What is it about ?
When a child, with or without asthma, suddenly has difficulty breathing (acute dyspnea), the seriousness of the situation must be quickly assessed and the problem treated immediately.
The causes can be:
- A hypersensitivity reaction of the respiratory tract to substances that stimulate allergy mechanisms (allergens). These allergens are often pollens and dust mites, but other causes can explain these “crises”;
- Viral infection;
- An effort.
Muscles in the airways contract and the mucous membranes swell and produce more phlegm, causing the airways to narrow and difficulty breathing (dyspnea).
How to recognize them?
The child suddenly has difficulty breathing. Eventually, his breathing is wheezing.
Sometimes we already see signs of difficult breathing in the days preceding: he coughs, he sleeps badly, he is not able to exert much effort, he is tired.
How is the diagnosis made?
The doctor will assess the severity of your child’s respiratory distress. To do this, he will use several criteria, such as age, wakefulness, skin color, respiratory rate, (a) normal use of respiratory muscles, difficulty in making complete sentences, observations on auscultation of the lungs, etc.
Eventually, the doctor will also have the child blow into a special instrument (peak flow meter) that measures the severity of the respiratory distress.
What can you do ?
If your child is asthmatic and he is already on inhalation therapy, you can give him a dose of the medicine that dilates the bronchial tubes (bronchodilator), salbutamol. You can use a puff (inhaler), possibly with an inhalation chamber. You can also use an aerosol device (nebulizer). Keep calm and contact the general practitioner.
What can your doctor do?
Depending on the severity of the situation, the doctor will refer your child to an emergency room or start intensive treatment with an inhaled medicine. The child should be taken to a suitable ward urgently if he needs oxygen and / or rapid cortisone administration.
At the same time, the doctor will check whether the inhalation technique is correct and draw up a clear pattern. During an asthma attack, the inhalation treatment will need to be administered several times and you will need to observe your child carefully to notice any deterioration in his condition in time. This will help you decide whether to bring your child to the hospital.
The main drugs are drugs that open (dilate) the bronchi (bronchodilators) and anti-inflammatory drugs.
- Bronchodilators (like salbutamol) will reopen the narrowed airways. They act quickly, but their action does not last long;
- Anti-inflammatory drugs are cortisone-based products that decrease the feeling of tightness and mucus for a longer time.
A specialist should be consulted when these respiratory distress attacks are frequent, persistent or if there is a family history of asthma or allergy.
Want to know more?
- How to use inhalers (videos) – Belgian Pneumology Society
- How to use an inhalation chamber (video) – Société Belge de Pneumologie
- Salbutamol – CBIP – Belgian Center for Pharmacotherapeutic Information
- The hospital explained to children – Plaster
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