Health tips: Asthma:
Asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases of childhood. It is a lung disease characterized by difficulty in breathing, cough with sputum and some time fever. Children with asthma typically cough, wheeze, and experience chest tightness and shortness of breath.
Causes
In children, an acute asthma attack usually occurs at the time of a cough and cold caused by a viral infection. Wheezing in children is most often caused by colds rather than by asthma. When they do develop asthma, it may be due to allergic reactions to irritants, or some other triggers or stimuli like those listed below:
Irritants – dust, cigarette smoke, fumes and chemicals Allergies – to pollen, grass, medicines, animals, house dust mite, fungus or certain foods Infections – colds and flu Exercise – especially in cold, dry air Emotions – stress, laughing or crying very hard Weather
Symptoms
Pain or feeling of tightness in the chest
Agitation
Wheezing
Coughing – chronic or recurring
Breathlessness
Diet; Lifestyle Advice
Exposure to dusty and cold air, smoke, dust and polluted air should be avoided.
Drinking lukewarm water with honey is helpful.
To avoid ama formation, children should be given freshly prepared warm meals at regular intervals and not the junk food.
Heavy foods like dairy products, fried foods, pickles, cold foods, ice creams, beans and legumes should be avoided.
Home Remedies
Give half cup of ginger tea mixed with 2-3 crushed garlic cloves if your child is getting asthma attacks.
Massage the chest with warm sesame oil (5 ml) with a pinch of salt. Follow it with steam inhalation. This helps loosen the phlegm deposited in the chest.
Boil a teaspoon of freshly grated ginger in a glass of milk and add 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric powder to it. Give it twice a day to the child to reduce frequency of asthma attacks.
