What Happens During an Asthma Attack? Cleveland Clinic Doc Explains [Video]

Asthma is the most common airway disease, affecting nearly 25 million Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Symptom flares, called “asthma attacks,” are not unusual—but they can be debilitating.

Asthma is characterized by shortness of breath and coughing fits, Dr. Sobia Farooq, a pulmonologist at Cleveland Clinic, told Newsweek in an interview earlier this year. During an attack, symptoms escalate to chest tightness, wheezing and excessive coughing.

Asthma attacks are serious and can prohibit sufferers from engaging in everyday activities, according to Farooq.

“[Patients] at times feel like they cannot complete their sentence without coughing, or if they’re laughing, that laugh would end up in a cough,” Farooq said.

Attacks can be triggered by a number of factors: extreme temperatures, pets, dust mites, respiratory tract infections. When a patient with asthma encounters one of these irritants, a reaction can occur in their bronchial tubes, which carry air to the lungs.

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