English Transcript
Allergist Benjamin Prince, MD: When I’m seeing a patient that has an underlying concern for asthma, usually the first place I start is by getting a good history. I’ll ask about signs or symptoms that can be characteristic of asthma, such as a having a dry, frequent cough that’s non-productive that occurs in fits. Feeling like you’re wheezy or having a doctor hear you wheeze before an exam or maybe just feeling short of breath.
I also ask about other historical questions that could raise my suspicion of asthma, such as if you have any other allergic conditions like eczema or food allergies. Oftentimes, that can be in that same kind of underlying pathway that can manifest with asthma and can manifest with these other allergic conditions. And so, while not all asthma is allergic, that can raise my suspicion.
From there we move on to a physical exam where I will listen to the lungs, we’ll look at your nose, we’ll look at your eyes, look for other manifestations of allergies and or asthma. And then we have a few diagnostic tools that are available in most clinics. The first is something called spirometry where we measure how much air you’re able to blow out and how quickly you can do that. Sometimes we’ll give an inhaler to see if you respond to that inhaler and you can do better with that inhaler. And then the other tool that’s frequently used is something called an exhaled nitric oxide which is looking at a biomarker of underlying allergic inflammation in the lungs.
In the end, if after all of that we’re still not clear, sometimes we’ll try a diagnostic therapeutic trial of an asthma medication, usually an inhaler, that we have you start taking at home to see if that makes you feel better and then follow you back up in a couple of months. I would definitely encourage you if you feel you have asthma, you should certainly seek out a board-certified allergist-immunologist in your area, because not only can they treat asthma, but they can also help you with many of the other allergic diseases that can be manifesting in patients that have asthma.
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Resource Type: Video | Asthma, Asthma Symptoms, Asthma Treatment
