Pulmonologist in Sharjah

What a pulmonologist treats

Pulmonology — also called chest or respiratory medicine — covers the lungs and airways, and the conditions that make breathing difficult.

Breathlessness and cough are among the most common symptoms anyone experiences, and among the hardest to attribute correctly. Breathlessness can be the lungs, the heart, anaemia, anxiety, obesity or fitness. A chronic cough can be asthma, reflux, post-nasal drip, or a side effect of a blood pressure tablet. Sorting between them efficiently is what the specialty is for.

When should you see a pulmonologist?

• A cough lasting more than three weeks
• Breathlessness on exertion, or worsening breathlessness
• Wheezing, chest tightness, or waking at night short of breath
• Asthma that needs a reliever inhaler more than twice a week
• Repeated chest infections
• Coughing up blood — always requires assessment
• Snoring with pauses in breathing, or unrefreshing sleep
• Known asthma or COPD needing review
• An abnormal chest X-ray or a lung nodule found on a scan
• Occupational dust, fume or chemical exposure
• A smoking history, current or past

Coughing up blood is never something to watch and wait on. It is frequently caused by an infection or a burst small vessel, but it also warrants exclusion of serious causes, and it should be assessed rather than monitored at home.

When is it an emergency?

Call emergency services or go to the emergency department for:

• Severe difficulty breathing, or breathlessness at rest
• Inability to speak a full sentence in one breath
• Blue lips or fingertips
• An asthma attack not responding to a reliever inhaler
• Chest pain with breathlessness
• Sudden breathlessness with sharp chest pain on breathing in
• Confusion or drowsiness alongside breathing difficulty

An asthma attack that is not responding to the reliever is an emergency, not a reason to take more and wait. Deaths from asthma are overwhelmingly preventable and delay is the common factor.

Asthma

Asthma causes narrowing and inflammation of the airways, producing wheeze, cough, chest tightness and breathlessness that vary over time.

The most common problem in asthma care is not the disease, it is how it is treated. Many patients rely on the blue reliever inhaler and skip the brown or coloured preventer. The reliever opens the airway for a few hours and treats the symptom. The preventer treats the underlying inflammation and is what actually keeps you well.

Needing your reliever more than twice a week means your asthma is not controlled, whatever it feels like. That is a review appointment, not a repeat prescription.

Two further things matter more than most patients are told. Inhaler technique — a substantial proportion of people use their inhaler in a way that delivers much of the dose to the back of the throat rather than the lungs, and it is rarely checked after the first demonstration. Ask to be watched using yours. And a written asthma action plan — what to take daily, what to do when symptoms worsen, and at what point to seek help — measurably reduces attacks.

Local triggers matter here: dust and sand, seasonal pollen, and the abrupt temperature change between outdoor heat and heavy air conditioning.

Chronic cough

A cough lasting more than eight weeks is chronic, and it is one of the most common reasons for referral.

Most chronic cough has one of three causes, and they are frequently missed because none of them sounds like a lung problem: asthma presenting as cough alone without wheeze, acid reflux irritating the throat often without any heartburn, and post-nasal drip from rhinitis or sinus disease.

A fourth cause is worth naming because it is so easily solved: ACE inhibitor blood pressure medication causes a persistent dry cough in a proportion of people who take it, sometimes beginning months after starting. Switching the drug resolves it. People live with this cough for years.

Assessment establishes which applies rather than treating all of them at once.

COPD

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease causes persistent airflow obstruction, usually from smoking, though long-term exposure to dust, fumes or biomass smoke also contributes.

It is commonly diagnosed late, because breathlessness is attributed to age or weight and a "smoker's cough" is accepted as normal. Spirometry confirms it and grades severity.

COPD cannot be reversed, but progression can be slowed and symptoms substantially improved. Stopping smoking is the only intervention shown to change the long-term course — at any age, at any stage. Beyond that: inhaled treatment, vaccination, pulmonary rehabilitation, and a clear plan for managing flare-ups.

Sleep apnea

Obstructive sleep apnea causes repeated pauses in breathing during sleep, as the upper airway collapses.

It is significantly under-diagnosed, and it matters well beyond tiredness: untreated, it raises blood pressure, increases cardiovascular and stroke risk, worsens diabetes control, and impairs concentration and driving safety.

Suspect it if you snore heavily, your partner notices you stop breathing, you wake unrefreshed despite adequate hours, you wake with a headache or dry mouth, or you fall asleep easily during the day.

Diagnosis is by sleep study. Treatment ranges from weight reduction and positional therapy to CPAP, or surgical assessment with ENT where anatomy is the driver.

Chest infections and pneumonia

Most chest infections are viral and resolve. Pneumonia is different — it needs assessment, often a chest X-ray, and antibiotics.

See a doctor rather than waiting if you have fever with breathlessness, chest pain on breathing in, coughing up discoloured or bloody sputum, or if you are older or have diabetes, kidney disease or a weakened immune system, where infections progress faster.

Recurrent chest infections are a finding in themselves, not just bad luck, and warrant investigation for an underlying cause such as bronchiectasis, asthma, immune deficiency or reflux.

Lung nodules and abnormal scans

A nodule found incidentally on a scan is a common and anxious referral. Most nodules are benign. Assessment uses size, appearance, your smoking history and — critically — comparison with any previous imaging. A nodule unchanged over two years is reassuring in a way that no single scan can be.

Bring previous chest X-rays or CT scans, however old. They frequently resolve the question without further testing.

Testing

Spirometry measures how much and how fast you can breathe out. It is the core test for asthma and COPD, takes minutes, and requires no needles.

Full pulmonary function testing adds lung volumes and gas transfer. Bronchoscopy allows direct examination of the airways and sampling where needed. Sleep studies for suspected apnea. Chest X-ray and CT via Radiology.

What happens at your appointment

A history focused on the pattern — when symptoms occur, what triggers them, whether they vary through the day or the year — then examination, and usually spirometry the same day.

Bring your inhalers, all of them, in the actual devices you use. Technique is checked by watching you use your own inhaler, not by asking whether you know how.

Cost and insurance

Most UAE plans cover pulmonology consultation, spirometry and chest X-ray. Sleep studies, CPAP equipment and bronchoscopy frequently require pre-approval. Confirm on 06 599 7777.