Asthma in children - Treatment
Childhood asthma is not only increasing day by day in USA, but it has become a global concern. In the polluted environment of present day, allergic symptoms, including asthma is affecting youngsters as well as adults.Early diagnosis for asthma in children
If you find your child is coughing or wheezing for long, showing difficulty in breathing or speaking, getting tired soon, go to doctor as soon as possible. Doctors can prescribe some tests and monitoring or diagnosing asthma in children above 5 years as done with the adults. Measuring how much air is exhaled and in what time, indicates how well the two lungs are performing. The inflammation in the airways can be tested by measuring nitric oxide gas in the air exhaled. Higher level of nitric oxide gas, usually, indicates inflammatory condition, improper functioning of lungs, and serious asthmatic condition.
Diagnose before treatment of asthma in children
- Doctor may advise you to use Peak Flow Meter to measure the amount of quickly exhaled air. A low reading indicates that your child’s lungs are nor functioning normally and needs asthma treatment.
- Another way of checking respiratory track condition or inflammation is measuring nitric oxide in the exhaled air. Higher nitric oxide indicates inflammatory condition of airways and possible case of asthma in your child.
Aims of asthma treatment in children
Asthma is not completely curable, but its acuteness and frequency of attack can be reduced by treatment to a great extent. The treatment aims at:
- Preventing chronic and painful symptoms.
- Let the lungs function as normal as possible.
- Allowing the affected child to undergo normal physical activities.
- Preventing recurrent spasms and hospitalizations.
- Providing medication for best possible result with least side effects
Available medications
Medicines of two broad categories are prescribed:
- Category one drugs is for therapeutic treatment and consumed daily to control asthmatic symptoms in long run. It is also supposed to prevent from acute attack. These are called maintenance medications, which include corticosteroid inhalers like budesonide, beclomethasone, fluticasone, and leukotriene, some oral antihistamine or antagonists like montelukast sodium and zileuton. Bronchodilators combined with some corticosteroid, theophylline etc are also prescribed. However, prolonged use of steroids, especially oral steroid drugs are not advisable for children.
- The medicines of second category give instant relief from the symptoms in emergency. SOS Bronchodilators like albuterol with steroid combined, levalbuterol etc are quite commonly used medicine. Synthetic corticosteroid such as prednisone and prednisolone are also used to combat asthma attack. Inhaler with ipratropium is used along with oral or intravenous medications for better result in case of severe chest congestion, spasm, or breathing trouble.
In asthma in children - treatment, initially high dose are used during major asthma attack, then dose is gradually decreased as the symptomatic condition improves. Regular medication is recommended for avoiding frequent attack and sustaining normal life. Every child needs a customized asthma management plan and regular check-up as advised by your pediatrician is must.
