Verywell / Joules Garcia
Asthma
Asthmaaffects 25 million people in the United States.
If your healthcare provider suspects asthma, you may undergo a breathing test called spirometry.
This test measures how much air you exhale and how fast you exhale.
Verywell / Joules Garcia
The symptoms of COPD vary based on which key in you have.
It can cause both breathing and digestive problems because the disease makes the mucus in the body very thick.
Newborn screening looks for high levels of the enzyme immunoreactive trypsin.
The latter is the more common of the two.
Cigarette smokingboth direct and secondhandis one of the biggest risk factors for lung cancer.
Lung cancercan develop gradually and often with no symptoms.
This may include:
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosisis a bacterial lung disease caused byMycobacterium tuberculosis.
People with strong immune systems sometimes carry an inactive form of the disease, called latent tuberculosis.
In people with weaker immune systems, the bacteria attacks lung tissue.
It can also spread and cause damage to other parts of the body.
Many respiratory diseases share symptoms, such as long-term cough.
Certain symptoms are specific to one disease or another.
For example, night sweats tend to occur in people with tuberculosis.
To confirm TB, your healthcare provider may order a skin or blood test.
The mucus can make it difficult to breathe.
Inflammation can also cause swelling of the airway.
This will cause it to narrow and make it harder to breathe.
Chronic bronchitis falls under the umbrella of COPD.
Acute bronchitis is not considered COPD, but it shares symptoms with the chronic form of the disease.
These symptoms include:
Most of the time, acute bronchitis is diagnosed with a basic health exam.
In some cases, a healthcare provider may want to order a chest X-ray to rule out pneumonia.
If your healthcare provider suspects a bacterial infection is causing your symptoms, they may order a sputum test.
Pneumonia
Pneumoniais a generic diagnosis.
When these sacs are filled with fluid, the bodys ability to exchange gases is reduced.
However, the symptoms of pneumonia can be severe and, in some cases, will require hospitalization.
They will also listen to your lungs.
Many of these diseases share symptoms.
Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.Respiratory diseases.
American Lung Association.Testing for asthma.
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.What is COPD?
American Lung Association.Diagnosing COPD.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Cystic fibrosis.
American Lung Association.Cystic fibrosis symptoms and diagnosis.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Cancer statistics at a glance.
American Lung Association.Lung cancer diagnosis.
American Lung Association.Learn about tuberculosis.
American Lung Association.Tuberculosis symptoms and diagnosis.
American Lung Association.Bronchitis symptoms, diagnosis and treatment.
American Lung Association.Pneumonia symptoms and diagnosis.
