1. Scary Sounds, and It's Not Halloween
Her pale face appears ghostly as she labors to breathe. Ragged sounds from not being able to pull enough oxygen into tiny lungs sound amplified in the ears of a concerned parent. It's a scary thing when your child experiences an asthma attack. More than a million children from infancy to adolescence experience asthma symptoms, with asthma leading to more hospitalizations for children than any other chronic disease. Needless to say, asthmatic children miss many school days because of their condition. While asthma can run in families, sometimes it just happens. Most children with asthma receive their diagnosis before age 5. If your child experiences frequent bronchitis, ask your doctor if she could have asthma.
2. Wheezing Away
Asthma causes narrowing of the airways leading to the lungs, which makes it difficult to move air to the lungs. A common result is a high-pitched whistling sound known as wheezing as the child tries to breathe. Most wheezing comes only at the end of a breath, but in severe cases, it can occur throughout the entire breath. Coughing, pain or tightening in the chest and difficulty catching ones breath are other common asthma symptoms in children. Children may breathe normally for weeks, even months, before experiencing an attack.
3. Breathe Easy
Asthma has no cure, although some children seem to grow out of it as they grow older. What most families must do is manage asthma symptoms in children with the right kind of treatment. For asthma in children with infrequent flare-ups, it's often enough to provide short-term relief. Doctors may prescribe medicated inhalers or long-acting bronchodilators for children with more serious asthma. Sometimes, medications work best through a nebulizer. This machine turns the medicine to a mist that a child breathes into his lungs. Allergy shots can also prevent allergy attacks in children prone to seasonal allergies.
4. Go to the Nearest ER
Children with asthma don't always experience wheezing. In fact, in a serious attack, there's not enough air to cause wheezing. When this happens or children remain out of breath at rest, visit your nearest emergency room. Other serious symptoms to watch for include sleepiness or confusion with an episode of asthma. Children without an asthma diagnosis should be seen for treatment or to rule out diseases like cystic fibrosis that share similar symptoms.
5. Avoid Triggering an Attack
Exercise can bring on an asthma flare up, but children with asthma may be sensitive to other triggers, as well. Allergies and colds increase the amount of mucus in the airways, plugging up already narrow airways, leading to an asthma attack. A major trigger for children is exposure to smoke, either cigarette smoke or smoke from a fire. Keep your home smoke-free if your child has asthma. For some children, asthma only flares up at night. Ask your doctor the best way to treat nocturnal asthma.
