Asthma is considered a chronic disease, the source of which is called non-infectious inflammation in the respiratory tract. Both external and internal irritating conditions contribute to the formation of bronchial asthma. A variety of allergens belong to a number of external conditions, as well as chemical, mechanical and atmospheric factors. It is possible to add to this list both stressful conditions and physiological loads. The most popular factor is dust allergy.
Deficiencies in the endocrine and immune systems belong to the internal conditions for the formation of bronchial asthma. In addition, bronchial hyperreactivity and a discrepancy in susceptibility may be a factor, which may be hereditary. Learn more about the symptoms and treatment of asthma in children below.
How does the disease manifest itself?
It can be quite difficult to establish the correct diagnosis in a child in a timely manner. This complexity is due to the fact that quite often the disease has the same symptoms as the common viral disease of the respiratory tract. Often, parents do not assume that individual symptoms indicate a much larger problem than just a cold.
However, with bronchial asthma, the child does not develop a fever. If there is a cough, then it is very rapid and dry, without sputum. Before the arrival of the symptoms themselves or the properties of asthma, as a rule, forerunners come in a few days. Their duration is different for any baby. At this time, children are often irritated, frightened, in constant arousal, sleep poorly. It is worth familiarizing yourself with the symptoms and treatment of bronchial asthma in a child in order to know how to alleviate his condition and prevent attacks.
You should be concerned if your baby has the following symptoms:
- initially, after sleep, liquid mucus is secreted from the nose of the child, due to which the child often sneezes, rubs the nose;
- after a few hours, a weak dry cough sets in;
- coughing becomes more frequent in the afternoon, but already becomes a little wet (in a child over five years old, the cough becomes wetter towards the end of an asthmatic attack);
- obvious signs appear only after a few days, and coughing is paroxysmal.
The main signs of bronchial asthma in a child of the first year of life:
- Severe dry cough, most of all happens paroxysmal immediately after sleep or beforehim.
- Cough can be less if the child is placed or planted. Returning to a horizontal state causes the coughing to become more intense again.
- Shortly before the seizure, the child may be very naughty, sobbing due to nasal congestion.
- Shortness of breath getting worse and worse.
- Breathing becomes erratic, and the breaths quickened and small. Inhaled and exhaled oxygen is accompanied by whistling and hum.
Children older than a year also have the following signs:
- severe chest pressure, inability to take a good breath;
- dry cough occurs when breathing through the mouth;
- long dry cough with no sputum production;
- itching, dermatological rashes or tearing - uncharacteristic properties of asthma;
- coughing fits occur under the same circumstances (a pet close by, the application of one or another paint, on the street or immediately upon arrival at home, a visit to the library, the presence of a fresh bouquet of flowers in the house, etc.).
Asthma attack in a child
It is very important for a father and mother to timely determine an attack of bronchial asthma in their own baby and localize it as quickly as possible. In order to do everything correctly, you should move in the following direction.
Listen:
- Be sure to pay attention tovarious complaints about breathing problems or annoying chest pain. Older children who have already experienced similar seizures have every chance to give you a hint if it becomes difficult for them to breathe or simply take a breath.
- If the baby complains of soreness in the chest, pay special attention to this. With an asthmatic attack, children have every chance of experiencing something contracting in their chest. Chest tenderness is believed to be the result of air obstruction in the respiratory routes and increased pressure in the lungs.
- Little children or those who have not met with asthma cannot tell you about shortness of breath or pain that has arisen. The child is able to get scared and close, to hide from you that something is wrong with him, to be ashamed, not to find an opportunity to clarify previously unknown feelings. Listen to your own children, what they say, what they try to talk about.
Analyze:
- Pay attention to the breathing rate, in a state of calm it should be approximately 20 breaths per 60 seconds. If the baby is breathing more quickly, ask if he is having difficulty breathing, if there is a problem with breathing.
- See if the child has to perform any actions while breathing in order to take a breath. With normal breathing, the shoulders of children will not rise.
- Take a closer look at whether the baby has a contraction of the muscle slightly below the ribs when inhaling. Such retractions appear during a short breath, if the amount of air that has entered is not able to fill the right place.
- During an attackwhen inhaling, the nostrils of children expand very much in order to draw in as much air as possible. Most often, this kind of criterion comes across in children under 1 year old, who will not be able to tell their mother what directly worries them.
- Listen for wheezing when children breathe. During an asthma attack, a whistling or grumbling sound appears, accompanied by a small pulsation. Wheezing can appear on exhalation and inhalation with a simple and moderate attack process. When difficult - only on the exhale.
- The presence of a dry cough is also indicative of a paroxysm of bronchial asthma. It forms an influence in the bronchi, as a result of which the airways open a little, allowing for some time to breathe more or less in accordance with the norm. If a rapid cough dominates at night, this indicates a simple seizure, while a prolonged cough indicates a protracted attack.
Rate the appearance of the child:
- During an asthmatic attack, most of the kids look the same as during a cold, unhe althy. For this reason, when you see the bad situation of children, concentrate on this, listen to what your maternal beginning tells you.
- With asthma, any body forces are focused on the resumption of breathing, for this reason, the skin during this period can be sticky from sweat and faded. This is due to the lack of oxygen saturation in the body.
- In a severe attackthe skin near the mouth and nose of children may take on a blue-violet tone. This indicates an intense lack of air. This condition of children requires immediate medical support.
Help the child:
- If an attack of bronchial asthma is not the first time, then at home there must be inhalers, the effect of which is focused on suppressing the attack. There must be a person with the child who can help use the drug or call the elders who can do it.
- At the first attack, be sure to contact your own doctor to examine the baby and prescribe the required medications.
- If the seizures are severe, transport to the clinic and drug treatment is needed.
Asthma Diagnosis
After the manifestation of the first attacks of bronchial asthma, you should be examined by a pulmonologist. He collects detailed information about the course and duration of the disease, the circumstances of work and residence, the harmful habits of the patient and conducts a complete medical examination.
In the diagnosis of bronchial asthma, the study of lung function can help: in order to do this, it will be necessary to exhale air into a special device. Peakflowometry is considered a mandatory study - the determination of the maximum expiratory flow rate. Then it must be carried out at home using a portable peak flow meter. This must be done in order to fairly control the course of the disease andestablishing the required dose of the substance.
Laboratory tests for this disease include blood and sputum tests.
Timely diagnosis and treatment of asthma in children is essential. After all, they will relieve complications.
It is also necessary to consult an allergist to undergo a dermatological examination for different types of allergens. This study is necessary in order to establish what is directly capable of provoking an attack.
Therapy of disease
Chronic illness requires daily treatment. Only in this case, you can rely on a good result. There is currently no cure for chronic asthma.
There is a notion of a stepwise approach to curing asthma. Its meaning is to change the dose of substances depending on the severity of the pathology. A step up is an increase in dose, a step down is a decrease in dose. In most medical reference books, four steps are distinguished, which mean four degrees of severity of the disease. Therapy should be carried out under the constant supervision of a doctor.
Asthma medications
A number of substances are used to treat an asthma attack in children. When choosing how to treat bronchial asthma, special attention is paid to symptomatic and basic substances.
Symptomatic substances are drugs whose effect is focused on the resumption of bronchial patency and the elimination of bronchospasm (these include bronchodilators orbronchodilators). This category also includes quick relief tools for instantly relieving an asthma attack. They are used as needed.
The second category is the substances of the basic anti-inflammatory treatment of an attack of bronchial asthma in children, the effect of which is focused on the suppression of allergic inflammation in the bronchi. These are glucocorticoid hormones, cromones, antileukotriene and anticholinergic substances. In contrast to quick-relief substances, basic therapy drugs are prescribed for the long-term prevention of asthma exacerbations. They don't show a quick, immediate impact. Without removing a strong attack of suffocation, anti-inflammatory substances affect the main root cause of the signs of the disease - inflammation in the bronchi. Lowering and suppressing it, these substances, in the end, lead to a decrease in the frequency and strength of seizures, and in the end result - to their absolute cessation.
Because inflammation in the bronchi in asthma is chronic, taking anti-inflammatory substances should be long-term, and the result from their use is formed over time for 2-3 weeks.
Glucocorticoid hormones, in particular their tablet or injectable forms, have enough side effects:
- immunity suppression (and as a result, the body's tendency to various infectious diseases);
- inflammation and ulcers of the gastrointestinal tract;
- weight gain;
- hormonal imbalance and others.
However, the pharmaceutical industry does not stand still, and the listsubstances for the treatment of allergic asthma in children is regularly replenished. At present, inhaled glucocorticoids are considered to be a significant achievement of the pharmaceutical industry - substances of local rather than systemic action. This is a significant category of substances of artificial origin, produced in the form of personal inhalers-dispensers or nebulizers.
The creation of similar substances and their intensive introduction into therapy was a truly innovative step in the treatment of asthma. Great performance, optimal tolerability and a small number of secondary results made these substances preferred.
Of all the common anti-inflammatory agents currently used to treat asthma, glucocorticoids have the best balance of safety and efficacy. Their unique quality is that when used as basic therapy, inhaled glucocorticoids are ready to reduce the initial level of reactivity of the bronchial tree, i.e., the tendency to respond inadequately to various irritating stimuli.
In addition, the systematic use of inhaled glucocorticoids makes it possible to reduce the course of bronchial asthma to a simpler degree, and reduce the intake of inhaled adrenostimulants down to the minimum amount.
We should not lose sight of non-drug ways to cure asthma, which can be extremelyproductive.
They belong to:
- special breathing techniques and the use of different breathing devices;
- modifications of reflexology (acupuncture, electropuncture, moxibustion with wormwood cigars and much more);
- physiological training methods;
- climatotherapy (speleotherapy - therapy in s alt mines, the use of the so-called gala chambers), etc.
For competent therapy, it is very important for the patient (and his family members to be perfect) to get acquainted with the standards of treatment of bronchial asthma in children, as well as attend specialized lectures, where he learns key measures to prevent attacks, explores the method of optimal breathing, the main groups anti-allergic and anti-asthma substances, and in addition, he can be helped to choose a personal hypoallergenic diet.
The need for such classes is difficult to overestimate. Since, as a result of them, a person is not left alone with his own problem and gets used to the idea that shortness of breath is not a verdict at all, but a way of life. As a rule, there are asthma-schools based on polyclinics and hospitals.
It is worth saying that it is recommended to send such a baby to a sanatorium. Treatment of asthma in children reviews in this case is only good. After all, in such an institution they conduct a full range of methods designed specifically to overcome such difficulties.
Batmanghelidge method
According to the judgment of the Iranian doctor F. Batmanghelidzh, dehydration of the human body and the formation of bronchial asthma are two processes that are directly related to each other.with a friend. This statement at the doctor was formed absolutely by accident. While in prison, he cured a severe stomach ache in his cellmate by offering him a couple of glasses of pure water to drink. Interested in the result, F. Batmanghelidj summed up the theoretical basis for it, writing a huge number of academic works on the healing properties of water.
He declares that the body's real need for water is expressed not only by dryness in the throat and a feeling of thirst. Local dehydration of parts of the patient's body leads to various pathologies, including bronchial asthma. The cure for asthma according to the method of the doctor F. Batmanghelidzh is not just to quench your thirst with water. It is necessary to use it according to a specific scheme: drink two glasses of water thirty minutes before a meal and one glass of clean water 2.5 hours after it. In addition, water is also taken to quench thirst. Alcohol and beverages containing caffeine should not be consumed during the healing period, as they all contribute to dehydration.
Another significant point - in order to normalize the balance of microelements in the body, it is necessary to use ordinary s alt, putting a couple of its crystals under the tongue after drinking prescribed according to this method. Preferably, if it is sea s alt, although ordinary table s alt will also work. The medicines prescribed by the doctor are taken at the same dose. In addition, the dose of vitamin-mineral complexes should also be increased, since with an increase in urine volume, the number of micro- and micro- andmacronutrients.
Alcohol tincture
One of the methods of treating bronchial asthma in children with folk remedies is an infusion of ginger for alcohol.
Grate fresh ginger root and pour with alcohol or vodka, taking half a liter of alcohol per 300 g of crushed roots. The tank with the mixture is hidden in a warm place for 10 days. Then the tincture is filtered, the pulp is squeezed out. Use with bronchial asthma twice a day, one teaspoon. Wash down with hot milk or boiled water. The course of treatment with ginger tincture lasts one month, after which they pause for two weeks.
Decoction of ginger roots
Dry ginger root is grated and poured with ice water. In a water bath, the composition is heated until it begins to boil. Then cover with a lid and cook for 20 minutes. The container with the finished mixture is covered tightly and left until it is completely cooled. Apply warm, half a glass before meals. The infusion can be taken by simply adding it to tea.
Garlic oil
Garlic oil is considered a very good soft and antibacterial folk remedy for the treatment of bronchial asthma in children. To make it, crush 5 large cloves of garlic, add s alt to taste and mix with 100 grams of butter. Such butter is simply eaten by spreading it on bread.
Decoction of wild rosemary
In order to cure bronchial asthma and bronchitis, a decoction is used as an expectorant with antiallergic action. Put a tablespoon of crushed herbs in a cup of boiling waterwild rosemary. Boil for 10 minutes. Use a spoonful six times a day.
Decoction of elecampane roots
Folk treatment of bronchial asthma in children is carried out with the help of elecampane root. Buy three liters of whey, add 100 grams of crushed elecampane roots and honey, mix everything and put in the oven. Over time, the whey will boil, reduce the temperature in the oven and leave for four hours. Take a tablespoon thirty minutes before meals three times a day. The course of cure is extended until the drug ends.
Hydrogen peroxide
Another method of treating asthma in children with folk remedies is hydrogen peroxide. It is necessary to use it diluted in water for a month. Drink before meals, 30 drops per 125 milliliters of water.
Clinical guidelines for the treatment of asthma in children
In order to make asthma attacks extremely rare, in addition to direct treatment, you need to work to prevent the disease. This refers to the improvement of immunity and the improvement of the general condition of children. Prevention will be essential if a preschooler is genetically prone to asthma.
What clinical recommendations for the treatment of bronchial asthma in children should be followed in order to prevent the disease:
- Breastfeeding a child from the first days of existence and at least up to 1 year. If breastfeeding is not possible or must be interrupted, then formulas for feeding should be selectedcarefully, in consultation with the pediatrician.
- Complementary foods should be introduced only when the doctor allows. Introduce foods in strict order with the prescriptions of the pediatrician, beware of allergenic foods.
- Try to free the house from unnecessary dust collectors. Store books only behind glass.
- Do not bring pets into the house in order to rule out allergies to pet hair. Try to refrain from ordinary aquarium fish as well, due to the fact that the dry food that needs to be fed may contain strong allergenic elements.
- Bed linen only with hypoallergenic fillings.
- Only buy hypoallergenic laundry detergents and cleansers.
- Ventilate rooms as much as possible during calm and quiet weather.
- Clean regularly without additional cleansers.
- Hardening is a good way to boost immunity and improve he alth.
Besides this, there are some clinical guidelines for the treatment of asthma in children. The warm and favorable atmosphere in the family is very significant. It is important for children to feel the love and support of their father and mother, because of this, diseases will attack much less frequently. As you can see, there is nothing complicated in the treatment and prevention of asthma in children. Therefore, you need to make every effort to protect the baby.
