Hello Isolet,

Asthma and COPD are the most commonly diagnosed chronic lung diseases. They are

both associated with inflammation of the airways, which makes breathing difficult. Both

conditions are responsible for symptoms such as labored breathing, wheezing, coughing, and

chest tightness. A person with any of the conditions may experience days when they do not

experience any symptoms, and they may also experience days where they have extreme

symptom severity known as flare-ups. Despite showing many similarities in symptoms, there are

significant differences in both conditions. For instance, with asthma, a person may stay long

periods without experiencing any symptoms but experience symptoms when exposed to triggers

such as exercise, exposure to allergens, or when one contracts a respiratory illness (Licari et al.,

2020). For COPD, symptoms are chronic and progressive even with treatment and usually start

after age 40. Also, COPD is usually found in people with a history of smoking, while asthma is

found in many people who have never smoked.

References

Licari, A., Castagnoli, R., Votto, M., Brambilla, I., Ciprandi, G., & Marseglia, G. L. (2020).

Biologic use in allergic and asthmatic children and adolescents during the COVID-19

pandemic. Pediatric Allergy, Immunology, and Pulmonology, 33(3), 155-158. 

Hi Sheryl

I like that you want to ask additional questions about the patient medication usage. I

would also add herbs and supplements to the questioning. Medications are an extremely

important question to ask of all patients, and especially in the case of the SOB symptoms. While

ACE inhibitors are known to cause a cough, many supplements and their side effects are

virtually untested and unknown. According to AlTamimi (2019), federal regulations state that

companies are responsible for having evidence that their dietary supplements are safe and for

ensuring that product labels are truthful and not misleading. I take that to say that the corporation

will let you know if the "medication" they produce is harmful to you because they are in business

to help people. The fact is they are seeking maximum dollar for minimum cost and they are

interested in profits only. There needs to be some governing body to act as a watchdog over these

companies. The patient could be taking dust capsules for all we know and that may be the source

of foreign body aspiration!

References
AlTamimi, J. Z. (2019). Awareness of the consumption of dietary supplements among students

in a University in Saudi Arabia. Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism, 2019.