Adams Media - Asthma: A troubleshooting guide to common childhood ailments

Today, many children with asthma can deeply inhale and release their breaths slowly to create soap bubbles or scatter milky white dandelions seeds or cool their hot soups. They dont cough, nor do they wheeze. With new medications and new knowledge that sheds light on how to control asthma, they almost take for granted what even a generation or two before them couldnt fully imagine: Safely controlling their asthma by reducing constriction and inflammation of their airways to do almost anything they want.

But theres a flip side to this picture. Many other children with asthma perhaps even friends of those children who are controlling their asthma symptoms well find themselves excusing themselves from gym class for fear of triggering their asthma symptoms. Or, maybe they have become regulars at the local hospitals emergency room for when they have one of their frequent asthma flare-ups.

Today in the United States, an estimated 6.5 million children under age eighteen (almost 9 percent of the population) are now diagnosed with asthma. This rate has more than doubled since 1980, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Its now the most common chronic childhood disease in the country.

But, despite the medical inroads that have been made in asthma treatment and control, many children in this growing population are still finding it hard to breathe. Theyre continuing to cough and wheeze during the day, and sleep uncomfortably through the night. Many dont have an asthma action plan or theyre not sure how to use a peak flow meter or inhaler correctly. These children are letting asthma symptoms manage them instead of them managing it.

Parents know that its a tough job getting on top of asthma trying to monitor symptoms or figure out if those prescribed medications are doing their jobs. Oftentimes, it means working with a reluctant child who hates being different from friends or siblings.

Theres no easy answer especially working with a health care system that can be fragmented and short of time when it comes to communicating effectively. But you dont have to let that control you you can control it by asking physicians and health care providers to partner with you and answer your questions about how to best manage your childrens asthma.

As you are seeing, medical science has moved along quickly to find better ways to treat and manage asthma symptoms. But sometimes science gets ahead of what you can practically do every day to help your children understand what asthma is and how they can live with it and control it.

The aim of Asthma is to let you know that children with asthma can learn to confidently manage their condition with you and enjoy everything life has in store for them.

If youd like to learn more about children and asthma, check out The Everything Parents Guide to Children with Asthma , available in print (978-1-59869-430-7) and eBook (978-1-60550-207-6) formats.

To understand asthma, it helps to understand the word asthma itself, which comes from the Greek word meaning to pant. While the disease has ancient roots, its still very active today. New treatments and new approaches toward asthma have changed the way people view asthma. But when your child is diagnosed with asthma, you worry. But now that you have more information at your fingertips, are you doing all that you can to help the child understand what asthma is and how he can better manage it?