Asthma in Children

Children are the most vulnerable victims of the disease called Asthma. Here, the child is unable to breathe normally due to the muscles tightening around the airways that allow free flow of air. When children have asthma attacks, there is an acute inflammation of the lining of the airways and thick production of mucus which makes it extremely difficult for them to breathe. When the condition is aggravated the child wheezes or makes a whistling sound, coughs continuously and gasps for air at regular intervals.

The other symptoms of asthma are manifested in forms of immense pain in the chest due to pressure, tightening of chest and neck muscles also called retractions, difficulty in talking, anxiety pangs or feelings of panic, profuse perspiring leading to a pale face, the changing of colour of fingernails and lips to blue. Asthmatic children have extremely sensitive or highly reactive airways which get affected when exposed to certain conditions which are the root cause of asthma. This could be exercise, pollution, allergies or viral infections also. Hence when a child suffers asthma attack there is extreme swelling of airways, excessive production of mucus which blocks and narrows the airway passages and the tightening of muscles lining the airways.

Asthma is an inherited disease and anyone from an infant to an adolescent can develop these traits. Besides being inherited it is not known why more and more children are prone to this disease. A few experts have reasoned out that exposure to more pollution could be one of the reasons for this fatally increasing disease, while some say that children who do not have suffer from many illnesses in childhood tend to have a weak immune system which makes them an easy target. Some have even reported that less breastfeeding is one of the causes for a weak and sensitive immune system.

The most common systems of asthma in children are coughing. So if your child’s cough is unstoppable, it’s time for you to seek the help of a medical expert. You need to update the doctor on the family history of asthma and other related problems and a thorough detail on the symptoms of your child after which the doctor will examine his lungs and heart. The doctor may even advise a chest X-ray or tests of the pulmonary functions. This test helps in measuring how much of air your child is breathing and at what rate. You may even have to go in for other tests such as the blood tests and allergy skin tests.