Asthma in Children

To manage your child's asthma, get together with your child's pediatrician and work on a preventative plan as well as what to do in an emergency. Preventative measures can reduce asthma attacks and anxiety in both a child and parents.

Asthma is a persistent lung condition characterized by the inflammation of the airways leading to the lungs, progressing to sensitivity and/or allergy of the lining of the airways, and an obstruction of airflow by the blockage of the airways. Asthma is one of the most common conditions for a child today, but is manageable.

Asthma is caused by inflammation of the lining in your throat and airways. Asthma can be caused by many different allergens, such as dust, pet dander, odors, exercise, weather - even stress can be a determining factor. Each case is unique, and discovering the causes of a particular patient's asthma is the key to preventing future outbreaks.

More about Asthma Symptoms

Asthma symptoms usually starts out uneventfully and therein lies the danger. As with any condition, if you have asthma in its earlier stages it will be easier to control and suppress, but the initial symptoms can be hard to diagnose. Initial symptoms of asthma include: A change in breathing, sneezing, moodiness, headache, runny/stuffy nose, coughing, itching of the chin or throat, drowsiness, & insomnia. If not caught early-on asthma will progress with a vengeance and become harder to contain.

In contrast to the early warning signs of asthma, these symptoms are harder to ignore. They include: wheezing, shortness of breath & tightness of the chest. If even these symptoms not caught, a severe attack may occur. Such an attack is very dangerous to the patient and requires hospital attention. By this point it is highly unlikely that the attack will be able to be curbed easily. A severe attack usually constitutes respiratory distress. Symptoms are severe coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath and/or tightness in the chest, difficulty focusing, talking and/or walking, shallow, extremely fast or slow breathing, hunched shoulders, flaring of the nostrils, retraction of the skin on the neck between or below the ribs due to hard, increased breathing, and a gray or bluish tint to skin, beginning around the mouth.

More treatments for asthma

For an article on how asthma and antibiotics may be related

For more information on antibiotics overuse in children

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