Are you putting your adopted child at risk for developing asthma? A study of 3000 healthy children over a six-year period suggests that many parents are. Is your home is close to a busy road? Yes, then you have increased your child’s chance of developing asthma, hay fever, eczema, or other allergies by 50 percent. The study results indicate that those children living at least 1,000 meters away from a busy road were much healthier. What is the definition of a busy road? At least 10,000 vehicles a day drive on the road was the definition used by this study. Pollution has been linked... more

Does your child have bouts of wheezing, coughing, and shortness of breath? Have you talked to your child’s doctor about these symptoms? Could your child have asthma? While these are some of the symptoms of asthma, your doctor may want to perform other tests to confirm the diagnosis. One of the tests that your doctor may recommend is a lung function or breathing test. This may be able to rule out other causes of these same symptoms. Sometimes doctors try prescribing asthma medication for your child to see if it reduces or eliminates the symptoms. If the medication works... more

A few weeks ago, I took my eight-year-old child to the doctor for croup. The doctor noticed that he was also wheezing. Our son had infantile asthma when we adopted him and occasionally has still has episodes of wheezing. We have a nebulizer at home for treatments and I used to take it with us if he was having a day of difficult breathing. I asked the doctor if my adopted child was old enough for an asthma inhaler. I explained my concern about not having an emergency treatment with us during hockey or soccer games. The doctor assured me that he was old enough and agreed... more

Over 6 million children in our country have been diagnosed with asthma. However, a recent study conducted at Columbus Children's Hospital found that three out of four children who appeared to have asthma actually had good oxygen levels. Instead of asthma, they suffered from vocal cord dysfunction or VCD. Misdiagnosis can occur because the symptoms are similar. When a child enters the emergency room and can’t breathe, people may readily assume that the child is having an asthma... more

A healthy diet that includes fruit rich in vitamin C and fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids could help control asthma symptoms in your teenager. But, how will you convince your teenager to eat these healthy foods? In a study, involving 2000 twelfth grade students from around the U.S. and Canada, 86 percent didn't eat their five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables everyday.

The study lasted about a year, during which time the researchers asked... more

Really bad news for those of you who have children with allergies, if you happen to be a cat lover like me. Unexpected findings from a European study suggest that if you have allergies, being exposed to cat dander may affect your ability breathe, even if you are not allergic cats.

The study was conducted by Susan Chinn, a professor of medical statistics at the Imperial College in London, and colleagues from 20 European centers. Researchers anticipated a higher bronchial airway... more

The Papworth method is a diaphragmatic breathing technique for asthma sufferers, that incorporates both breathing and relaxation, introduced by physiotherapists in the 1960s for people with asthma and dysfunctional breathing. The cycle of breathlessness and wheezing resulting from an asthma attack is often accompanied by anxiety. The Papworth method helps to reduce asthma symptoms and the anxiety that arises from hyperventilating, which tends to improve... more

An article in Reuters, June 2007 said that according to new research, giving infants less than one-year-old antibiotics for a non-respiratory tract infection would greatly increase the child’s chances of developing asthma. The June issue of the journal Chest, the peer-reviewed journal of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP), contains the published findings of the study.

Not surprisingly, the study found that infants who received multiple... more

Asthma causes changes to your child’s airways that become chronic conditions. The lining of the airways swell. When the airways are swollen, they become more sensitive to triggers. The airways become narrow when the muscles around the airways constrict during an asthma attack. In some people with asthma, the mucus glands in the airways produce thick and excessive mucus. Breathing becomes difficult and labored because of both the constriction and the inflammation.

You need to seek medical care if your child displays... more

My new friend, Faith, over at the “Hoping to Adopt Blog” had a scary visit to the emergency room last week with her seven year old son. He was experiencing a severe asthma attack, during which she was unable to stabilize him at home. She made the decision to rush him to the emergency room and she shared some of their “bad” experience with me.

He was coughing like crazy and wasn’t able stop coughing even to gasp for air, so she gave him two puffs of Albuterol from his inhaler. When he showed no signs of improvement after she administered his “rescue drug,” she... more