How can I test if I have asthma?

Asthma is a condition that affects your breathing, as it concerns the tubes that carry air in and out of your lungs. 

Diagnosis of asthma by a medical professional will usually include looking at your medical history, discussing your symptoms,  doing a physical exam and possibly some lung tests too.

So, the short answer is, no you can’t test if you have asthma at home. But, with our Allergy Test, you can test to see if your symptoms are caused by allergies – which can lead to asthma. 

What is asthma?

Asthma is a lung condition that is more common than we might realise. The Asthma + Lung UK charity state that 5.4 million people in the UK have asthma – which is one in every twelve adults and one in every eleven children.

People with asthma tend to suffer from sensitive and inflamed airways, and so symptoms of asthma include shortness of breath and wheezing.

What are the symptoms of asthma?

The NHS state that the most common symptoms of asthma are:

• wheezing (making a whistling sound when you are breathing)
• breathlessness
• a tight chest (as though a band is being tightened around it)
• coughing

It can be hard to diagnose asthma from just these symptoms though, as they are quite common symptoms for a range of illnesses, but if you are suffering from any of these symptoms and:

• they happen often and keep coming back
• they are worse early in the morning and late at night
• they seem to happen in response to a known asthma trigger, such as an allergy or exercise

What can trigger asthma symptoms?

There are lots of different things that can trigger asthma in people, and not everyone will be triggered by the same things.

However, finding out the things that do trigger your asthma – whether its colds, your pet hair, dust mites or stress – means you can start to try and avoid these triggers (if possible).

What are allergies?

Allergies are the name given to a reaction in your body to a particular substance. They are very common and can affect one in four people in the UK at some point in their lives 

Substances that cause allergies are called allergens. and some common ones include:

• animal skin or hair
• dust mites
• grass and tree pollen (which causes hay fever)

What does the Test2Go Allergy Test show?

The Allergy Test from Test2Go is a simple finger prick blood test that shows if your allergy antibody levels (also known as Immunoglobin E) are normal or high.

It is a highly accurate test that has been used by medical professionals in hospital laboratories for over 10 years, and it has an agreement of at least 97% with laboratory reference methods. 

Will the Allergy Test tell me if I have asthma?

No. Only a medical professional can diagnose you with asthma.

What the allergy test will do is tell you whether you have a high level of allergy antibodies (IgE) in your blood. These are the antibodies that are responsible for triggering the release of histamine from mast cells in your tissues and causing allergy symptoms.  

If you have asthma symptoms and your allergy test gives you a positive result then you should contact your dr for further tests to confirm if you have asthma or not.