Vim & Vigor - Spring 2021 - 27

27

Masks Limit
the Triggers
for Asthma

Talk to your
child's teachers,
coaches and
school nurses
about his or
her asthma
rescue plan.

PHOTO BY GETTY IMAGES

symptoms to watch out for. Parents should
work with their child's physician on that.
The common ones are coughing, wheezing,
appearing short of breath or looking like
they're tugging (where the muscles can be
seen moving inward between the ribs) to
breathe a little bit. And then they would
give them their rescue inhaler, which is
typically albuterol.

What if rescue medication
doesn't help?

Van Hook: Parents should refer to their
rescue plan. Often it will say that if the child
isn't breathing any better after about 10 or
15 minutes to repeat the rescue medication.
For a parent who is new to managing asthma,

Wearing a mask is likely to
remain commonplace. For
children with asthma, this
habit is a win-win:
" Increased social distancing and mask wearing
has been great for our
pediatric asthma patients.
Masks prevent the spread
of respiratory viruses, the
most common trigger for
asthma attacks in young
children, " says Andrea
Garrod, MD, a pediatric
pulmonologist at UVA
Children's. " A standard
mask allows individuals
to get enough oxygen
in and enough carbon
dioxide out.
" There is no published
evidence that masks
cause problems for people with asthma, " she
adds. " However, many
people find them uncomfortable. I recommend
trying different fits and
fabrics to see what works
for each patient. " The
best mask is one that is
comfortable and thick
enough to block the light
from a flashlight.
The Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention
says that people with
moderate to severe
asthma are possibly at
risk for having worse outcomes with COVID-19. But
Dr. Garrod notes, " Most
studies, thus far, have not
shown a significant risk
of asthma exacerbations
from COVID-19. Patients
should take their asthma
medications as prescribed
and seek care if symptoms
are not under control. "

the rescue plan might say to call the child's
doctor. For someone who has had asthma for
years and the parents are more comfortable
managing it, they might actually have oral
steroids at home, so the physician might say
to give a dose of the oral steroids if the rescue
medication doesn't work.
At any point, if a child looks bluish or
gray, especially around the lips or on the
nail beds, if the child can't speak in complete
sentences or is really pulling in the spaces
in between the ribs when they're trying to
breathe, that would be a time when you
would call 911. Those instances are rare.

What is the likelihood
that my child will outgrow
asthma symptoms?

Van Hook: About a third of kids will outgrow
symptoms. Children who don't have a strong
family history of asthma and don't have
other signs of allergies, or only have symptoms when they have a viral infection, those
kids actually have a pretty good chance of
outgrowing their asthma.

When should my child
with asthma be referred to
a pediatric pulmonologist?

Van Hook: Most general pediatricians
get good training on asthma, and so I
would start with the child's pediatrician.
If the pediatrician says, " Usually I try this
medication and it works, but it hasn't for
your child, " that would be a time to see a
specialist. Also, parents are receiving a ton
of information during well-child visits, so
sometimes it can be helpful to see a specialist who might have a little more time
budgeted or additional staff in their office,
like a trained asthma educator, to really
dedicate to teaching the whole family how
to manage asthma.
The other recommendation is that once
kids who have asthma turn 6, we suggest
they get a lung function test once a year, and
a lot of general pediatric offices don't have
the ability to do that lung function test. That
would be another time to see a specialist. *
VIM & VIGOR SPRING 2021
Vim & Vigor - Spring 2021

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