Wet Cough - A Sign of Asthma

Asthma is a dangerous illness that is all too common even today. Basically, it involves the inflammation of the airways within the lungs. When the airways swell up they will narrow, and this narrowing causes it to be much harder to breath. It also can cause a wet cough, and this is one of the most common symptoms of asthma. Getting a good diagnosis quickly is important for controlling the issue, so if you notice that you're dealing with a wet cough on an almost regular basis or any of the other asthma symptoms, you shouldn't hesitate to schedule a visit to your physician.

The reason that a wet cough is so common among asthma sufferers is fairly easy to understand. Essentially, it's caused by the body's automatic reactions to the sense that the airways are obstructed. In the case of asthma, they aren't actually obstructed but are instead narrowed. A wet cough will often bring up phlegm and mucus, but when you suffer from asthma it simply won't help you breath better. In many cases, the physical exertion from the coughing spell will actually make it harder to breath and could only make the overall asthma issue even harder to deal with.

A wet cough related to asthma will appear in varying levels of frequency, sometimes once every few days and sometimes happening numerous times within a few hours. Serious bouts of coughing can be frightening and make it even harder to breathe, and often lead to panic attacks and elevated heart rates as well as the difficulty breathing. Certain things found in your environment can make the coughing spells worse or more frequent, such as wood smoke or being around a cigarette smoker. Knowing these asthma triggers will help you avoid them and thus avoid having serious bouts of wet coughing.

If you're suffering from a wet cough due to asthma, a few different treatment options do exist. Various prescription medicines may be given to you to help reduce the inflammation in the lungs, and inhalers can deliver quick doses of steroids to the airways to lessen the swelling and make it easier to breathe. If you have a chronic wet cough, especially one accompanied by other asthma symptoms, then you owe it to yourself to visit a doctor. You could get the help that you need and it just may save your life in the long run. Asthma isn't a death sentence, but you'll need help to manage it.