Asthma or not

Dear Ask The Doctor: I'm 21 years old. I'm coughing continually for 4 weeks. Sometimes I'm hardly stop it. It never happened before. My roommates uses perfumes and deodorants too much. So I changed my room and now I'm better (coughing approximately once an hour). I don't have breathing problems. Is my disease temporary? Could it be Asthma?

Dear Furkan:

I comprehend your worry about your condition. Asthma developing at your might be a little unlikely but not impossible, however the symptoms that you describe might be related to less complicated conditions.

Since you relate your cough with perfumes and odors and most importantly the temporary characteristic, it might be a possibility of having an allergic reaction. If you present watery secretions in your nose as well as sneezing, the probability of allergies would increase.

However if the cough that you have is not accompanied by sneezing and mucus but you expectorate phlegm, I would suggest you to consider an evaluation by your primary care physician to rule out a possible Bacterial Pharingitis IF your symptoms persists for more than 2 weeks and worsen or fever is developed. I wish you a prompt recovery.