What are "non respiratory asthma symptoms?"

 

 
I just read an article called "Non Respiratory Signs of Worsening Asthma" by the American Academy of Allergy Asthma & Immunology. 

It sounds like a mouthful, but the idea of the article is simple. They asked parents in the research study to watch for OTHER signs of asthma getting worse in their child. Most of us focus on wheezing and coughing-the usual "cold like" symptoms. But they asked parents to watch for changes in the way their child is acting or looks.

They found that in the days before an uncontrolled asthma flare up, there were some things that parents noticed about their children. The "non respiratory symptoms" are:

• tension
• anxiety
• sleeping problems
• tiredness
• paleness

The one upper respiratory symptom that seemed to increase dramatically was an itchy throat. (That's one things I always have before an asthma attack is a "twitchy" throat.)

The study showed that the non respiratory symptoms were actually more common than the typical cold-like symptoms of an asthma flare up.

So, should parents and doctors pay more attention to the non respiratory symptoms? They would need more research to answer that question. But, as a parent, I think these other symptoms would be helpful to look out for. Especially when you have younger kids that can't tell you what's wrong.

So, the next time your child with asthma starts to show some of the symptoms listed above, pay attention to their asthma too. You might just get an early warning that they are getting worse.