Cough-Variant Asthma

Cough-variant asthma is common, especially in children. If you have cough-variant asthma, your main symptom is coughing, frequently at night. During the day, you feel fine and have no other symptoms. In fact, you may even find it hard to believe that your cough is asthma because you don't wheeze or have other typical asthma symptoms.

If you find you're not sleeping at night because you keep waking up coughing, you may have cough-variant asthma. Or, if you find that you are coughing during the day but do not have a cold or other illness, you may have cough-variant asthma. Your doctor may ask you to monitor your asthma using a peak-flow meter for two weeks. The goal of this monitoring period is to see how your breathing ability changes over time. A peak- flow meter can tell you whether your airways are narrowed.

Once your diagnosis is established, you and your health care provider will develop a personal asthma management plan for you, "Managing Your Asthma Day to Day." This plan includes asthma medications and a medicine plan, "Asthma Medications."