Beating Child Asthma
An asthma attack can be an incredibly fearful time for a parent, especially when a child is panicking. A child in an asthma attack who panics often sufferers a more debilitating attack, which in turn tends to panic the parents usually because they have not educated themselves enough about the disease and feel an overwhelming helplessness. During such a situation, a sound knowledge of asthma and its symptoms, can be reassuring to most parents.
Asthma can be traumatic because the first attack that the child has is usually the first indication there is a problem. Once asthma has been diagnosed, there are plenty of medications and treatments that can be helpful once an attack begins.
Additionally there is a lot of advice available to parents that can help avoiding asthma attacks in their children.
One thing you should do once your child has been diagnosed with asthma, is to start keeping a diary to identify what actually brings on the attack. Try to observe what the child is doing or where it is when the attack commences. If you can identify the triggers, then you may be able to keep your child from being exposed to the situations where attack is likely. Of course if you do manage to identify the triggers you should speak to your doctor about them.
With an asthma sufferer it is important that a clean environment is provided to keep the symptoms of the disease to a minimum. Cuddly toys, dried flowers, heavy curtains, and carpets should be removed from the home. Where this is impracticable, these items must be kept as dust free as possible which means frequent vacuuming. Mattresses should be covered with an allergy proof plastic cover and vacuumed regularly, preferably once a week.
In cases of severe asthma difficulties, re-housing pets outside may not be an option. You may have to consider a pet that does not have fur. This is perhaps one of the most difficult situations to face when a child develops asthma.
One option is fish or aquatic animals, but if this option is just not practical there are certain breeds of dogs that are less likely to trigger asthma and allergy attacks. A poodle is such an example.
A low humidity environment is also something which may be helpful as mould is another major trigger of asthma. Most definitely, permit no one to smoke in your home.
Cleaning products can cause asthma symptoms to worsen, so consider cleaning when your child is at school or at a friend’s house. This includes vacuuming. Vacuuming your home can stir up dust and other allergens that cause asthma attacks. Avoid using cleaning products with strong odors.
To recap, there are two equally important things which you can do to reduce the dramatic effect of an asthma attack. The first is to keep your child’s environment as clean as possible by removing everything from your home that collects dust. The second is to keep the child’s medication immediately at hand throughout the house, so that in the event of an attack the experience can be minimised. But by no means have the medication just in the home. Inhalers for example could be left at relatives and friends homes, as well as in the car, boat caravan etc.
Products which help reduce allergens in the air such as ionisers, dehumidifiers, and air filters should be considered for home installation at the earliest opportunity.
Tags: asthma, allergens, triggers
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