Diagnosis

An asthma attack, in addition to general respiratory symptoms, represents a more pronounced blockage of the airway by the excessive amount of mucus that begins to form.

Asthmatic patients usually know they have the disease and know the symptoms. In the event that they do not know, or the person has never had difficulty breathing, the diagnosis begins with the physical evaluation. Breathing rate and use of accessory breathing muscles are an indication of an asthma attack. When the asthmatic patient breathes, he makes a sound that is characteristic of this disease. It is a kind of wheezing sound because the air passes very strongly through the obstructed airways. To accurately diagnose asthma, we need to have the patient’s lung capacity values: how much air is coming in and how much is effective for breathing. This is done with a special device that is called spirometer and is for institutional use. This device reflects all the data of the respiratory function and prints it in a graph in which the degree of obstruction and the remaining capacity of the lungs can be observed.