Posts Tagged ‘Childhood Asthma’

Allergic Asthma

Thursday, October 23rd, 2008

Allergic asthma is the most widespread type of asthma, affecting children as well as adults and many times appearing as a consequence of allergy. Childhood asthma is associated with allergies in most of the cases, while adult asthma is associated with allergic reactions in half of the total cases of asthma. Allergy is defined as an exaggerated sensitivity of the human body to certain substances which are in fact harmless, but which are mistakenly considered as intruders, thus triggering an annihilation reaction from the immune system. One category of allergic reactions is the airway obstruction and inflammation. These reactions are reversible if appropriate anti allergic medication is taken by the patient. If we think that there are more than 2.5 million children suffering from allergic asthma, we can understand the real proportions of this plague of the modern civilization.

Difference Between Allergy and non-Allergic Asthma

Allergic asthma symptoms are similar to the non-allergy asthma ones. Both types of sufferers experience wheezing, coughing, chest tightness, chest pain or pressure, shortness of breath, sleep troubles. The early warning symptoms can be signs of frequent colds such as sneezing, sore throat, nasal congestion, running nose, or a permanent feeling of tiredness and bad mood. While both types of asthma manifest the same symptoms, the difference is made by the trigger of these symptoms. In case of allergic asthma, attacks are triggered by allergens such as pollens, pet dander, mold or dust. This is why all asthma sufferers need to be aware of their type of asthma, so they can apply preventive measures such as eating healthy foods and staying away from allergens. It is very important that allergic asthma sufferers try not to get in contact with the substances they are allergic to (allergens). These substances are easy to be determined by running some special tests, which any allergology lab can do.

Allergic Asthma Preventive Measures

If you’ve already been diagnosed with allery or allergic asthma, then you should also have a list of allergens you are sensitive to. It is not a joke, you need to stay away as much as you can from getting in contact with those allergens, if you want your allergic asthma not to bother you very often. Living a symptom-free life is possible in a big degree, but you need to understand how serious this allergic asthma issue has to be treated. Maybe this means that you’ll need to stay indoors in the days with high pollen activity, or maybe you won’t be allowed to eat strawberries again for the rest of your life. Understand that your lifestyle could change forever after you’ve found out that you suffer from allergy or allergic asthma.

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Asthma and Allergies

Wednesday, October 1st, 2008

There is a tight connection between asthma and allergies. While asthma can have other causes than allergies, an allergy never comes alone. Most of the times, it develops into an allergic asthma which can give a lot of trouble to the person in cause. That’s because an allergic asthma sufferer has to fight two diseases in one: first of all, he needs to take anti-allergic medication, so he avoids occurrence of symptoms such as running nose, itchy eyes, sore throat, each time he gets in contact with the allergens. On the other hand, as allergic asthma progresses, there may be needed some asthma medication such as corticosteroids or bronchodilators, in order to ease breathing and allow the patient to have some rest. Night time is a hard time for asthma and allergies sufferers. That’s because we usually have difficulties in falling asleep when we cannot breathe properly. Not having enough sleep leads to exhaustion, depression and irritability, thus endangering the social life of the ill person.

Children – the Most Affected By Asthma and Allergies

Asthma and allergies are very frequent among children under 18 years of age. When they get asthma episodes, children miss their school, so their education has to suffer. They are very affected because of their colleagues, who cannot understand that illness is not a subject for hoaxes and amusement. There are cases when colleagues of allergic kids try to put peanut butter on their skin, only because they know that they shouldn’t. The allergic kid gets extremely scared, because this contact could actually kill him, therefore he attempts to run away from the danger. It is very hard to prevent such incidents to happen. Asthma, which prevents the child from breathing properly, makes him keep the mouth open all the time, so asthma children start to look like fish. In time, their face changes the shape, so they are recognizable from a distance.
Asthma in children needs special care, early diagnosis and an understanding environment. In these conditions, children can live a normal life, even with their asthma and allergies, because they are kept under control.

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Childhood Asthma

Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008

Asthma is a chronic disease which may occur at any given moment in life. Childhood asthma is affecting almost 7 million children under the age of 18, in the US only. Out of them, more than 1 million are children under 5 years old. This is scary, if we think that there is a possibility that childhood asthma remains undiagnosed for very long time, until attacks become frequent and parents start to suspect that their child has more than a simple, common cold, usual for childhood.

Social Implications of Childhood Asthma

There was this statistic showing that childhood asthma is the third cause of hospitalization in children up to 15 years old. This makes them miss lots of classes in school, because they either are in the hospital and cannot go to school, or they are at home, but feeling so bad that they cannot leave their bed. Asthma makes children look a bit like rabbits. Because they cannot breathe properly, they tend to keep their mouth open, so their face changes over time. Having that strange appearance, asthma children are target to many mean jokes at school or kindergarden. It is difficult to explain a small child that he is ill and this is how he is going to be for the rest of his life. Childhood asthma prevents kids to develop normally, to socialize with their peers and make friends. These symptoms may go up to depression, and they may require specialized medical assistance.

Signs and Symptoms of Childhood Asthma

Children catch colds a lot, so usually parents don’t worry too much. They just give their kids some over the counter medication and watch them to see if symptoms go worse. The obvious signs of childhood asthma are wheezing, permanent coughing and rapid breathing, but they cannot manifest until the illness gets quit advanced. Sometimes, even doctors are fooled by the symptoms, so they think it’s a cold, when they have to deal with childhood asthma. This is why the stethoscope has to be completed some times by pulmonary function testing. This simple tests reveals early asthma symptoms, so a proper diagnosis can be set even when the childhood asthma is in its incipient stage.

Triggers of Childhood Asthma Attacks

Asthma episodes can be triggered by various factors such as physical effort, emotions, allergy, infections, irritant smells or even weather. Most of these are factors that can be avoided, so the child can remain symptom-free for years, between two attacks. One special chapter is allergic asthma, which starts as a consequence of getting into contact with the allergen the kid is sensitive to. Sometimes, for instance, in case of allergies to pollen, it would be difficult to keep the child indoors for two three months, so he’ll be exposed to the allergens, thus being prone to suffer a new asthma attack. Such children should be given antihistaminic medication during the pollens peak seasons, and they should be kept inside the house in the days with maximum pollen activity. These can be determined by watching the special pollen bulletins and air quality warnings on TV or on internet.
With a bit of care, childhood asthma is perfectly controllable.

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