Controlling Symptoms
Aside from using medications, your teen needs to look around and identify what could be possible triggers to her asthma symptoms. Sometimes it might be as close as a pet cat or someone smoking in her best friend's car. Other times, asthma might be related to eating or exercising. But whatever it is, your teen may have to make some adjustments in her life when it comes to addressing her asthma.
Saying No to Smoking
Each year, more than a million teens become regular smokers — some of them are teens with asthma. This could not be a worse choice because cigarette smoke makes their asthma worse by irritating their airways — causing them to narrow and disrupting the normal flow in and out of the lungs.
Fact
Cigarette smoking actually can increase the risk of an asthma attack for your teen. In fact, cigarette smoke is one of the more common causes of asthma aggravation. You need to let your teen know that smoking can permanently damage his airways. Those teens who smoke are not as likely to see long-term improvement in their asthma — basically reducing the odds of outgrowing it.
Teens may choose to smoke — even if they have asthma — for a variety of reasons: For instance, they think smoking makes them look cool or it helps them to control their weight. But the fact is that cigarettes have nicotine that is very addictive. If your teen smokes, he should talk with you or his physician about how to quit.
Secondhand cigarette smoke is a common trigger of asthma attacks, as well. If your teen's friends smoke, tell him not to sit or stand near them when they smoke and not to ride in their cars. Also, if members of your family smoke, talk with them about it, and encourage them to consider quitting.
Triggers at Home
On the home front, your teen should be encouraged to keep her bedroom as neat and dust-free as possible by cleaning regularly. In this area, she may need a little help — especially with dusting and vacuuming — since it could aggravate her condition. In her room, you might consider minimizing carpet use and instead use bare floors to cut down on dust and dust mites that can trigger asthma symptoms.
This also means laundering bed sheets in hot water at least once a week to get rid of dust mites. Special mattress and pillow covers, with their closures taped over, can be considered, too.
For the heating and air-conditioning system, change air filters regularly and consider using filters especially designed to capture many potential allergens. Keep air vents clear of dust and dirt. Also consider using a dehumidifier to keep the humidity in the house at less than 50 percent to keep down molds and carpet dust mites.
Giving away a beloved furry or feathered pet might not sit well with a teen. But if a teen is allergic to their dander, at least keep the pet out of her bedroom at all times.
Alert!
Since carpets and upholstered or cloth-covered furniture capture pet dander, minimize the use of the items — or keep pets away from them — in rooms of the house that your teen often uses. Also, consider giving the pets a weekly bath to keep down dander.
While teens are constantly bombarded with messages of smelling good, they may have to put some brakes on their habits. Various scents from perfumes, colognes, aftershave lotions, creams, and deodorants could trigger asthma symptoms. Also, scented products — ranging from candles to incense and air fresheners — could cause problems as well.
Food and Asthma
When you think of teens, you might think of their “food groups” such as pizza, hamburgers, chili, sodas, or burritos. But many of these foods may end up aggravating your teen's asthma.
Sometimes a little food may come back up their esophagus with stomach acid — creating what many people think of as heartburn. The medical term is gastroesophageal reflux disease or GERD. Since the same nerves that control the esophagus's reflexes are also connected to their bronchial muscles, stomach acid irritates these nerves and can trigger asthma symptoms such as coughing.
Essential
Advise your teen to refrain from eating large meals before bedtime and to avoid those foods that are spicy, high in fat, caffeinated, or acidic. This will cut down on the potential for heartburn and possible asthma symptoms. Your teen also may want to elevate the pillows at the head of her bed by several inches to avoid that heartburn.
Also, encourage your teen to consider including in his diet more fruits, vegetables, and omega-3 fatty acids, which are found in tuna, salmon, and nuts. These foods have been linked in recent studies to helping improve respiratory function.
Exercise
Exercise is a great way for teens to keep fit. But, since most teens with asthma also have exercise-induced asthma, they may back away from activities related to physical education or sports. However, working with a health care provider, teens can find ways to manage and treat exercise-induced asthma and become active — just like their friends.
Your teen can control symptoms by using medication (usually a bronchodilator) at least fifteen minutes before competition. She will need to take time to warm up before exercise, and then cool down. Also let coaches and physical education teachers know that your teen has exercise-induced asthma and make sure they have a copy of her asthma action plan.
While sports that involve shorter periods of exertion (such as baseball or gymnastics) may be better tolerated by your teen than sports that require longer periods of exertion (basketball or soccer), she can still participate in most sports with proper medical supervision and physical conditioning.
She will, though, need to keep her eye on weather conditions since colder, drier air can trigger an exercise-induced asthma episode. She also may need to double-check outdoor pollen counts or ozone alerts, which also could trigger symptoms.
