Natural Health Alternatives Blog

Understanding Asthma 

Asthma is a persistent inflammation of the airways in the lungs, which makes the airways vulnerable to periodic and frequent episodes of difficult breathing. These episodes are often brought on by triggers such as exercise, colds and allergies. Asthma in children and teenagers can severely impact their social life, school, sports and sleep schedule which can cause severe strain on tier emotional, social and educational development. Some social and emotional as well as environmental factors can also impact asthma adversely causing complications in disease management. However, this disease is quite manageable although not curable. Doctors can prescribe drugs for controlling and managing asthma symptoms and to minimise the possibility of asthma attacks by avoiding triggers.

Causes 

One of the most common cause for children having asthma is genetic. This genetic predisposition is the product of their genes that they inherit from their parents. If a parent has asthma, there is a higher chance that the child will too. Other causes for asthma are:

•    Family history of diseases involving the immune system such as eczema, hay fever and allergies

•    An inducer such as a viral infection, allergen or anything I the environment, which trigger asthmatic symptoms and irritate the child’s airway passage

•    Cold and flu

•    Pollen and dust

•    Excessive exercise

•    Cold air

•    Change in weather

•    Cigarette smoke

•    House dust mites

•    Some pets

•    Pollution

•    String emotional reactions such as laughing or crying

These asthma triggers can cause children and teenager to cough, wheeze and experience shortness of breath.

Symptoms

Some common symptoms and signs of asthma in children and teenagers are:

•    Coughing

•    A tight feeling in the chest

•    A high-pitched wheezing which sounds like a whistle when exhaling

•    Shortness of breath or trouble breathing

•    Worsening of symptoms especially after night

•    Seasonal changes may worsen infections

•    Frequent chronic symptoms with worse wheezing episodes

Asthma Management and Treatment

The doctor will often use a step-wise approach when treating your child with an overall objective of managing and controlling the symptoms of asthma to minimise the number of asthma attacks. The initial dosage may be slowly increase until asthma is stable and then your child may be prescribed with minimum drug treatment. For long-term your doctor may prescribe treatments which may include:

•    Inhaled corticosteroids, which are anti-inflammatory drugs and may include budesonide, fluticasone flunisolide, ciclesonide, beclomethasone and mometasone.

•    Long-acting beta agonists, which may be used in addition to the corticosteroids when they alone don’t stable asthma. These may include fluticasone-salmeterol, budesonide-formoterol and mometasone-formoterol.

•    Leukotriene modifiers which is often prescribed as mild asthma treatment which may include montelukast, zafirlukast and zileuton. In some cases side effects of this category of drugs may include hallucinations, irritability, aggression, anxiousness, depression and suicidal thinking.

•    Theophylline is used as a daily pill with an addition to corticosteroid treatment

•    Short-acting bronchodilators

•    Immunotherapy

•    Oral corticosteroids are prescribed when no other medication is working

Common side effects of asthma medication is sore throat, long-term hoarseness (Dysphonia), increased pressure I  the eye, easy bruising, clouding in the eye, sore throat or mouth, reflex coughing or spasms in the trachea, slight decrease in growth in children and fungal infection of the mouth called oral candidiasis.