What to Do When Child Suffers from Asthma or Sleep Issues?
Worldwide, asthma
and other respiratory problems including respiratory infections remain a major
childhood medical concern. Some of the most common symptoms of childhood asthma
include frequent coughing that lingers on for days, a whistling or wheezing
sound when breathing out, shortness of breath particularly on exertion and play,
chest congestion or tightness and night time coughing. While, its precise causes
still remain unknown, researchers have recognisedthat environmental factors can
interact with underlying genetic make-upto contribute to the development of asthma
symptoms. Additionally, in children, untreated or undertreated asthma may leadto
major sleep disturbancesthat can further worsen asthma symptoms. Yet, asthma
and its complications, although incurable, can be managed well so that a child
may live a normal life. To help children and parents manage this
conditionbetter it is important to consult a children’s lung specialist who
specialises on asthma and sleep.
These
respiratory issues coupled with sleeping disturbances and other associated problems
can have serious implications on a child, restricting their day to day
activities. Inadequate sleep can affect the overall health, and may affect their educational performance and ability to participate in extracurricular
activities. Untreated asthma can have serious impact in the quality of life. It
affects the physical and emotional wellbeing of the children and may have a far
reaching and long standing complication on reaching their adult potential.
Persistent
coughing is one of the tell-tale signs of asthma. In this blog I will discuss
more about the asthmatic cough and how to understand the
symptoms of these chronic conditions:
Coughs can arise
from anywhere in the nose, windpipe and lungs. Usually, cough can be of two
types - productive (wet phlegm producing cough) and non-productive (dry or
irritating). Cough is a natural protective reflex mechanism that helps expel harmful foreign particles from
the lungs to prevent a potential infection of the lungs. In most cases of
asthma, the cough is considered non-productive and dry. This may be associated
with a whistling or wheezing arising from the chest. Sometimes cough may be
subtle and can only be heard when the child is playing or laughing. The
presence of subtle cough during sleep especially in the early morning hours
could also indicate the presence of asthma.Along with cough, the children may also
get sneezing and watery eyes and this may reflect allergy.
The other topic
I wanted to highlight is sleep. Sleep is an important part of our life and it takes
a lot of our time where the body regenerates from a day of hard work. Sleep is
vital for the proper functioning and development of the human body. Sleep can
be affected because of a variety of reasons that can include chronic conditions
like asthma or big tonsils and adenoids (also known as sleep apnoea or sleep
disordered breathing). In fact, a number of conditions affect sleep but unless
a full assessment of sleep through careful history and appropriate tests are
done, it may not be possible to address these issues. Also, one has to remember
that the quality of sleep is as important as the duration of sleep. Sleep that
is frequently disturbed (broken sleep architecture) where the child wakes up
frequently (multiple arousals) is associated with lack of energy or
hyperactivity, challenging behaviour, poor attention span and inability to
concentrate leading educational underachievement. Often such children are
labelled as ‘lazy’ , ‘disruptive’ and ‘not focussed’. Identification of the
problem needs input from a paediatric lung specialist looking
after sleep conditions. Dramatic improvements can be noted if corrective
management is undertaken and the results could be very rewarding.
If you suspect, your
child to suffer from asthma or sleep related issues, you must talk to the paediatrician
who is a specialist on asthma and sleep . In my experience, I have seen many
children who have been suffering from asthma for years and this reflects
sometimes the lack of awareness among parents and physicians. Proper treatment
is required to bring a complete control on the symptoms and this can be better
achieved and child lung asthma and sleep specialists are best placed to manage
such children. Finding a cough specialist is sometimes challenging and
searching Google for best “cough specialist near
me” or “paediatric sleep specialist near me” often
is helpful in choosing the right route to get proper advice and support.
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