See Your Breath May Give an Early Warning for an Asthma Attack
The middle black recording illustrates what a early indication of a green condition changing to a red condition might look like.
We plan to explore the possible application of See Your Breath for the purpose of providing asthma patients, or the parents of young children with asthma, with an early warning of an upcoming asthma attack. If this possibility is realized it would give patients (or the parents of patients) an important heads-up to take action - an early action makes a big difference in lessening or eliminating a full-blown asthma episode.
If See Your Breath graphs look different for a particular patient when an asthma attack is brewing from how that individual’s graphs look under normal circumstances, then See Your Breath would be a very helpful tool, especially for the parents of children too young to have either the words or the introspective skills to alert their parents to how they may be feeling slightly “off” from normal.
The Pediatric Pulmonary Division of the Department of Pediatrics at the College of Medicine at the University of Florida describes this situation on their website page, Early Warning Signs of Asthma.
We plan to explore the possible application of See Your Breath for the purpose of providing asthma patients, or the parents of young children with asthma, with an early warning of an upcoming asthma attack. If this possibility is realized it would give patients (or the parents of patients) an important heads-up to take action - an early action makes a big difference in lessening or eliminating a full-blown asthma episode.
If See Your Breath graphs look different for a particular patient when an asthma attack is brewing from how that individual’s graphs look under normal circumstances, then See Your Breath would be a very helpful tool, especially for the parents of children too young to have either the words or the introspective skills to alert their parents to how they may be feeling slightly “off” from normal.
The Pediatric Pulmonary Division of the Department of Pediatrics at the College of Medicine at the University of Florida describes this situation on their website page, Early Warning Signs of Asthma.
Early warning signs of asthma are the physical and emotional changes that happen before the child begins to experience breathing difficulties. These are the earliest signs of asthma and occur before you can hear the child wheezing or coughing. Early warning signs are not the same for everyone, and even the same person may not always show the same signs. Remember that these signs do not always mean that an episode will happen, but suggest the possibility of an episode. The early warning signs of asthma are not uncommon and could be signs of other illnesses, or even mood changes.
As the University of Florida website explains, taking the early “action” of slowing down your own or your child’s activities can possibly prevent the need for medical treatment.
By learning about early warning signs, children with asthma and their families learn to be aware of how the body feels and what messages the body gives. Recognizing and acting on early warning signs of asthma are important parts of asthma control. Whenever you think that an asthma episode may be happening soon, slow down activity. These actions may help to avoid or lessen the episode. If breathing difficulties follow, take medication as directed for episodes. Early treatment is always the most helpful. Waiting for an episode to become full-blown usually means that it will take more time and treatment to get relief.
The early warning signs the pediatric pulmonologists mention are:
Physical
Emotional
Physical
- Shortness of breath
- Tightness in chest
- Pain in chest
- Less able to exercise
- Tired
- Itchy throat
- Watery eyes
- Fever
- Dry mouth
- Clammy skin
- Pale
- Fast Hearbeat
- Sneezing
- Congestion
- Dark circles around eyes
Emotional
- Get upset easiy
- Feels sad
- Wants to be alone
- Feels mervous
- Gets excited easily
- Feels restless
Most all of these early warning signs can occur for other reasons, especially the emotional warning signs, so we will be most keen to see if the use of See Your Breath gives patients, or the parents of children with asthma, an early clue to the arrival of an asthma attack.