Verywell / Zoe Hansen
Meet the Expert
Farah Khan, MD, is a board-certified allergist/immunologist.
About 1 in 12 people in the U.S. have asthma.Sometimes, the condition causes only minor and intermittent issues.
Other times, it becomes a persistent and serious problem, impacting ones daily activities.
Verywell / Zoe Hansen
The right medication can provide enormous and immediate symptom relief.
What are the signs that a person may have asthma?
For people who have environmental allergies, the upper airway is where those allergies assault your immune system.
That is connected to your lower airway, which is where asthma comes into play.
What steps do doctors take when diagnosing asthma?
Dr. Khan: The first thing that we do is take a really detailed clinical history.
Knowing your exercise tolerance is also important.
It gives us a sense of how much air a patient can get in and out.
If there is something striking, then we usually label this as asthma and initiate a daily controller medication.
Theres also something called a FeNOan exhaled nitric oxide test.
How often do misdiagnoses occur, and why does a proper diagnosis matter?
We see this more frequently from pediatricians.
But most of the time, its not as misdiagnosed, and they seek care with pulmonologists.
How do you know when an asthma diagnosis is accurate?
It means something else might be going on.
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