What is asthma?
Asthma is a long-term condition that can cause wheezing, breathlessness and coughing. It often starts in childhood, but can happen for the first time at...
Early signs and symptoms of asthma
Some people we talked to said their asthma had been diagnosed at an early age and they couldn’t remember their first symptoms.
However, many could recall the first time they noticed symptoms that were later attributed to asthma, whether this happened recently or some time ago. Most commonly they had felt unusually breathless with wheezing, tightness in the chest, or a persistent cough. Symptoms might also develop in response to certain triggers, for example when near animals, or cigarette smoke.
Often people diagnosed with asthma had noticed that things weren’t quite right after being out walking or exertion of some kind.
Eve was in her thirties and was out for a long walk with some friends one weekend when she found herself becoming so breathless that she couldn’t continue on the walk.
Alastair’s asthma was diagnosed when he found it difficult to take part in a run at the age of 10.
Alastair got very breathless during cross country running at school.
Ann had liked singing along with the radio in the car, but one day she became so short of breath she couldn’t sing.
Jane had trained for and successfully run a 5 km race, but when she went out for a run some weeks later she had to stop after a short time. She felt as if her batteries had run out.
Stephen had joined a football team to improve his fitness; he found that after returning home from jogging that he would lie on his bed and his chest would feel very tight.
Alice also recalls getting breathless when she had been on a mountain walk as a young woman. Many people whose signs and symptoms of asthma had appeared in adulthood had been surprised because they had regarded themselves as active, fit and healthy.
Some people can start to feel breathless even when they have not been taking exercise or doing something very physical. Charles hadn’t at first associated feeling breathless with asthma but sometimes he had mild feelings of a tight chest and breathlessness when he was lying in bed. Other people also noted difficult breathing and feeling tight chested at night.
Stephen felt breathless and tired even when he wasn’t doing exercise.
For some people the first sign of something wrong was a persistent cough, often after a cold or chest infection, that was difficult to shift with over the counter remedies or antibiotics.
Gail was in her forties when she developed a cough that she couldn’t shake off. Peter had likewise developed a bad cough and cold that just didn’t go away; eventually he went to the doctor who diagnosed asthma.
Riina was coughing a lot during the night and finding it difficult to sleep. She tried her dad’s inhaler to see if it worked.
Julies asthma was diagnosed in her 40s after a persistent cough. Until then she had thought of asthma as something children had and could grow out of.
Some people get temporary wheezing or breathlessness whenever they have a cold or chest infection. When Charles went to the doctor about a chest complaint it hadn’t occurred to him that he might have asthma.
Charles saw his GP about a chest infection and recurring wheeziness and was diagnosed with asthma. He was given salbutamol (Ventolin) to inhale, which improved the symptoms. [Text only]
Tim feels now that he probably had mild asthma as a child, as he remembers often having a tight chest and breathing difficulties after sports or in the pollen season, but he assumed everyone felt like that. His asthma wasn’t diagnosed until he was adult. Similarly, Gail’s asthma was diagnosed in her forties but she remembers having coughs and colds frequently as a child; her mother used to treat them with over the counter or home remedies and she too feels looking back that she probably had mild asthma.
People often either remembered, or had realised later, that the early signs and symptoms of their asthma may have been brought on by a reaction to something in their environment, e.g. chemical sprays and smells, pollen, dust, being in a smoky atmosphere or being around animals. Eve was not diagnosed until later in life, but now looking back to her childhood thinks she may have had asthma that had not been recognised.
Eve remembers when she was a child living in Los Angeles that she would often feel tightness in the chest when the air was polluted. [AUDIO ONLY]
Belinda’s parents both smoked and when she was a child in the 1960s the dangers of passive smoking were little known.
Belinda attended a boarding school because of her asthma, but every time she returned home in the holidays her asthma got worse because her parents smoked in the house. [TEXT ONLY]
Jan’s asthma was diagnosed when she was 4; her parents have told her that the first attack was triggered by contact with a pet rabbit. Mark’s symptoms came on quite suddenly when he was a child and he had to be rushed to hospital; other people had noticed a gradual onset or worsening of symptoms over a while rather than an asthma ‘attack’.
People with a family history of asthma may be more likely to develop it. Sometimes other family members with asthma suspected what was wrong first.
Other members of Stephen’s family have asthma so he wasn’t too surprised be told he had it. His mum thought he may have been asthmatic as a child and took him to the doctors several times but he wasn’t diagnosed until recently.
(Also see Triggers, Childhood onset, Being diagnosed with asthma, Exercise, diet, weight and other lifestyle issues and Relationships, family and friends).
Childhood onset of asthma
Asthma is a condition which can start in childhood or in adulthood. Although we only talked to adults about their asthma, some told us that...