Asthma Imitators

A long list of other conditions can imitate asthma. The most important of these is chronic obstructive lung disease (COLD), sometimes called chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). COLD is most often the result of smoking. It sometimes causes changes in the lung that might lead an inexperienced observer to think of asthma, but it does not respond to most of the measures used to treat asthma. Most people who are seen in public using a nasal tube and an oxygen tank are in the end stage of COPD, the result of smoking.

Heart failure can also imitate asthma, bit usually occurs in people 60 or older and in patients who have other signs and symptoms of cardiac failure. In heart failure, the heart is unable to push out of the lungs as much blood as the body requires in its circulation. Backed-up blood then fills the lung, displacing air and causing wheezing. One of the complications of COLD is lung fibrosis (scarring), which thickens lung tissue, making passage of blood more difficult. Also in the older age group, blood clots in the lung (pulmonary embolism) may be confused with asthma, but a chest X ray will show tie difference. Finally, certain anatomic changes along the path air takes from nose to lungs may mimic asthma, particularly tumors. These, too, can be sorted out by various medical procedures, such as electrocardiograms and X-ray modalities.

Cystic fibrosis is a metabolic disease that is passed in the genes to some members of certain families. It is often confused with asthma, but is a completely different disease. Some of the treatments for asthma are helpful to patients with cystic fibrosis, but none are curative.