Recognizing Asthma Symptoms

By editor | July 7, 2007

Asthma is a highly individual condition. Symptoms can range from very mild to severe and even life threatening. Symptoms may appear only occasionally and last for just a little while. Or they may occur daily to several times a week and become more severe. They may even go from mild to severe in a short time. No two children with asthma are alike, but the main symptoms of asthma include:

Coughing. One of the main symptoms of asthma is typically a dry cough that becomes worse at night, often to the point of waking a child. Parents have also described the cough as deep, wet, junky, barky, croupy, and seal-like.

Wheezing. The classic asthma symptom is wheezing-a hoarse, high-pitched whistling or squeaky noise as a child breathes in and out. Wheezing tends to get worse at night.

Shortness of breath or rapid breathing. Sometimes parents of children with asthma describe this as heavy breathing. Because he is short of breath, your child may slow down and stop playing. He might also get tired, irritable, or become uninterested in things around him.

Chest tightness. Young children may say their chests hurt or “feel funny.” Older children may describe the sensation as tight or achy, or they may say they have chest pain and feel like a weight is sitting on their chest.

Most children with asthma start showing symptoms before they are five years old. At one time, doctors thought that children under age three didn’t get asthma, but today we know that children as young as six months can have asthma. Symptoms in very young children are similar to those in older ones-coughing, wheezing, rapid breathing, and fatigue. A baby can’t tell you her chest feels tight, of course, but you might notice that she has problems feeding or makes grunting noises when sucking or breathing. Her nostrils may also flare as she works harder to breathe.

Children with asthma should be diagnosed as early as possible. Early diagnosis means they will start receiving the treatment needed to keep them thriving and active and to prevent colds from turning into asthma flares. Early diagnosis and treatment can also help their lungs develop normally and reach full capacity, which may help them avoid developing breathing problems when they are adults.

Asthma Flares-Mild, Moderate Severe

Asthma symptoms can be so mild that you might not even realize your child has them-until the symptoms suddenly become worse. Then you’ll realize in a hurry that your child is having an asthma flare.

During a mild flare, a child has a little trouble breathing. She breathes a bit faster than usual. She may be a little short of breath and wheezy, especially when she exhales. She may also have some coughing, but she’s alert and able to talk easily. If she has a cold with a cough, you might not even notice that she’s having an asthma flare.

If the flare is moderate, all the breathing symptoms will be worse. The wheezing will be much more noticeable. It will be louder as she breathes out. She won’t be able to get enough breath to talk easily. You’ll probably notice that the muscles between her ribs move in and out as she struggles to breathe. You may also notice that it takes her much longer to breathe out than to breathe in.

If the asthma attack is severe, breathing will be very difficult. She’ll wheeze and cough severely, won’t be able to talk, and will be so short of breath that she uses the muscles of her neck, chest, and abdomen to breathe. Her skin color, lips, or nail beds may look quite pale or even bluish. If the attack is very severe, so little air will be moving in and out of her lungs that she won’t even wheeze.

A severe asthma attack is a medical emergency. Call for an ambulance or take your child to an emergency room at once.

Even a moderate flare is a highly upsetting experience for a child-and for you-and may mean a trip to the emergency room or a hospitalization. Fortunately for you and your child, asthma flares don’t have to be this bad.


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