asthmatic bronchitis symptoms

Symptoms of Asthma in Child (Asthmatic Bronchitis)

Asthma in children comprises a set of variable symptoms. The onset of asthma may have a typical cold and coryza, running of the nose, sneezing, nose block, sore throat, with or without fever. Then the symptoms might settle to the chest producing cough and congestion, leading to the typical 'chest spasm' which is described as a 'wheeze' in common language. In medical language, we often call it 'bronchospasm', which is nothing but the spasm of the bronchus (bronchi). The wheeze obstructs the lung tubes to give a sense of breathlessness, called 'dyspnoea'. The breathless when intense or prolonged, gives panting, weakness, and exhaustion due to inadequate oxygenation.

Coughing may be a constant accompanying symptom, which may be either spasmodic, barking, hacking, or violent. It is not difficult to anticipate an attack of breathlessness when the child starts having a so-called  'an asthmatic cough'. The quality of cough may be either dry (non-productive) or wet (productive). There may be secretion of fluid in the lung tubes producing even more difficult respiration. It may come out as sputum (expectoration). Many times the process of expectoration itself may bring more strain and hence breathlessness. Sometimes, the release of sputum or expectoration may give relief to breathlessness due to the partial clearing of the air passage.

There is a possibility that the attack of asthma may begin all of a sudden without any preceding cold or a cough. The cases are not uncommon where the parents would find children waking up in the middle of the night with a severe attack of asthma.

It may be noted that a cough may be absolutely absent during the entire episode of asthma.

Some of the factors, which influence the level of severity during an acute attack of asthma, may be noted with interest. Some children have a predisposition to have the attack getting worse during some specific time, say 2 or 3 am early morning or on rising up in the morning. Some children would feel comfortable only during certain body postures such as sitting erect or lying on a particular side of the body. Some are better when being carried on the shoulder. Some are better sitting. Some feel better after having little warm water while some are better if the doors and windows are open.

If we carefully examine the symptoms of asthma, we shall find that although the basic symptoms remain the same, the exact symptoms vary from child to child. This suggests that every case of asthma calls for individual attention in order to cure it.

Written & Approved by-

Dr. Rajesh Shah

M.D. (Hom.)