That persistent cough you’ve had since winter? It could be a lingering effect of cold, dry weather irritating your airways. But it could also be a sign of asthma, which often goes undetected because most of us associate the lung condition with obvious breathing problems, says Andrea Pappalardo Wlochowicz, MD, an allergist-immunologist with UI Health in Chicago. “In reality, a lot of times asthma presents as other symptoms.” Yes, most notably, as a cough.
But, wait a minute! Your doctor never mentioned asthma when you were a kid, so why now? What gives? “A good portion of asthma cases occur later in life,” says Sandhya Khurana, MD, medical director of the Mary Parkes Center for Asthma, Allergy, and Pulmonary Care in Rochester, New York. That’s particularly true for women (keep…
