might show up are:
1. The Muscles in Your Neck Tighten Up - you might even have trouble talking.
2. Feeling Very Anxious and Even Bordering on Panic - not being able to breathe normally gets most of us very concerned.
3. Your Lips or Fingernails Turn Blue - this means that your oxygen levels are dropping from not being able to breathe normally.
All of these asthma symptoms listed so far begin to show up after your airways have become aggravated. It's kind of like your airways are paying you back for doing something that they didn't appreciate. These symptoms can creep up very slowly or happen almost instantly. Either way, it means that you are having an asthma attack.
Many people have learned to identify some early warning signs that they might be getting ready to have an asthma attack. Everybody's early warning signs will probably be different and you might not even have any. I have listed some of the more common ones below:
1. You start to have trouble sleeping when you normally don't have any troubles.
2. You notice that exercising has become much more difficult than it normally is.
3. You are having trouble concentrating all of a sudden.
4. Your breathing becomes more rapid than normal.
5. Your anxiety level is up.
6. Your energy level is down.
7. You notice that you are sighing for no reason.
So now you know all about the possible asthma symptoms. But what can cause you to have these symptoms?
Having asthma means that your airways will get extremely irritated if you come in contact with or do certain things. These things are referred to as your asthma triggers.
Almost everybody has their own list of things or triggers that irritate their airways causing them to have those nasty asthma symptoms. Identifying what your asthma triggers are will go a long way toward reducing the number of times you have an asthma attack.