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.