Know the Symptoms of Childhood Asthma

It is one of the most common illnesses in children. Childhood asthma is the leading reason children miss school, and experts are telling us that close to 4 million kids under the ages of 17 have had some sort of asthma episode in the past year.

It is one of the most common illnesses in children. Childhood asthma is the leading reason children miss school, and experts are telling us that close to 4 million kids under the ages of 17 have had some sort of asthma episode in the past year. Don't you think it's important that you can recognize the symptoms of childhood asthma to help your child if an attach hits? The trouble with childhood asthma is that not all of the symptoms are easy to spot, some quite obvious but others hide under the radar.

Wheezing

High pitched breathing that's very noticeable when a child breaths out. This has to be the most common of all childhood asthma symptoms. It can be severe or mild. It occurs when mucus builds up in the airway, that is already somewhat restricted, making it difficult to breath.

Coughing

Of course not all children will wheeze, often a small percentage will only ever have a persistent cough. Usually most noticeable late in the evenings. This can be a hidden symptom also, as in about 5% of cases in childhood asthma coughing is the only symptom they have. If your child appears to have coughing fits after running, crying or high activity there's a chance they might have asthma.


Frequent Respiratory Infections

Children suffering from frequent and difficult to treat respiratory infections, such as bronchitis, and even pneumonia may have childhood asthma. Of course it doesn't have to be as severe as pneumonia they could just continue to battle chronic cold like symptoms. It's easy for these illnesses to attack a child's lungs that are of course already weakened by asthma.

Inactivity or Being Lethargic

If you notice a child that used to be very active, loved the outdoors running, sports, biking but now shows signs of not wanting to be outdoors anymore along with shortness of breath and check tightening this could be the reason for lack of exertion. Children fighting asthma find it painful when they exert them selves therefore find it easier to avoid the tightness in the chest and shortness of breath,

The real difficulty with diagnosing childhood asthma is that while some kids might display all symptoms other will report very in frequent battles with them. It's important that parents are familiar with the symptoms and can recognize patterns occurring after activity or at night. Knowing more information and recognizing a potential asthma attack will help you know what to do to reduce the intensity as well as help your family doctor diagnose the issues.

To learn more about how asthma can affect children, adults and for rememdies visit our website about medical issues.