How many people are in your homeroom? 25? 30? Next time you’re sitting in class, take a good look around. Chances are, you’re not the only student with an inhaler. According to some estimates, about one in ten teens in the United States has asthma, just like you.

Asthma affects the way your breathing passages, called bronchial tubes, function. When you inhale polluted air, cold air, or any other air that may irritate your airways, your bronchial tubes start to tighten, making it difficult to breathe normally. This is called an asthma episode. During an episode, you may make wheezing or high-pitched noises, and feel tightness in your chest as if you were trying to breathe in and out through a straw. If untreated, an asthma episode can last for hours or days, and may even be fatal.

Doctors don’t know exactly what causes asthma. Heredity, the genes passed on to you from your parents, and environmental factors, such as allergens and exercise, play a major role. While triggers are different for every person, some of the most common ones include:

• Dust mites (microscopic bugs that live in dust)
• Molds
• Pollens
• Chalk dust
• Perfumes
• Animal dander (tiny particles of a pet’s dead skin, urine, or saliva)
• Tobacco smoke (first- or secondhand)

Some teens have exercise-induced asthma (EIA): asthma triggered by physical activity. If you have this kind of asthma, it’s important to know that you don’t have to quit the team or even miss out on practice. Certain sports are easier on people who have asthma. Sports with lots of downtime (like baseball) let you take breathers between bursts of activity. Swimming is also a good choice because when you swim you breathe in warm, humid air, which is less likely to irritate your airway.

But there’s no need to put that soccer ball or basketball in storage. As long as you work closely with your doctor, you can probably find a way to play your favorite sport, no matter what it is. (EIA may be a sign of poorly controlled asthma. In some cases, making adjustments in your asthma management plan can help greatly reduce episodes of EIA.)

If you have asthma, your doctor can prescribe daily medications — such as anti-inflammatory agents or corticosteroids — to prevent asthma episodes. He or she may recommend taking a certain medication, either to prevent asthma or to use when you may be exposed to one of your triggers (like pollen during an outdoor field trip). Your doctor might also prescribe a bronchodilator, a kind of medicine that helps dilate, or open, the airways. Bronchodilators are usually delivered through an inhaler, a small container filled with medicine. Some types of inhalers are used as emergency medicine to open the airway during an asthma episode; doctors call these rescue inhalers. With proper management, you should have no trouble keeping up with your friends, whether on the playing field or on the social scene.

You can take a number of steps to control asthma, instead of letting asthma control you. Here are some of them:

• Know your asthma triggers and avoid them.
• Always take your medication as prescribed. Be sure to take it at the right times, in the right amounts.
• Keep your rescue inhaler handy for emergencies.
• Tell your friends, teachers, and coaches that you have asthma. When you have an episode, they’ll be able to understand what’s happening and offer help and support if you need it.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 28th, 2007 at 11:02 am and is filed under Teens. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.