At the scene of the free clinic, Dong Chunling, deputy director of the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine of the Yatai Hospital of the Second Hospital of Jilin University, listened to the patient and asked him about his condition. Photographed by Yu Hui in this column

At the scene of the free clinic, doctors from the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine of the Yatai Hospital of the Second Hospital of Jilin University were seriously answering the patients' questions.

Speaking of asthma, many people will associate with the suffocation, oppression and wheezing sound brought to people when the patient suffers from asthma in the film and television series.

But in real life, not all asthma is asthma, and not all asthma is asthma. For example, patients with cough variant asthma or chest tightness asthma have no asthma symptoms.

The cough caused by cough variant asthma is often repeated, and can not be improved after long treatment; Patients with chest distress asthma feel uncomfortable when they get sick, which is often mistaken for heart disease. It is precisely because of the lack of understanding of asthma that these patients often go wrong and detours in the process of diagnosis and treatment.

On the 26th World Asthma Day just passed, the Second Hospital of Jilin University, together with nearly 20 hospitals of Jilin Provincial Grass roots Respiratory Disease Prevention and Control Alliance, carried out free clinic at the same time to popularize the knowledge of asthma. At the same time, it also reminded everyone that if the cause of chronic repeated cough or chest tightness cannot be found, if you want to think of the possibility of asthma, you should find a professional respiratory doctor in time.

Asthma is the root cause of coughing for 4 months

"Doctor, after I recovered from my cold, I coughed repeatedly for a long time and took a lot of medicine, but I didn't get better." On the 7th, at the free clinic in Yatai Hospital of the Second Hospital of Jilin University, Ms. Liu, a citizen, took a CT film to find Dong Chunling, the deputy director of the respiratory and critical medical department of the hospital, and said. In the face of Ms. Liu's confusion and help, Dong Chunling conducted a free pulmonary function examination for her. After waiting for a moment, Ms. Liu's bronchodilator test result was positive, and Ms. Liu was diagnosed as "cough variant asthma".

"Asthma? Can you?" Ms. Liu asked in puzzlement at the doctor's conclusion. Four months ago, after Ms. Liu caught a cold, she continued to cough, especially at night. When it was serious, she could not sleep at all, which seriously affected her life. Ms. Liu thought it was a complication caused by a cold. She ate a lot of anti-inflammatory drugs and cough syrup but had little effect.

"Cough variant asthma is a special type of asthma. Because the symptoms are not typical, it is easy to miss diagnosis or misdiagnosis." Dong Chunling said that in everyone's understanding, only "asthma" is asthma, but "asthma" is only a common manifestation of asthma, while the main manifestation of cough variant asthma is cough, and mainly dry cough, some patients will be accompanied by a small amount of thin white sputum. It mainly occurs at night and in the early morning, without obvious wheezing, shortness of breath and other symptoms. "Cough lasts for a long time. Unlike colds or bronchitis, it usually gets better after 1 to 2 weeks. It often lasts for more than 2 months. Therefore, cough variant asthma is also one of the main causes of chronic cough," Dong Chunling reminded.

Chest tightness is not necessarily a heart problem

In addition to cough variant asthma, which will "go the wrong way" when seeking medical advice, chest tightness asthma is more likely to be misdiagnosed and missed due to chest tightness as the main symptom.

"Patients with chest distress asthma have no wheezing symptoms, no common shortness of breath, and no wheezing. They often move from hospital to hospital, and may be misdiagnosed as coronary heart disease, viral myocarditis, etc." Dong Chunling introduced that chest distress asthma is also an atypical asthma, which can be diagnosed only through bronchial provocation test. Most patients can be effectively controlled after standardized treatment. However, due to the low awareness rate of the disease, doctors and patients are not alert enough to the disease, and diagnosis is difficult.

Dong Chunling gave such an example. She once interviewed a man of about 40 years old. The intensity of her work was so high that he often had chest tightness at night and often felt short of breath. Many chest CT and ECG examinations were done without problems. "Physical abnormalities bring great mental pressure to the patient." Dong Chunling said that when she received the patient and learned that his mother had a history of asthma, she suddenly thought whether it would be chest tightness asthma. Soon, the patient was finally diagnosed as chest tightness asthma after relevant examinations on asthma.

Adhere to regular standardized treatment and prevention

"The theme of the 26th World Asthma Day is' Empowering Asthma Education ', hoping to raise the public's awareness of the hazards of asthma diseases to the respiratory system and lung health, as well as the importance of standardized prevention and treatment of asthma, and popularize people's awareness of asthma. "Wang Ke, director of the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine of the Second Hospital of Jida, said that bronchial asthma is one of the most common chronic airway inflammatory diseases in the world, and it is also a chronic airway inflammatory disease that seriously endangers people's health. In recent years, the prevalence rate of asthma in China is 4.2%. At present, there are about 47.5 million asthma patients in China.

"Understanding asthma requires early diagnosis, early treatment and full process management." Zhang Jie, director of the Chest Disease Center of the Second Hospital of Jida, said that although asthma cannot be cured at present, most patients' asthma symptoms can be well controlled after proper prevention and management. Therefore, only by letting the public know more about asthma and their own conditions can they better cooperate with doctors in diagnosis and treatment.

For the treatment of asthma, the experts gave the most reminders at the free clinic: adhere to long-term standardized treatment and prevention.

To reduce the occurrence of asthma, how to prevent asthma in daily life? Dong Chunling said that asthma is affected by both genetic factors and environmental factors, among which environmental factors include inhalation allergen, food allergy, smoking, specific drugs, strenuous exercise, strong emotional changes, etc. Keep away from environmental factors that may induce asthma, which can effectively control the occurrence of asthma, and also try to avoid cold and cold air stimulation. It is also necessary to keep a scientific and regular diet, pay attention to clothing to keep warm, quit smoking and drinking, keep the living environment clean, and try to avoid contact with possible allergic substances and respiratory tract infection. "Asthma is a chronic disease that requires long-term regular medication. It should be used as long as the visiting doctor does not ask for drug withdrawal. With long-term standardized treatment, 80% to 90% of asthma patients can be controlled." Dong Chunling encouraged patients to say.