What Is Asthma? Asthma is a disease that affects your lungs. It
is one of the most common long-term diseases of children, but
adults can have asthma, too. Asthma causes wheezing,
breathlessness, chest tightness, and coughing at night or early
in the morning. If you have asthma, you have it all the time,
but you will have asthma attacks only when something bothers
your lungs. In most cases, we don’t know what causes asthma, and
we don’t know how to cure it. We know that if someone in your
family has asthma you are more likely to have it. How Can You
Tell if You Have Asthma? It can be hard to tell if someone has
asthma, especially in children under age 5. Having a doctor
check how well your lungs work and check for allergies can help
you find out if you have asthma. During a checkup, the doctor
will ask if you cough a lot, especially at night, and whether
your breathing problems are worse after physical activity or at
certain times of year. The doctor will also ask about chest
tightness, wheezing, and colds las