BRONCHIAL ASTHMA. (Spasmodic Asthma.) Causes

Categories: Respiratory Diseases

It occurs in all ages, but
usually begins in the young, particularly males. It often follows

whooping-cough. It may come from diseases of the mouth such as adenoids,

polypi. Exciting causes are change of climate and residence, dust, smoke,

odors, errors in diet, emotion, and cold.



Symptoms. The onset is often sudden, often during the night. Difficulty

of breathing is intense. The patient cannot lie down, but oft n sits at an

open window, resting the elbows on a table. The face is pale and the

expression is anxious. There is a feeling of great oppression in the chest

and often dread of suffocation. Respiration (breathing) though labored, is

not unusually frequent, as expiration (out breathing) is much prolonged.

In severe or prolonged attacks there are blueness, sweating, coldness of

the extremities, with small and frequent pulse and great drowsiness. The

attack lasts a few minutes to many hours, and may pass off suddenly,

perhaps to recur soon, or on several successive nights, with slight cough

and difficulty in breathing in the intervals. The cough is nearly dry at

first and the sputum is very tenacious.