Respiratory illnesses like asthma are the number one reason why
patients come to Children’s of Alabama. Asthma is an inflammatory lung disease that is
very common in children and adults.
Having asthma causes:
airway muscles to tighten
inflammation to increase
swelling in the airways
mucus to build up
Airways become swollen, tight and narrow making it hard to
breathe.
Common symptoms include:
coughing which is often worse at night
chest tightness
wheezing
coughing or difficulty breathing with exercise
There are two main types of asthma: persistent and intermittent.
In persistent asthma, children have more frequent symptoms and
flare-ups. This is caused by increased
airway inflammation, swelling and narrowing that is present every day.
Children with intermittent asthma have few symptoms because they
only have rare times of airway swelling and narrowing.
Janet Johnston, CRNP, is a nurse practitioner and asthma educator
at Children’s of Alabama. She said
even though there’s no cure for asthma, in most cases
families can learn how to make sure their child’s asthma is well
controlled.
One of the most important ways to do that is to know the triggers
of asthma.
Common triggers are:
respiratory infection
allergies
irritants such as smoke
exercise
Oftentimes, just avoiding the triggers can help reduce the
occurrence of symptoms.
The exception is exercise. “One trigger you don’t
want to avoid is exercise,” she said. “If the child’s
asthma is well controlled, they shouldn’t have to avoid exercise.”
Johnston said another concern is making sure the child gets the
full dose of medicine through an inhaler alone.
She recommends always using a spacer with the inhaler.
“Using a spacer ensures the proper dose of medicine is going
deeply in the child’s lungs,” she
said.
“It’s
important to get the full dose of medicine. Otherwise, it’s like pouring half of it on the
floor.”
Johnston encourages families to have an action plan to help keep
their child’s asthma well controlled. The plan should include:
seeing the child’s health care provider regularly for
asthma
having clear instructions about using the inhaler and any other
medicine
know what to do when symptoms increase
know when to call the doctor
know when to seek care
Well-controlled asthma means a child is:
symptom-free most of the time and not needing frequent quick
relief medicine
able to play and exercise like other children
sleeping through the night
not missing school or work due to frequent asthma fare ups