Several million people suffer from Asthma symptoms every day with a large percentage of those individuals being children. Although Asthma can be caused by multiple triggers, blooming trees and plants and also upper respiratory infections or viruses, seem to cause some of the biggest issues for the Asthma sufferer. During the Spring time, Asthma symptoms become more severe with many individuals, which causes not only the patient, but also parents of children with Asthma, a great deal of concern.
Asthma is a chronic disease of the lungs that causes the airways to become inflammed and narrow. This causes symptoms of wheezing, shortness of breath, tightness of the chest and coughing. An Asthma attack can present with any one of these symptoms or combination of symptoms. Reactive Airway Disease is often used interchangeably with Asthma although it is really just a general term and is not a true diagnosis.
I happen to fall into the category of a parent with an Asthmatic child. My daughter who is now 8 years old was officially diagnosed at the age of one year but this was a suspected diagnosis from the time she was 9 months old. It is a very frightening thing to have a child who has episodes of extreme shortness of breath with wheezing and use of accessory muscles to breathe. My husband and I have spent countless hours without sleep due to her difficulty breathing, made several trips to the emergency room, and have administered more breathing treatments than I could count over the last 7 years. However, for her, it has become a natural, if inconvenient, way of life. We have graduated to an inhaler and she only has to use the nebulizer for severe attacks. She has learned to recognize when she is about to have an attack and will go get her inhaler so that we can help her use it or go to the school nurse for help. We have learned that if she gets an upper respiratory virus or infection, we must get it treated promptly as her asthma will flare up very quickly. I have witnessed her go from a slight runny nose to being in the emergency room with uncontrollable wheezing within a 24 hour time frame, even with the use of the nebulizer at home. My personal experience as a parent of a child with Asthma is why I chose this topic for my Webliography.
I have spent many hours researching Asthma and its causes. Following is a list of reputable, reliable resources with regard to the causes, symptoms and management of Asthma that I hope you will find as useful as I have.
National Heart Lung and Blood Institute
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/Asthma/Asthma_Causes.html
This site is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services of the National Institutes of Health. It provides an overview of diagnosis, signs & symptoms, causes, treatments, preventions and how to live daily with asthma.
Mayo Clinic
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/asthma
The Mayo Clinic website is a wonderful tool to use for many different diseases. The information contained on this site dealing with Asthma includes the definition, symptoms, causes, risk factors, diagnosis, treatments and also when to call a physician for help with management of symptoms.
WebMD
This site provides a great deal of information on Asthma symptoms and treatments and also contains links to even more articles about natural remedies, links between certain other diseases and Asthma and even the best and worst cities to live in when you suffer from Asthma.
Asthma.Com
http://www.asthma.com/?rotation=30490751&banner=208373882&src=1asthma&kw=p31158483&247SEM
How much more self-explanatory could a site be for Asthma than Asthma.com. This site has been one of the ones that I have used the most often. It is filled with valuable information for both the patient and the parents. It has updates on current medications available, what type of Asthma you may be suffering from and assessments to determine if your Asthma Action Plan is working. It also contains links to many other sites for individuals with Asthma.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention site is filled with useful information much like the other sites listed but it also has specific information depending on how you are affected by Asthma. It contains links for the healthcare professional, patient, parent and even school educators and gives specific information based on your needs. It also contains links to related diseases and triggers.
American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology
This is a site that you can either view most of the information for free or choose to become a member and have unlimited access. It not only contains information about signs and symptoms and disease management but also contains links to the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. Also found on this site is a very neat feature that is a “virtual allergist”. Here you can check your current symptoms according to body system and then find possible causes and interventions. It also has an area “just for kids” that has interactive games, puzzles and projects for the child suffering from Asthma.
