How To Control Asthma
November 2nd, 2008If you are a father of a child with asthma, you are surrounded by good help. There are at least 1.1 million young people suffering from asthma within the United Kingdom. Even though asthma can be a stressful disease, there are many ways to control your child’s asthma so they can go on to live normal and enjoyable lives.
It can be quite hard to discover asthma in the very young young people because of the number of illnesses that they may have that have similar symptoms to asthma. Wheezing is the main symptom of asthma and at least 1 in 7 young people will have some form of wheezing problem in the first 7 years of their lives. Most of the young people who do experience wheezing at a young age will not go on to later develop asthma.
Another reason it is very hard to discover asthma is because it is not particularly easy to test how well a baby or a child’s lungs are performing. The test used (peak flow meter) is unreliable and not 100 per cent accurate in young young people.
You may have to keep a close eye on your young people for other developing symptoms and your doctor will more than likely have you keep a record of all problems and illnesses.
It is possible that even though your child does have asthma that they will grow out of it later on in life. If they don’t grow out of it, the severity of the asthma may weaken as they get older.
There are some medicines available for asthma in young people as well as medicines that will help get an attack under control. The two types of asthma medication available are preventers and relievers. The two work in very different ways and are used depending on the severity of your child’s asthma.
The majority of the medicines available for asthma are taken by using an inhaler and breathing in the medicine into the airways. This way, the medicine goes directly into the lungs helping the child breath more easily. The relievers are used to help the symptoms as and when they actually happen. The preventers are used to actively protect the child’s airways and help reduce the likelihood of an asthma attack and the symptoms. There are other medications available, although the inhalers are the most common prescribed in the United Kingdom.
Some young people may have to go through a small, short dose of steroid treatment for their asthma. This course is usually only 3 days long, but may go on to 5 days. Steroids will bring a severe attack down quickly and help the child recover from an attack. There will not be any other side effects from the steroids as the dosage is low and the course is short.
Asthma in young people doesn’t have to mean the end of playing outside having fun with friends and living a normal life. With the advancement in medicine, asthma is easily controlled. However, be sure to keep a close eye on your young people and if their symptoms get wore or more sever, go back to your doctor.