Many heart problems cause symptoms similar to asthma. Until doctors establish a specific heart diagnosis in a patient, the cause of breathing problems cannot easily be discerned from asthma. This is most true early in the onset of heart problems when symptoms are vague and mild with similar characteristics to chronic stable asthma.
Wheeze
A wheeze noted during breathing commonly accompanies asthma. However, patients with fluid in the lungs caused by heart failure also exhibit this symptom. Wheezing typically becomes more noticeable with exertion. This characteristic, however, does not signal whether the symptom comes from asthma or heart disease. The worsening of this asthma symptom with reclining, or the occurrence of wheezing only when the patient lies down strengthens the case against heart problems as the source of the breathing problem.
Difficulty Breathing
Another asthma symptom is difficulty breathing. Many times patients with asthma do not wheeze, but experience shortness of breath while exerting themselves. Patients with heart problems suffer the same symptom. Depending on the degree of heart disease, a patient may have difficulty breathing from simply walking up a flight of stairs.
Air Hunger
Asthma narrows a person's airway because of constriction and mucous production. This decreases the amount of air a person can breathe into the lungs. A decreased air flow causes symptoms of air hunger and anxiety. Heart failure patients also experience air hunger due to a build-up of fluid in the lungs, which interferes with oxygenation of the body.
Cough
Patients with asthma cough. Many patients with heart problems take medications that cause a dry cough. For example, heart failure patients or patients with high blood pressure caused by coronary artery disease often take angiotensin-converting inhibitors. This class of heart drug more often than not causes a dry cough. Other heart problems like arrhythmias, which are irregular heart rhythms, cause patients to feel a fluttering in the chest, which often stimulates coughing.
Fast Heart Rate
Asthma often causes a fast heart rate either because of the medications people take to treat the asthma or because of the decreased oxygenation. Heart problems like a heart attack or an arrhythmia can cause a rapid heart rate.
Fatigue
Patients with poorly controlled asthma, or with an acute flare-up of asthma, feel fatigue. Heart problems like heart failure interfere with a patient's ability to sleep and cause fatigue. Fatigue is also a side effect of several heart medications used to treat a multitude of heart problems.
References
- American Lung Association: Asthma-Symptoms, Diagnosis and Treatment
- "Medical-Surgical Nursing-Patient Centered Collaborative Care"; Donna D. Ignatavicius & M. Linda Workman; 2010
- American Heart Association: Warning Signs of Heart Failure
