Respiratory Treatments

💡TL;DR: If you are wheezing, first decide if it is an emergency, then use the fastest safe steps to open your airways. Mild wheezing with easy breathing can often be calmed at home with rescue inhalers, nebulizers, or breathing exercises, while severe shortness of breath, blue lips, or noisy

💡TL;DR: After COVID-19, a new or returning low fever, a cough that worsens instead of easing, and new shortness of breath within 1–3 weeks can signal walking pneumonia. See your doctor to confirm with a chest X-ray; don’t assume it’s just long COVID. Most people feel

💡TL;DR: The fastest way to calm a cough is a 30-second sequence: briefly hold your breath, switch to small nose breaths, and sip water. Most coughs from colds settle in 1–2 weeks without prescriptions; quick home fixes cost $0–$10 (water, honey, lozenges), while a bedroom humidifier runs

💡TL;DR: Chest pain that worsens with deep breaths often points to pleurisy, while pain you can reproduce by pressing the chest usually means costochondritis. Musculoskeletal chest wall pain is common in primary care (about 20–40%) and costochondritis is a frequent cause, while pleurisy signals inflammation of the lung

💡 TL;DR: Use your rescue inhaler 10–15 minutes before exercise and warm up for 10 minutes — these two steps prevent most episodes. Quick-relief inhalers protect for about 2–4 hours; if you need them often, a daily inhaled steroid or an ICS/formoterol plan can cut symptoms. Montelukast may

💡TL;DR: Most kids with croup can spread the virus from about 1 day before symptoms start until around day 3 of illness. A steroid such as dexamethasone eases breathing within hours, but it does not shorten how long your child is contagious. Plan for home rest for about 3–

💡TL;DR: Most kids with croup sound worse after bedtime because small airways, lying flat, drier cool air, and low nighttime cortisol stack up. Nights 1–2 are usually the worst; most cases improve in 3–5 days. Calm cuddles, steamy bathroom air, a few minutes of cool air, and

💡TL;DR: Use your quick-relief inhaler first, then sit upright and breathe slowly; that is the fastest way to calm a night asthma cough. Nights are tougher because of your body clock, lying flat, cool dry air, and bedroom allergens. To prevent wake-ups, take controller meds on schedule, sleep on

💡TL;DR: Most people clear airborne mold spores without illness, but damp homes can trigger allergies or, in at-risk people, aspergillosis (a mold infection). Early signs look like allergies and often improve when you leave the damp space, while serious infection brings high fever, chest pain, weight loss, or blood