Pulmicort (Budesonide)

DOES YOUR CHILD HAVE ASTHMA???

My youngest daughter have asthma and had pneumonia once where she has been admitted for 10 days in a hospital, ever since I have been very much aware how to make things easier for her and to avoid her for having her asthma attacks. here are some tips I've read in parenting.com...




Why spotting asthma can be tricky

Given how dramatic asthma symptoms are, you'd think it'd be a snap to diagnose. That's often not the case, especially in kids under 5. "As many as half of children have at least one episode of wheezing before age three, but after that most never wheeze again," says Paul Williams, M.D., clinical professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington. In fact, only 15 to 20 percent of kids who wheeze go on to have lifelong asthma. Plus, very young children can't adequately perform spirometry, which requires patients to blow as hard and as long as they can into a meter; it's usually not till they're 5 or 6 that kids can do the test, which can accurately diagnose asthma, says Dr. Williams. In the meantime, you can get a pretty good sense of your child's risk by using the Asthma Predictive Index, which we've adapted into the "Risk Checker" at right. So grab a pen and see how your sweetie's symptoms stack up.

Risk checker

1. Has your child had frequent wheezing before age 3 (four or more episodes in one year that lasted longer than a day and disrupted sleep)?

2. Does she have at least one of these major risk factors?

* she has a parent or a
* sibling who has asthma
* she has eczema
* she's tested positive on tests for airborne allergens

3. Does she have at least two of these minor risk factors?

* she...

Read more...