Asthma Symptoms at a Glance: What Is Typical, What to Note and When to Get Help Quickly
Asthma symptoms explained simply: breathlessness, cough, wheeze. What to keep in a diary, how your doctor uses it and when to call for help.
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Typical asthma symptoms are breathlessness, cough, a whistling sound when you breathe out and a tight chest. They often come in attacks and often at night. Keep a diary of what you notice and when. That works on paper or in Sam, where you enter attacks, reliever use and triggers day by day. This post describes what is typical, what your doctor does with your notes and when to get help quickly.
Which symptoms are typical for asthma?
According to IQWiG and gesund.bund.de, asthma brings breathlessness that often comes in attacks. Breathing becomes noisy, with wheezing, whistling or rumbling. A tight chest and cough come with it. In children, cough is often the main sign.
The Lungeninformationsdienst also names cough and waking at night because of wheezing and whistling. Breathing out is often harder. IQWiG notes that slightly harder breathing can build up to serious breathlessness.
Many of these symptoms are not specific. Cough and breathlessness have many causes. Whether asthma is behind them is for your doctor to find out with a conversation and a lung function test. How asthma is told apart from COPD is covered in asthma or COPD: understanding the key differences.
When and where do symptoms appear?
IQWiG says symptoms usually come in attacks, often at night. Breathlessness during exercise is also common. The NHS adds that symptoms are often worse at night and in the early morning.
The NHS names exercise, cold air, air pollution and allergens such as pollen, dust, mould and contact with animals as triggers. Your diary shows which of these matter for you. More on this: asthma triggers: how exercise, sleep and stress affect you.
What belongs in an asthma diary?
The Lungeninformationsdienst offers an asthma diary to download. It is meant to help find personal triggers and follow how treatment works. After an attack, a German health insurer (Techniker Krankenkasse) advises recording all attacks, peak flow values and symptoms. To begin with, these points are enough:
- Date and time of the symptoms.
- What it was: cough, wheeze, breathlessness, tight chest.
- How strong it got.
- Whether you woke up at night.
- Whether you needed your reliever, how often, and whether it helped.
- What came before: exercise, cold air, pollen, dust, an infection.
- Whether you needed your doctor or emergency care.
In the asthma program in Sam, an entry has these fields. You pick attack, reliever use or symptoms, and note the strength and possible triggers. You add whether the reliever helped, whether you needed extra care and how many puffs you took. A free note is possible too. The triggers are your own notes, not a statement about what caused the attack. Other complaints go into the symptom diary.
Template, app or both: asthma tracking with Apple Watch and Sam.
How does your doctor use your diary?
According to the NHS, some people get a peak flow meter. They use it at home for a few weeks to check how well their lungs work. gesund.bund.de explains that a peak flow meter measures how fast air flows out when you breathe out. IQWiG names peak flow measurement and lung function testing as part of the examination.
Your diary adds what the practice cannot see: how often you woke at night, when you needed your inhaler and what you noticed. Bring it to the appointment and say what you hope to get from it. A short self-check with the four GINA questions is in the asthma control check.
When do you see your doctor, and when call the emergency number?
The NHS advises contacting your doctor if you have asthma symptoms, need your reliever often or find that symptoms disturb daily life and sleep. After an attack, Techniker Krankenkasse advises seeing your doctor within 48 hours and going through the treatment together.
In a severe attack, heart rate and breathing speed rise. Techniker Krankenkasse says people can often only say short sentences or single words. Call your local emergency number (112 in the EU, 999 in the UK, 911 in the US) and do not hesitate. The NHS says to call if symptoms get worse at any point. Call too if your reliever has not helped after the maximum dose, or if you have no inhaler. Take your reliever the way your emergency plan says. This is general information, not a diagnosis.
Log asthma symptoms in Sam and take them to your appointment as a report
You bring a record of attacks, reliever use and triggers, instead of trying to remember single days.
- Instead of paper slips: you enter attack, strength, puffs, triggers and whether the reliever helped in seconds, on the day itself or in the evening.
- Instead of recollection: the doctor report as a PDF summarises attacks, reliever use and preventer medication for the period you choose.
Sam records what you enter and is not meant for the moment of an attack. The program starts after a diagnosis confirmed by a doctor. More in the asthma program.
Try Sam HealthSam is a wellness companion, not a medical device. The app does not diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease or health condition. Always consult qualified professionals for medical decisions.
Related reading
Sources
Updated: October 2026
- NHS: Asthma (reviewed 7 April 2025)
- NHS: Asthma attack (reviewed 7 April 2025)
- IQWiG, Gesundheitsinformation.de: Asthma (updated 15 June 2022, German)
- Bundesministerium für Gesundheit, gesund.bund.de: Asthma (as of 18 August 2022, German)
- Lungeninformationsdienst: Asthma bronchiale (updated 6 May 2024, German)
- Techniker Krankenkasse: Asthma-Anfall: Was tun im Notfall? (updated 3 September 2024, German)
More on Asthma
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the typical symptoms of asthma?+
According to the NHS, they are wheezing, coughing, shortness of breath and a tight chest. IQWiG and gesund.bund.de describe breathlessness that often comes in attacks and noisy breathing, such as wheezing, whistling or rumbling.
When do asthma symptoms occur?+
Often at night or in the early morning, and during exercise. The NHS lists triggers such as exercise, cold air, air pollution and allergens like pollen, dust, mould or contact with animals.
What should I write in an asthma diary?+
When symptoms happened, how bad they were, what came before, whether your reliever helped and how often you needed it. The Lungeninformationsdienst offers a diary meant to help find personal triggers and follow how treatment works. Waking at night belongs in it too.
When should I see a doctor about asthma?+
The NHS advises contacting your doctor if you have symptoms, need your reliever inhaler often, or if symptoms get in the way of daily life or sleep. After an attack, a German health insurer advises seeing your doctor within 48 hours to review your treatment.
When do I call the emergency number for breathlessness?+
The NHS says to call for help if symptoms get worse at any point, if you do not feel better after the maximum dose of your reliever inhaler, or if you have no inhaler. A German health insurer adds that people in a severe attack can often only speak in short sentences or single words.
Is a cough alone asthma?+
Not necessarily, because cough has many causes. The Lungeninformationsdienst names cough and waking at night with wheezing as typical for asthma. Whether you have asthma is for your doctor to decide, with a conversation and tests such as peak flow or lung function.
Can an app predict an asthma attack?+
No. An app records what you enter and shows how it develops over time. It does not forecast an attack. Over time you may spot patterns in your own diary yourself.