I cough and use inhalers. Do I have asthma?
Often a persistent cough and the use of inhalers can be confused with the symptoms of asthma. And they are related, to a certain degree. Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the respiratory tract and is characterized by the reverse obstruction of the flow of air from the lungs. The complex inflammatory/immunological mechanisms that produce asthma are primarily triggered by allergies to inhaled particles in the air and, rarely, by food, medications, exercise, stress, etc. Often asthmatic patients have an intermittent spasmodic cough, and this will appear suddenly, for example, after cleaning out a closet or on a day when there is a lot of pollen in the air. Inhalers reduce inflammation and significantly improve patients’ symptoms.