Suggest Treatment For Shortness Of Breath, Breathing Difficulty And Cough

Posted on Sun, 1 May 2016

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sun, 1 May 2016 Answered on

Fri, 17 Jun 2016 Last reviewed on

Question : My daughter who is very healthy and never been sick in her 11 year life is not very sick. Shortness of breath, headache, trouble breathing (mainly sports), pale skin and a cough for 10 straight weeks. She has been to the doctor 3 times in 10 weeks and everything is clear with lungs, but she is not getting better. They have had her on 2 inhalers for 2 weeks now thinking it could be asthma until tests are done, but not helping (no noticeable improvement). Her face broke out last night on one side and she woke up with a major nose bleed. All things that have never happened to her in her life. All these instances and symptoms are net new and NEVER happened to her before. It like a mix of Asthma, An Allergic Reaction and/or Anemia. Not sure what I should do?

Answered by Dr. Indranil Ghosh (17 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Need to do some blood test

Detailed Answer:
Hi
Thanks for your query.

I understand your concerns. There seems to be something wrong, though it has not been determined yet.

I will begin with the shortness of breath, paleness and nose bleed. Since there seems to be nothing wrong in the lungs and inhalers aren't working, we should think of anemia. Has the complete blood count been done? then what is the hemoglobin like? If still not done, should be done immediately. If hemoglobin low but platelets and white cells normal, then workup on the lines of anemia.

If all of these are normal, then we need to think of some cardiac cause. Referral to a specialist with ECG and ECHO may be required. Allergy can explain shortness of breath and even nose bleed but not pallor.

I am sure, with apropriate investigations, the actual cause may be found out.

Hope this helps.
Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar