Lung Disease & Respiratory Health Center
Understanding Wheezing -- Diagnosis & Treatment
How Do I Find Out What's Causing My Wheezing?
To determine the cause of wheezing, your doctor will ask questions to determine your symptoms and what leads to them. For example, if you have no history of lung disease and you always wheeze after eating a certain food or at a certain time of year, the doctor may suspect that you have a food or respiratory allergy.
The doctor will listen to your lungs with a stethoscope to hear where the wheezing is and how much wheezing you have.
If you’ve been living with symptoms of asthma even for a short period of time, it’s still important to seek asthma help. You can get asthma help from experts such as your doctor or an asthma specialist and from other people who have asthma. The repeated bouts of congestion, wheezing, and gasping for breath can cause anyone to feel anxious, overwhelmed, and even defeated. Living with asthma symptoms can result in tremendous stress. Likewise, added stress can trigger asthma symptoms. So where...
Read the Living with Asthma article > >
If this is the first time you've been evaluated, your doctor will probably ask you to perform a breathing test (spirometry) and may also order a chest X-ray.
Other blood tests and procedures may be necessary depending on what the doctor learns from interviewing and examining you.
If it seems like allergies may be related to your wheezing, there are a variety of other tests your doctor may use to verify allergies, including skin testing or blood tests (an eosinophil count or IgE levels).
What Are the Treatments for Wheezing?
First off, see a doctor to determine the cause of your wheezing and then receive treatment for the specific cause.
If wheezing is caused by asthma, your doctor may recommend some or all of the following to reduce inflammation and open the airways:
- A fast-acting bronchodilator inhaler (to dilate constricted airways when you have respiratory symptoms)
- An inhaled corticosteroid
- A long-acting bronchodilator
- An asthma controller pill to reduce airway inflammation
- A non-sedating antihistamine pill (such as loratadine), or a prescription nasal spray if you have nasal allergies
If you have acute bronchitis, your doctor may recommend some or all of the following:
- A bronchodilator (such as albuterol or salbutamol) to help ease the wheezing as the infection clears
- An antibiotic if you have an underlying lung problem
Generally, any mild wheezing that accompanies acute bronchitis disappears when the infection does.
In emergencies, when wheezing is so severe that it is difficult or nearly impossible for you to breathe, a medical team may administer any of the following that may be needed:
- A shot of epinephrine to open clogged respiratory passages
- Oxygen
- A corticosteroid (such as methylprednisolone or prednisone)
- A mechanical ventilator or CPAP machine to help you breathe
- Frequent or continuous nebulizer (breathing) treatments
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