Hi Bettie,

These could be symptoms of allergies, or you may find yourself experiencing seasonal asthma as well. Here is some information that will help you ask the questions of your doctor.

There is a great overview here about what allergies are, what they do to your system, some of the causes of allergic reactions, symptoms, treatments available and testing to confirm the diagnosis and determine the cause. Once you have been diagnosed with allergies, your doctor may prescribe medications to help control some of the symptoms and inflammation. You can read about medications commonly prescribed here in the drugs database.

You can read a good overview about Asthma here. If your doctor diagnosed you with asthma, you might be prescribed a medication. You can read about many medications commonly prescribed for asthmatics here in the drugs database. Managing your treatment is something that you and your doctor work together on. You can get information about some of the treatments available here in the treatments database.

An asthma attack usually looks like this:

• You wheeze when you exhale (or breathe out).
• Your breath is short. Shortness of breath is a major source of distress in patients with asthma. Some patients are not even aware that they are experiencing shortness of breath. Such patients are at particular risk for very serious and even life-threatening asthma attacks, since they are less conscious of symptoms. Those at highest risk for this effect tend to be older, female, and to have had the disease for a longer period of time.
• You cough. In some people, the first symptom of asthma is a nonproductive cough (nonproductive means there's no phlegm or muscus).
• Your chest may feel tight or painful.
• Your neck muscles may tighten, and talking may become difficult or impossible.
• Your heart might race.
• You may sweat a lot.

Hope this helps. Make sure you call your doctor's office if there is any reason to suspect that what you are going through is something more serious than just allergies. While online sites are great places to get information, they can not take the place of your doctor's solid medical advice and care.

Take care and stay in touch! Let us know how you are doing!

Vicki M