Healthy Manhattan: Kids & Asthma
Summer will be over before you know it, and, with the arrival of fall, doctors will be treating more cases of asthma in the emergency rooms. Asthma affects an estimated 300 million individuals worldwide and its prevalence in children is increasing.
Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the airways in which airflow is obstructed that can be completely or partially reversed, with or without therapy. Most children with asthma develop symptoms before the age of 5. Asthma will differ with each child and symptoms may get better or worse at certain times of the year. In some children, asthma symptoms will improve with age. Common symptoms of asthma include coughing, wheezing, trouble breathing, chest pain and recurrent bronchitis. There is no cure for asthma, but you can keep symptoms at a minimum by having an asthma action plan.
Dr. Peter O'Keefe, a board-certified pediatrician at Village Pediatrics on Long Island, explains why more children with asthma have flare-ups in the fall.
"When the kids are out in the field in the fall, playing sports late in the evening, they are inhaling that cooler air and get an exercise-induced bronchospasm," he says. "What we try to do now in August, when ragweed and all of the other allergens kick in—we start to incorporate some preventative things before school starts. We have an asthma plan."
O'Keefe uses an asthma action plan with red, yellow and green levels designed to help the patient.
"When a child first comes down with asthma, the parents are overwhelmed by all of the medicines," he says. "This plan allows the child to know what to do. When you start to have symptoms of coughing or wheezing, you may start with some Albuterol. When they are having some of the symptoms, they can look at the plan and say, 'This is how I feel,' and follow the instructions on what to do. If you are in the red area, you are obviously doing much worse and you are calling 911 or the doctor, but you have a plan for what to do until help arrives."
One way to test for asthma is by using a peak flow meter, an instrument into which the child breathes to measure how much air he or she is able to expel in a short period of time, usually a few seconds.
Certain triggers, such as weather changes, seasonal allergies, cigarette smoke, perfumes, pets, chemicals, paints, dust mites, molds or cold air, can start an asthma attack in a child. Infants with asthma may feed slowly or experience shortness of breath during feeding. Toddlers may become fatigued easily and cough more when exercising. For children under 5, asthma attacks can be triggered or worsened when they have colds or respiratory infections. For some children, severe asthma attacks can be lifethreatening and require emergency room treatment.
What Are Healthy Peak Flow Readings - News
One way to test for asthma is by using a peak flow meter, an instrument into which the child breathes to measure how much air he or she is able to expel in a short period of time, usually a few seconds. Certain triggers, such as weather changes,
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For example, he or she might be displaying symptoms at night, having difficulty doing some activities and have a peak flow rate that's inching down below the 80 percent mark, Eid said. “Use your rescue inhaler until this is improved,” he said.
In addition to classroom instruction, sports outings, meals and related supplies, each child receives a workbook about dealing with asthma, a commemorative T-shirt, a peak flow meter that monitors breath exhalations, a tube to aid in using an inhaler
10 tips for successfully managing asthma | what allergy?
Unmanaged and out of control asthma and hay fever can be an accident waiting to happen. It can creep up quite slowly, and the signs are easy to ignore. You might think you’ll get better next week, that it’s all under control, just the weather change and you’ll get it sorted next week, but you never know when your triggers will occur so it’s dangerous to ignore early warning signals.
Did you know that 3 people a day die from asthma? It’s a shocking statistic when you consider that some asthma attacks could be avoided or better controlled, perhaps saving lives.
So what is asthma? Asthma effects the airways in the lungs. If you imagine a stick of broccoli, it starts at its base with a thick stalk, and as you follow the stem up there are branches off and these get ever smaller, with further branches, till you reach the tips. This is a bit like the bronchioles in your lungs. When you breath, air is taken all the way through these myriad of passages right to the very ends which give a huge surface are for oxygen to be absorbed into the body. In the lungs of an asthmatic person these airways restrict, making it harder to breath. Excess mucous can also be produced, further clogging up these already tiny tubes and making breathing difficult, painful and frightening. The mucous is what creates the wheezing rasping associated with asthma.
Know your peak flow: Get yourself a peak flow meter of your own so you can take your own readings. Record them regularly when your asthma is under control, and during flare ups so you understand what your healthy reading is. Everyone’s is different. Mine is about 460+ on a good day, but I can also reach a peak flow of about 420 even though I feel totally out of control, dizzy, in pain and can hardly speak. Doctors have told me that I’m not really having an asthma attack on seeing such a healthy reading – so what’s occuring? Am I having a fake attack? Is it possible to maintain a healthy peak flow reading but also be having a serious asthma attack? Make sure you take your preventative inhaler Your doctor will prescribe you with a brown preventitive inhaler. It’s really important to take this regularly at the dose advised. Don’t panic if you forget but try to take it every day. I use a spacer inhaler as the drug itself can cause thrush in your throat which is not nice.What Are Healthy Peak Flow Readings - Bookshelf
All about asthma, stop suffering and start living
For a man age 40, 5 feet 10 inches tall, a peak flow reading in a healthy period might be 596 liters per minute. For this man, a peak flow reading of less ...Clinical Skills in Child Health Practice
By recording the peak flow readings together with the frequency of ... per second predicted based on nomograms (normal values for healthy children of lung ...A simple guide to asthma
WHAT IS A NORMAL PEAK FLOW? Peak flow readings vary according to your age, ... Even in healthy people, peak flow readings vary slightly from time to time. ...Living a healthy life with chronic conditions, self-management of heart disease, arthritis, stroke, diabetes, asthma, bronchitis, emphysema & others
Measure peak flow several times a day, including in the morning upon rising before using any medication. Know your normal peak flow measurements when you ...Asthma Care and Breathing Exercises Guide for Smartphones and Mobile Devices
Peak flow readings are higher when patients are well, and lower when the ... that there is a wide natural variation in results from healthy test subjects. ...Helpful News Directory
Peak expiratory flow - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Peak flow readings are higher when patients are well, and lower when the airways are ... Peak flow readings are often classified into 3 zones of measurement ...
Using a Peak Flow Meter to Manage Asthma
The experts at WebMD explain how to manage your asthma using a peak flow meter.
Peak flow meter | iHealth Directory
A peak flow meter is a tube like device with a mouthpiece that measures how much air capacity your lungs can take in and out.
Peak flow meter
Peak flow meter
What's a Peak Flow Meter?
Kids who have asthma use peak flow meters to measure how well they are breathing. ... Depending on what your peak flow reading is, you'll know if you're breathing fine, if ...