What exactly is asthma? Asthma is a reversible obstruction to breathing. The air passages become constricted, inflamed and swollen resulting in decreased air flow. A person may experience wheezing, coughing or simply notice that they are short of breath. Asthma may be lifelong or transitory, some out grow it or grow into it.
What triggers asthma? Allergens such as dust mites or animal dander, aerosolized materials such as smoke or perfume, respiratory infections and even exercise can all trigger an asthmatic episode.
How is asthma treated? One first stratifies according to frequency and severity of attacks. Mild intermittent is the least frequent and severe and severe persistent are the most. The former is treated with only rescue medicine like albuterol, however, controller meds such as inhaled steroids should be used for anything more frequent.
The use of inhaled cortico- steroids (ICS) has a small amount of risk, but the benefits far outweigh such risks. The ICS not only prevents death by suffocation, but probably also modifies the progression of the disease process.
Who has asthma? Between 10 and 20 percent of Americans have asthma at some time in their life. In Santa Clarita we are on the high end of that range. This is probably due to high ozone concentrations in our area. Ozone not only triggers asthma, it causes long term harm to developing lungs, especially when youngsters exercise day after day in unhealthful air.
How do we find out about bad air days? Two sites, one by the SCAQMD www.aqmd.gov/telemweb/Forecast.aspx will give a good forecast, but the EPA site is well worth the difficulty, www.airnow.gov/index.cfm?action=airnow.showlocal&CityID=227 because it will guide one through our Federal Government’s recommendations regarding ozone levels for any day, in real time. For instance it recommended on July 4, 2007 limiting outdoor sports between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m.
What can be done to decrease the damages? Become an activist, make these websites your favorites and when there are bad days call other parents, teachers and coaches to get the sports moved to the morning or move all summer sports to the morning. It’s really during July through October between 3 and 6 p.m. that outdoor sports need to be limited. It’s for our kids’ lungs.
Come see us at Advanced Medical Care for acute asthma or chronic control. For more information, please call 661-257-9999 or visit www.scadvmed.com .