subject: Making Use of Your First Appointment of Visiting the Doctor for Asthma [print this page] It is often difficult to diagnose asthma. This is the reason that so many people have asthma but they don't even know. They will simply take it as a seasonal coughing that attack in lingering cold or due to dry air. Your first visit to your physician is of great importance for this is the time to diagnose whether you have asthma or not. Asthma resembles many other conditions, so require a thorough diagnosis. An obstruction in airways, such as one from cystic fibrosis, can cause asthma like symptoms in children. On the other hand, congestive heart failure, chronic bronchitis and emphysema in adults may appear like asthma.
Your physician for the sake of proper diagnosis of your condition makes ask for your medical history. Physical examination would be done and some test would be performed to have a closer look of the symptoms. Physical examination will focus on your upper respiratory tract, chest and skin. The main purpose this examination is to look for any signs of asthma, for instance, signs of allergic skin conditions (eczema), increased nasal secretions, sounds of wheezing (like whistling) during normal breathing, swelling of the mucus membranes, and hunched shoulders.
Physical examination and its results are usually taken as subjective and the results would be interpreted accordingly. One important point to note here is that every doctor has different method of interpretation. Along with this subjective examination, some minor tests would also be performed. One such test is spirometry test. A spirometer is a device used to measure the flow of the air into and out of the lungs. Spirometry is useful in diagnosing the asthma, but this will not helpful all the time as with mild asthma. Another device peak flow meter can also be used by your physician to diagnose any lung disease. He or she may ask you to take that meter to your home and record the readings at different intervals. These readings will help doctor to diagnose the disease properly.
If your physician still not sure of your disease, he or she may suggest you to perform some other tests like chest x-ray, evaluation for gastro esophageal reflux disease (GERD), and other allergy tests.
Once asthma is declared in the reports one should not panic but instead be prepared for the questions regarding the treatment and moves towards its control. One has to be very sure to understand the disease and the things related. One should be very clear to ask the doctor, and at the same time feel free to write down the instructions and the information provided. It is very helpful to read and gather information related to the same with the help of pamphlets, fact sheets, or names of current books .These days health centers do provide reserve hours to return the calls of the inquires of the patients and others have nurse on staff who handles patients calls. Thus to conclude keep one self more informed so as to fight the disease in most positive and healthy way.
Making Use of Your First Appointment of Visiting the Doctor for Asthma
By: taamiv
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