Identifying Asthma
- Friday, September 11, 2009, 12:30
- Asthma
- 611 views
- Add a comment
- Andrew:
- From listening to your talk, the treatments that you’re looking into in the immunologic response varies by type of asthma but also by when a certain experimental medication or even existing medication might be given. It becomes increasingly complex. How is a parent who wants to get their child identified – do they have asthma, what type of asthma, and get the proper treatment, where should they go for this sort of workup, if you will?
It sounds like they need to go to a top researcher like you to have the benefit of long-term health for their child rather than a physician’s assistant, primary care, who may not be as knowledgeable.
- Dr. Martinez:
- Yes and no. It all depends on the severity of the disease. Parents have to use their common sense, and they usually do, believe me. If the child has very mild symptoms that can be treated just with bronchodilators, with albuterol or other bronchodilators, and the child seems to be very well during the whole summer period and has some wheezing during viral infections during the winter period, those children may be perfectly well treated by the general pediatrician or by the nurse practitioner or by the usual caregiver.
My opinion, however, is the subjects who have a family history of asthma, for example, a parent with asthma, or have severe allergic symptoms such as severe atopic dermatitis, eczema, subjects who start having symptoms very early in life, require nowadays the help of a person who is very much up to date in the ways in which we can prevent the development of the disease, both by decreasing certain exposures and by treating aggressively at the right time. The problem is that not every child who has asthma requires aggressive treatment.
So, it is important to distinguish between these different forms. The parents who have any doubts about the way in which things are going should consult with their caregivers and perhaps ask for a referral to a center where these more modern approaches are being developed.
However, 50, 60 percent of children who have asthma have rather mild symptoms, and they can be perfectly well treated by the general pediatrician or caregiver.
About the Author
admin has written 208 stories on this site.
Write a Comment
Gravatars are small images that can show your personality. You can get your gravatar for free today!