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In traditional Chinese medicine, asthma is attributable to the categories of ".riao" and "chuan"
1. Notice whether there is an allergic history of the pa-tient and his family. For patients with histories of allergic rhinitis and urticaria, the disease is easy to be diagnosed.
2. The onset is abrupt, frequently occurring at night. Usually the patients suddenly have a sense of suffocation and of constriction in the chest, and orthopnea. The attack lasts from several minutes to several hours. On auscultation, typical wheezes can be heard over the lung fields. Moist rales may be pre-sent if pulmonary infection coexists. Termination of the episode is frequently accompanied by a cough with profuse, mucoid sputum.
3. The status asthmaticus: In some cases the acute attack may persist for a long time (over 24 hours), or the episode can not be relieved by various drugs. The patients have severe dysp-nea, accompanied with profuse sweating, pallor, cyancxsis, tachy-cardia and coldness of limbs. Respiratory failure may occur in criti-cal cases, and death may ensue if timely treatment is not given.
4. Laboratory examinations: The eosinophilic leukocyte count may increase markedly during the attack, up to 5—15 percent or more in differential count. Sputum examination may reveal more eosinopilic leukocytes and rhomboid crystals in the sputum. Serum concentration of IgE may be increased. Skin test for specific antigens is helpful to find the allergic a-gent, but the provocative allergic test may have potential dan-ger of inducing asthmatic attack. Therefore, it should be per-formed with caution.
