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How To Deal With Acute Childhood Asthma Attacks

© Floyd Tilton

Internationally over 100,000 people die from acute asthma attacks each year, according to the World Health Orgainization (WHO). Of these many are children who could have been saved if they had received prompt treatment for these attacks. In fact, the incidence of childhood mortality resulting from acute asthma is so high that in 1998, the WHO instituted a 5 year global action plan to reduce deaths from childhood asthma by fifty percent.

Many of us think that this is a problem that exists in underdeveloped countries, however it is happening in the United States, Canada and other industrialized nations at an alarming rate as well. I remember when I was teaching in a small rural high school with under 250 students in grades 7 - 12 that one of the students died from an asthma attack while at home. It can strike anywhere, at any time, and most people do not have any skills in recognizing or dealing with this medical emergency. This is especaially true of parents and teachers who spend the majority of the child's day in close contact.

Before you can deal with an acute asthma attack successfully, you must be able to recognize the symptoms. Of course the wheezing, chest tightness, coughing, shortness of breath and lethargy are recognized by almost everyone as signs of asthma, but there are more subtile signs which can indicate a medical emergency which requires immediate attention.

There are several situations which constitute a medical emergency and should be dealt with immediately. First, if the child is given a bronchodilator and it doesn't have any effect in the first 5 - 10 minutes or the wheezing, cough and shortness of breath worsens after treatment. Secondly, if the child stops walking, talking or playing and can not start again. Finally, if the child's chest or neck are pulled in with each breath.

There are several things you can do until medical help arrives. First, help the child to sit in a comfortable position with the shoulders relaxed. Leaning forward with elbows on knees may be helpful. Talk reassuringly to the child. Secondly, if there's an asthma action plan for this child, follow the steps prescribed by the child's doctor. Finally, encourage the child to take appropriate medicine that the child's doctor has prescribed. If the medication does not appear to work, notify the child's parents or seek medical attention.

With prompt action and the ability to recognize the signs of a severe problem before it becomes life threatening, we can help many childhood acute asthma attacks remain manageable and prevent the tragedy of childhood death due to a preventable condition.

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