At Rainbow Pediatrics, it is our goal to keep your child from having any asthma attacks. We strive to do this by meeting with families of children with asthma 1-2 times a year when the child is not having an asthma attack. These visits serve as a time to answer your questions about your child's asthma. We will discuss the medications your child may need to prevent and treat asthma attacks. We will also discuss ways to avoid asthma triggers (including getting a flu shot). Most importantly, we will work together as a team to create an action plan for when your child does have an asthma attack. We work closely with school nurses to make sure that this Asthma Action Plan is shared with schools, so if there is a problem, all of your child's caregivers know what to do
What is Asthma?
From the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (http://www.cdc.gov/asthma/parents.html, 2012):
"Asthma is a disease that affects the lungs. It is one of the most common long-term diseases of children. Asthma causes repeated .episodes of wheezing, breathlessness, chest tightness, and nighttime or early morning coughing. If your child has asthma, he or she has it all the time, but he or she will have asthma attacks only when something bothers his or her lungs.
In most cases, we don't know what causes asthma, and we don't know how to cure it.
Asthma can be controlled by knowing the warning signs of an attack, staying away from things that trigger an attack, and following the advice of a doctor or other medical professional.
An asthma attack can occur when someone with asthma is exposed to things in the environment, such as house dust mites and tobacco smoke. These are called asthma triggers."
Helpful Resources for Families:
Understanding what asthma is: This links you to a simple explanation of the airways changes that happen to a person's lungs during an asthma attack.
AAAI: The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology walks you through how asthma and allergies are often linked.
The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute: This organization outlined the expert recommendations for best practices for managing asthma. This links you to a dense list of helpful handouts and checklists, including a survey of how asthma friendly your child's school or child care is.
Help your child gain control over asthma: A downloadable brochure to explain asthma to your child and empower him or her to know how to control asthma.
Is my asthma under control?: A series of short videos from AAAI.
Quest for the Code: An interactive game for 7-15 year olds to engage tweens and teens to think about how to be active managers of their own asthma