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When parents find out their child has asthma, they panic. It seems to them that his life will be limited to fighting for every breath. Meanwhile, if detected early and well treated, it allows you to live normally. Breathing problems, frequent bronchitis and runny nose are the first warning signs.
In Poland,asthmasuffers from over three million people - about a million of which are children. Boys up to the age of 10 are sick twice as often as girls. The symptoms of asthma are not always so characteristic that it can be detected early. Even pediatricians have a problem with this. However, if your child:
- is only a few months old and has a hard time breathing (he has a wheezing),runny nose , his eyes are watering - tell the pediatrician at the next visit;
- is not yet a year old, and his doctor has already diagnosed him with atopic dermatitis (AD), which should prompt you to talk to an allergist about asthma. It happens that the so-called allergic march - allergy to one allergen turns into allergic to another. This walk may end in asthma;
- suffers frombronchitisthree or four times a year - do not agree to stuffing him with another antibiotics, but ask your pediatrician to refer you for allergy tests (most cases of bronchial asthma has an allergic background);
- gets tired easily after a little effort and finds it difficult to breathe - do him spirometry tests, including PEF. They rely on the maximum exhalation of air through the mouthpiece to special measuring devices. Such studies allow to assess the so-called peak expiratory flow - to put it simply, is there enough air reaching the child's lungs.
Can asthma be inherited?
You can inherit a penchant for it. This disease is more common among children from families where it has already appeared. When a baby's mother is allergic or has asthma, the risk of her baby getting sick is 30 percent; if both parents have asthma or are allergic - the risk rises to 70 percent.
In rare cases, asthma grows out of adolescence. This usually affects children who have rare attacks and have mild disease.
ImportantAsthma (aka bronchial asthma) means "difficulty breathing." Formerly, it was thought to be solely the result ofnarrowing (obstruction) of the airways, reducing the flow of air. Today it is known that it is not the contraction itself, but the inflammatory airway disease that plays a major role in the appearance of asthma symptoms. In simplified terms, it can be said that asthma is a specific bronchitis accompanied by a significant spasm. This contraction, or an asthma attack, usually puts the baby in contact with an allergen (allergic asthma). In turn, the attack of the so-called Non-specific asthma can be triggered by almost anything: intense smell, tobacco smoke, taking aspirin, infections, and exercise.
What tests do you need to do to make sure your child has asthma?
If your doctor suspects your child has asthma, he or she may order:
- gasometry - determination of oxygen and carbon dioxide concentration in the blood. This makes it easier to decide on the treatment method;
- spirometry - involves blowing air through the mouthpiece into a special device. Allows you to assess the advancement of asthma;
- blood test for eosinophils, the so-called eosinophils (when there are more than 250-400 / mm3of blood, this is one of the evidence for asthma);
- sputum test - with asthma, there are a lot of eosinophils in it and the so-called Charcot-Leyden crystals;
- Chest X-ray - may show different changes depending on how severe the disease is;
- allergen identification, i.e. testing. They can be dermal (the allergen is applied to the child's skin - usually on the forearm - the confirmation of allergy is redness and swelling at the site where the allergen is applied), RAST tests (the child's blood is taken and the serum is taken for the so-called specific IgE antibodies against a specific allergen), inhalation tests provocative with an allergen (the child inhales further substances that may sensitize them, and the person conducting the test assesses what the bronchi react to the most).
What does an asthma attack look like?
Even with the same child, it may look a bit different each time. Usually, however, during an attack: he has no fever (unless the temperature is associated with some existing infection) he is stuffy; he has the impression that some hoop is tightening around his chest; he has a much elongated exhalation; has a dry, "barking" cough when he exhales, hears whistles in his chest; the child fights for air - so he is terrified; he speaks in broken sentences; at the end of the attack, he coughs up a mucinous, not purulent discharge (except for the youngest children who do not cough up at all) An asthma attack can last for several hours and your baby's symptoms disappear quickly when they are given the correct medications.If it is not treated properly and the parents do not make sure that the doctor's instructions are followed, he may have several or a dozen asthma attacks throughout the year.
This is important!
Effortless breathlessness, difficulty speaking, blue fingers and skin around the mouth, abnormal heart rate, rapid chest movements - this is a severe asthma attack. This may result in life-threatening respiratory failure. Give your child medication quickly and call a doctor. How to help a child who is having a seizure? Try to calm them down. Be with him, caress him. Ask them to sit down and lean forward slightly. Let him try to breathe slowly and deeply. Give him the inhaler containing the medicine and see if he is taking it well: before putting the mouthpiece of the inhaler into his mouth, he has to breathe out one or two deeply. Then, she should press the button on the inhaler while taking a deep breath. In this way, the medicine will be inhaled along with the air. Then he has to hold his breath for 30 seconds and then let it out. Wait a moment and ask him to cough up the bronchial discharge. Ask your child to rinse their mouth out with water after taking the steroid-containing medicine. This protects against oral mycosis.
Asthma - treatment
The appropriate therapy is selected by an allergist or pulmonologist (specialist in lung diseases). If it is possible, you can try the so-called desensitisation vaccines, once you know what your child is allergic to. The specialist may also order medications that:
- relax the bronchi and stop the attack of dyspnea, beta2-agonists;
- reduce inflammation in the bronchial epithelium, glucocorticosteroids;
- stabilize cells secreting bronchoconstrictors, cromogens;
They can be used for many years. Until recently, fixed doses of medications were recommended for the treatment of asthma. Recent studies have shown that it is better to adjust the dose according to the severity of the disease. To make life easier for people with asthma, inhaled medications have been invented that combine anti-inflammatory substances with relieving breathlessness: seretide and symbicort. When asthma is mild, one inhalation daily is enough.
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