Guest Author - Amy Anaruk
At a party last weekend, I met a woman who expects her 3 year-old son to outgrow his asthma. She does not use his nebulizer much because she thinks his lungs are learning how to "deal with" the asthma on their own. I was horrified.
Harmful myths surround childhood asthma, probably because it is such a complex condition with a dizzying array of symptoms. Also, pediatricians don't always fully explain asthma to parents of newly diagnosed children. The doctor who diagnosed my daughter certainly left quite a bit of information out. And the Internet abounds with inaccurate and misleading information.
Misunderstanding asthma can lead to under-treating symptoms, resulting in long-term worsening of pulmonary health, missed school, and increased hospital stays.
MYTH: Children often outgrow asthma.
Asthma is a problem of the immune system, not just the lungs. A child with a hyper-reactive immune response will always have that tendency. There is no cure. Many children, though not all, experience a reduction in pulmonary symptoms and an increase in lung function as they get older, but true asthmatics will always remain susceptible to flares. Children often improve around the time puberty sets in, only to get their asthma symptoms back as adults in their mid-20's. For most people, though, asthma is much worse during young childhood than at any other time.
Some temporary conditions, like respiratory syntactical virus (RSV), mimic asthma for a few years before disappearing forever. True asthma never disappears.
MYTH: Yoga/The Buteyko Method/Swimming/Herbs/Etc. will cure asthma.
Even conventional asthma medicine only treats symptoms like bronchospasms, lung inflammation, and the flare-inducing allergic response. No existing method, medicine, or exercise in traditional or complementary medicine can turn off that switch responsible for excess inflammation. Certainly, various treatments and good health can improve quality of life for asthmatics. Yoga, for example, may help train lungs into healthier breathing patterns. However, reduction in symptoms is not a cure.
MYTH: Treating children flare-by-flare is healthier than making them take preventative steroids.
Many maintenance options exist for asthmatics, depending on their triggers. Doctors usually prefer that children use inhaled corticosteroids to reduce lung inflammation, making flares less severe and less likely to occur. Unlike anabolic steroids, the ones some professional athletes abuse with serious side effects, inhaled corticosteroids are extremely safe for children. Side effects are minimal, especially compared to the side effects of the frequent, severe flares asthmatics can experience when not on a maintenance plan. Children with under-treated asthma usually have perpetually inflamed lungs, sometimes leading to massive pulmonary scar tissue and more severe asthma that lasts a lifetime.
MYTH: Letting asthmatics work through flares on their own without medication will teach their lungs to overcome flares.
This is possibly the most dangerous myth of all. Lungs do not "learn" how to breathe through flares. An untreated asthmatic child who has never ended up in respiratory distress is lucky, not improved. The worst scenario bears repeating. Frequent, untreated flares and lung inflammation can make a child's case of asthma much worse, forever.
MYTH: A child that doesn't wheeze can't possibly have asthma.
Coughing, not wheezing, is the number-one asthma symptom. My 8 year-old asthmatic has racked up tens of thousands of dollars in insurance claims. She has used asthma medications since age 2 and been hospitalized for her breathing problems. She has never wheezed. Not once.
MYTH: Children with asthma cannot play sports or run around very much.
Good preventative care will let most asthmatic children do anything they want.
