Treating Your Child's Asthma

Treating Your Child's Asthma

Does your child have asthma? Asthma is a condition that inflames and narrows the airways, causing difficulty in breathing. Childhood Asthmaasthma can be controlled with proper treatment. Everyone's ENT & Sinus Center in San Antonio, TX, offers treatments for asthma. Dr. Christine Gilliam is one of the finest Pediatric ENT's in San Antonio, TX. Read on to find out how childhood asthma is treated.
 

Quick-relief medications

Quick-relief medications provide immediate relief of asthma symptoms and last four to six hours. They are also called rescue drugs. Children take them when they are coughing, having trouble breathing, wheezing, or having an asthma attack. Although medications work quickly, they can't keep your child's asthma symptoms from coming back. If your child has severe or symptoms, he or she will need to take a long-term control medication such as an inhaled corticosteroid.
 

Long-term medications

Long-term control drugs are usually taken every day on a long-term basis to control persistent asthma. These drugs can be used seasonally if your child's symptoms become worse during certain times of the year. Your son or daughter needs to take long-term control medications to prevent asthma symptoms, even when the asthma seems better. Skipping doses can put children at risk for asthma flare-ups, or attacks.
 

Inhalation devices

There are three basic types of devices that deliver inhaled medications. The most common is the metered – dose inhaler (MDI), which uses a chemical propellant to push the medicine out of the inhaler. Dry powder inhalers deliver medicine without using chemical propellants, but they require a strong and fast inhalation. Nebulizers deliver fine liquid mists of medicine through a tube or mask that fits over the nose and mouth, using oxygen or air under pressure.
 

Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy, or allergy shots may help if your child has allergy-induced asthma. Allergy shots help your child's body get used to the substances that cause an allergic reaction. Your child will probably need shots once a week for a couple of months, then once a month for a period of three to five years. Your child's asthma symptoms and allergic reactions should gradually diminish even after treatment is stopped.

Asthma can affect your child's everyday activities and make life frustrating and miserable. Don't delay- call Everyone's ENT & Sinus Center at 210-647-3838 today to schedule an appointment with Dr. Gilliam in San Antonio, TX. Our asthma treatments will relieve your child's symptoms, so your child can rest, and you can relax.