In the United States almost seven million children under the age of 18 have asthma. Over a million of them are under the age of 5. Many kids miss school because of their asthma attacks. Asthma is an inflammation of your lungs airways. It causes people to have a shortness of breath, a tightening of the chest, and wheezing. Everyone experiences asthma attacks in varying degrees of severity. The National Asthma Education and Prevention Program update asthma guidelines. They are a means for parents and children to find ways to control their asthma.
Doctors use the asthma guidelines as a way to manage a child’s asthma. How they manage the asthma attacks will depend on the child’s symptoms and the severity of the attacks. Doctors will monitor the child’s ability to control their asthma attacks with the medications they have been prescribed. If a child is showing signs of improvement then the doctor may decrease the medication in the hopes of being able to take the child off it completely. If the child worsens then the doctor may increase the medication or try a combination of medications to control the attacks.
The asthma guidelines set forth goals that the doctors try to meet when determining a plan of treatment for a child with asthma. If the goals are not being met then the doctor will re-evaluate the child’s condition and make adjustments. Some of the goals the doctor’s are looking for are if your child’s asthma is limiting their activities such as playing with other kids or missing school. They will also look to see if the child is having any side affects from the medications. They will be looking to see if the child is exhibiting any symptoms during the day or night after they have been put on medication. This allows them to be able to gauge if the treatment is controlling the asthma attacks.
The asthma guidelines have different classifications for your child’s asthma. The first classification is called the mild intermittent. This is when a child shows symptoms no more than two days a week. The next level of classification is called the mild persistent. This is when the child shows symptoms maybe once everyday but at least more than twice a week. Moderate persistent is when the child shows daily symptoms or more than one night a week. The highest level is called severe persistent. This is when the child shows daily symptoms and frequently at night as well. If your child has asthma, you should become familiar with the asthma guidelines and discuss the different classifications with your doctor.
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