Guide To Cough-Variant Asthma

Coughing is a common complaint; in fact, it is the most frequent grievance that drives patients to seek medical attention in the first place. Cough-variant asthma is a variety of asthma, one in which only coughing is a symptom. Cough-variant asthma is among the most common sources of chronic cough. More significantly, thirty to forty percent of adult patients who have cough-variant asthma, without being adequately treated, have a strong likelihood of progressing to classic asthma. The two types of asthma have several features in common, such as airway hyper-responsiveness, atopy, eosinophilic airway inflammation, as well as a variety of features of airways being remodeled.

Symptoms Of Cough-Variant Asthma

Cough-variant asthma is defined as a dry cough that does not expel any mucus as the only presenting symptom of the disease. Patients with cough-variant asthma lack classic asthma symptoms, including shortness of breath or wheezing. This condition is occasionally called chronic cough as it describes a cough that has been endured for longer than six to eight weeks. This coughing with asthma is capable of striking during the day or night, when it can disrupt sleep. Cough-variant asthma patients frequently observe their coughing increases during exercise, and this is often called exercise-induced asthma. When coughing increases is frequently when patients are exposed to triggers for asthma or allergy-causing substances such as dust or strong fragrances, or at times when withstanding cold air.

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At-Risk Groups For Cough-Variant Asthma

Anyone can get cough-variant asthma. It is, however, more common in young children who labor under the burden of childhood asthma. As with adults, cough-variant asthma can lead to classic asthma. Other risk factors that may strike certain groups, making them at-risk groups for cough-variant asthma, include having a relative with asthma, having classic asthma, having a different allergic condition like eczema, being a smoker or having been exposed at length to secondhand smoke, being overweight, or being exposed to occupational or environmental irritants. These groups all are prone to experience the chronic cough that lacks the production of mucus.

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Causes Of Cough-Variant Asthma

Unfortunately, research has yet to fully discover the core causes of cough-variant asthma. It is, however, associated with certain triggers. These include exposure to irritants or allergens, having a cold or sinusitis or other upper respiratory infections, exercise, using certain medications, and changes in the weather. There is a distinct link between allergies and asthma. Only twenty percent of patients with asthma lack nasal allergies, which means the remaining eighty percent suffer from allergic reactions to irritants. Allergies strike when the immune system is overreacting to a substance that regularly would not engender a reaction. This does offer the suggestion cough-variant asthma is linked to the immune system. It could also help to explain why this condition tends to respond well to the medicines effective in treating classic asthma.

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Process Of Diagnosis

Patients should seek a doctor's attention if a cough lingers for more than eight weeks without any known cause. Early treatment of cough-variant asthma may prevent complications or the development of chronic asthma. Cough-variant asthma is sometimes difficult to diagnose as the only symptom it presents with is a chronic cough, which can indicate various other health conditions. However, a study of 131 cases of patients who had chronic cough found twenty-four percent of these had cough-variant asthma. If other symptoms develop, such as a fever that rises above one hundred degrees Fahrenheit, shortness of breath, wheezing, chest pain, difficulty with the tolerating of physical activity, or coughing up blood, patients should see a doctor sooner than otherwise to rule out other conditions, such as bronchitis, sinus infections and other upper respiratory infections, post nasal drip, acid reflux, gastroesophageal reflux disease, allergies, blood pressure medications, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Tests can be used to rule out other conditions while in the process of diagnosis with cough-variant asthma.

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Treatment Options For Cough-Variant Asthma

The goal of treatment for cough-variant asthma is the prevention of complications. Treatments used for cough-variant asthma are the same as those used to treat classic asthma. One individual varies from another when it comes to the right treatments. Doctors might combine inhaled corticosteroids to prevent and ease airway swelling, rescue inhalers that reduce inflammation rapidly in an asthma attack's occurrence, combination inhalers that are the best of both worlds with their combinations of preventative and fast-response medicines, antihistamines and other allergy medications, preventative medications that keep the airways open, and leukotriene inhibitors to block particular parts of the immune system from activating.