Living With Asthma In Children Teenagers And Elderly Relatives

Living With Asthma In Children, Teenagers And Elderly Relatives

Children’s Statistics

Did you know that 5.9 per cent of children aged 0-4 years have asthma to some degree. Though it is noticeably worse in built up towns due to pollution in the cities and large towns.

Symptoms in a young child

Symptoms of a cold causing wheezing where there is no other explanation. A dry nighttime cough, shortness of breath after exertion such as crawling, walking or playing.

Minimizing the triggers

By removing the triggers as much as possible, it will help make attacks less likely things that can help trigger an attack are dust mites, pollen, fur, and smoke. If you child suffers more than two attacks a week he will probably be prescribed inhalers, they can also be given a breathing mask which may make the drugs easier to administer, although it might be a little scary at first it will help him or her breath easier.

Children

Pre- school children obviously need help with managing their medication, and an adult must give it to them till they learn how themselves. Even so mum or dad should routinely check to make sure they are keeping the medication in check. Never treat a child with asthma different to their siblings for fear you will cause an attack as this could cause problems in the family with sibling resentment. Don’t be afraid to discipline them all the same. As long as long as your Childs school is aware of the problem and the medication that is needed your child should on the whole enjoy a normal full time education. Without to many problems.

At home they should have as normal a life as possible like playing, exercise, and normal activities. Be able to get good nights sleep without fear of an attack. With normal lung function and no need to be rushed to casualty. Have little if any side effects from the medication, and most of all they should feel happy and content that their asthma is being controlled leaving them to concentrate on living a full, healthy normal life. Free from asthma controlling their life. Every day is a new day and your child should thrive and grow and have fun and asthma should not get in the way. If you follow the asthma plan your doctor or asthma nurse gives you, there should be few problems because of asthma.

Remember

Remember if your child is at pre-school, playgroup, with a child minder baby sitter or anyone else make sure they are aware of the fact that your child has asthma and that they no how to administer your Childs medication and what they should do in the case of a sudden severe asthma attack. Keep in mind that a normal cold can sometimes trigger a more severe asthma attack. So if your child has a cold remember it can set his or her asthma off.

Medication

Medication is usually two inhalers one for every day use the other for emergency relief. Your doctor make get you to do a peak flow reading for a while to try and determine what causes the attacks and when attacks are likely. The peak flow meter is like a plastic tube that you blow into and they give a reading of breath output so that the doctor can see from the chart at what points the breathing becomes more laboured and therefore try to work out what the child was doing and where he or she was.

Living with Teenagers with Asthma

Teenagers with asthma are treated much the same as anyone else suffering from asthma, but because they are teenagers they are much more less likely to remember their medication. They should be reminded to take their medication even if they feel perfectly well all the time. The medication is there to make sure they do not suffer asthma attacks.

It should not interfere with their daily lives, such as sport, dancing and exercise. Smoking of course is bad for everyone’s health and can make asthma even worse. Always make sure that your teenagers teachers and school mates know they suffer with asthma so that they will no what to do in case of an attack and make sure they keep their inhalers with them wherever they go.

Teenagers

Teenagers may have the view that asthma interferes with their life, making them different from their friends. They have to accept that their asthma is only a little portion of their life not the whole of it. They can fit their medication into a daily plan that still lets them carry on their life. Sport and exercise is excellent for them as it helps build stronger lungs and overall health. Discourage the use of drugs and smoking that can aggravate and in some cases bring on a severe attack. It would be nice if your teen could meet other young people suffering with asthma, so they can swap stories, develop friendships and support each other.

A lot of teenagers do not understand exactly what asthma is so explain to them in detail. Many do not understand that asthma is not just a sudden wheeze or coughing bout, but is active 24/7. Asthma is caused by the tubes that help you breath becoming swollen and inflamed, therefore causing them to tighten up and leave less room for air to get to the lungs. Which in turn causes breathlessness, wheezing, and coughing.

Asthma can also appear as various other illnesses, namely pneumonia, bronchitis, allergies, and of course the common cold. Any of these can bring on an attack and if your teen is still coughing a lot after the illness has gone then it will probably be asthma.

Sports

Many professional athletes have asthma, for an excellent sport for people suffering with asthma try swimming the moist warm air makes it easier to for your teenager to breath. Many teenagers take less than half of their prescribed medication for fear of looking the odd one out of their friends and indeed deliberately leave their medication at home. If left to his or her own devices the asthma can get worse and in turn lead to permanent lung damage or even worse a life threatening attack.

Asthma Treatment

The main treatment is two inhalers one that reduces inflammation that is called a controller; the other gives emergency relief by opening the airways in a sudden attack and is called the reliever. Drugs used in the treatment can be pills, inhalers, or even injected and consist of Corticosteroids all of which help your teenager to avoid asthma attacks and keep it in control, therefore leaving them free to live a full, active and productive life.

Living With Asthma In An Elderly Relative

Though living with an elderly relative with Asthma is not much different to living with any other age group with asthma, you naturally have to take a little bit more special care. They are one of the at risk groups, and they don’t always associate the symptoms of asthma as an attack but prefer to simply put it down to old age.

Age does not mean that they require any less of the lifestyle that we would expect for ourselves or our children, in fact they need it to be controlled so that their life is improved slightly more as with age we all get slower to fight of infection.

Also asthma in the elderly can have other associated problems like depression, restricted movement because of lack of breath and sleepiness during the day. Smoke and smoking can bring on an asthma attack and even the elderly can still benefit from giving up smoking. Relatives should try not to smoke any where near an elderly relative.

Medical Help

Many elderly do not like to bother their G.P with what they think is minor problems, telling themselves it’s just a cold or touch of flu etc, They do not tell them that their asthma is getting worse or that the wheezing will not stop. Because of this they suffer severe attacks purely because they did not get the medical help that they did not think they needed.

Medication

Medication and preventive medicine like the flu jab can help the elderly live a relatively normal life. And may even help them to stay attack free.

Contributing Factors

Remove as many contributing factors as possible, such as dust and dust mites, smoke, and pet hair. This will all help the asthma sufferer breath more easily and give them good quality air therefore preventing frequent attacks and trips to either the doctors or hospital. Although treatment for the elderly is the same for everyone it may well need to be increased because of the fact that the elderly are more susceptive to colds and flu.

In the years 1972-1986 Sweden did a poll to see what the trends were with asthma and the elderly and they found that 710,187 hospitalisation days and 62,342 periods of hospital treatment were mainly due to the elderly and asthma.

Typical Symptoms

Typical symptoms of asthma may mimic Chronic Bronchitis, and Emphysema, colds and allergy. So if you were in any doubt that your elderly relative has had a cold for too long, or they appear extra breathless or wheezy then it would probably be best to get them checked out by their G.P even though they may tell you they are fine.

Taking care of the young with asthma will eventually change the trends of the elderly with asthma. Also if you elderly relative has a pet or pets remember that fur loss can bring on a severe attack of asthma so to help if the pets hair is long always give them a good brush to try to alleviate to much hair loss in the home

Contribute byJack Conner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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