Allergies or Infection?

hi, i was at the doctors about a month ago and i had brohncitis and they gave me prednisone, my question is when i wake up in the morning my head and chest is all congested, and it doesnt get better till i take my prescription claritin, i was asking you if you think it is my bad allergies or a infection, it seems to get a lot better with the claritin and i dont have any fever, i sometimes cant breath that well, but that is becasue i have asthma and i take albuterol and that seems to help. what do you think? i go back to the doctors next week for checkup.and sometimes my chest burns when i inhale deeply. and i wheeze, but it all seems to get better with claritin what do you think?

[National Jewish]

Bronchitis is swelling and inflammation in the airways of the lungs.  Symptoms can include cough with mucus, chest discomfort, fever, and/or extreme tiredness.  It is often caused by an infection, which can be due to bacteria or a virus.

With asthma the basic problem is chronic inflammation along with tightness of the muscles that surround the airways of the lungs.  Albuterol relaxes the smooth muscle tightness around the airways quickly, but does not do anything for the inflammation.  When used routinely both prednisone and an inhaled steroid decrease and prevent inflammation.  However there is less risk of side effects with an inhaled steroid.  Check with your doctor about this at your appointment next week.  If this inflammation is not controlled, it increases the sensitivity of the airways to a variety of things that make asthma worse.  These asthma triggers vary from person to person.  Allergies and infections, like bronchitis, are common triggers.

The symptoms of asthma are chest tightness or burning, coughing, shortness of breath, and wheezing.  Wheezing is the most common symptom.  However some people only cough.  Each person with asthma could have only one of these symptoms or a combination of any of these symptoms, including all four of them.