ASTHAMA IN CHILDREN

Asthma is caused by the airways leading to the lungs being inflamed which causes the airways to narrow and constrict, blocking the air from moving into the lungs. This is what makes it hard to breathe for someone with asthma. Some of the most common symptoms of asthma are tightness of the chest, wheezing, shortness of breath and coughing. Many of these symptoms are most common at night and for some people after exercise.

The inflammation in the lungs can most of the time be corrected with medicines and in some cases without any medications at all. This inflammation in people with asthma is caused because the airways in the lungs are oversensitive to certain things that cause the airways to narrow.

In particular, children with asthma have airways that are very sensitive to certain things that are called triggers. Some of these triggers include pollen from trees and grass, molds, dust mites, cigarette smoke, cold air, colds and viral infections, strong odors and exercise.

Many younger children will breathe completely normal for long periods of time and then without any warning, a asthma flare up will occur. In actuality, these flares will develop slowly over time and involve the airways being obstructed increasingly. If you have a child with asthma, you will need to know that your child's asthma is usually caused by or worsened by seasonal triggers. These seasonal triggers are only common at certain times during the year. In Fall, ragweed pollen and mold levels are generally high. During the Winter, cold and flu symptoms are triggers. In the Spring, pollens form trees and grass are common allergens and in the Summer, the weather is hot and dry which can be a trigger for some people.

Avoiding all of these triggers is not an easy thing to do though. You must just do your best to keep your child out of conditions or situations that are asthma triggers. Your child will be more sensitive to all of these triggers if the airways are already inflamed and it will take very small amounts of the trigger to cause a problem. You are taking a critical step in managing your child's asthma symptoms by identifying these different triggers and doing your best to eliminate them.