Asthmatic breathing problems (density) can be triggered or exacerbated by respiratory infections, allergies, irritants (eg. Cigarette smoke), cold and physical exertion.

By activity, you have to breathe faster. This gives a sudden heat and fluid loss in the airways. In those who have sensitive airways can lead to an asthmatic reaction. The exercise-induced asthma is physical activity the triggering cause of the density.

How strong reactions will depend on:

- Rate of asthma
- Day Form
- External factors, such as allergy-causing substances from bl. a tree, grass, animals, mites, irritants from perfumes and climatic changes that cold.

Some children with asthma is untreated or not adequately treated with asthma medications. Thus, many of these respiratory symptoms during physical activity. Some are better if they are treated with steroids, while others will continue to have problems and need additional medication, and adaptation to be able to hang with the physical activities with peers.

Asthma triggered by exertion can put severe limitations for the child’s play and the physical display and therefore provides a lower quality of life.

With the right medication and organization of activities should children with exercise-induced asthma could work on a par with peers. The activity must be pleasurable and arranged so that the child can master it and the risk of exercise-induced asthma is reduced.

Problems with participation in gymnastics hours because of asthma may not result in exemption. It is to make the child a disservice. In difficult cases, it is especially important to collect information / guidance from a doctor, physiotherapist, nurse or nurse about your child’s illness and what needs to be done for your child to participate.

Information about the child’s illness must be given to teachers, kindergarten staff and managers so that they may understand the issues and can arrange activities to give your child a chance to work properly.

This is not an easy question! The answer is certainly not unique.

If proven allergy to fur animals should first be preventative advice not to acquire pets. Located at the child risk group, ie if the mother or father or both parents have allergies (see table below chapter on prevention) should also be reluctant to acquire a dog or cat.

Otherwise, we must mention the studies that have come in recent years showing that animals in the family when it is born a child, reduces the chances that this child is allergic. The theory is that it’s a kind of tolerance development for the animal, while bacteria and more from the animal stimulates the child’s immune system in a beneficial manner. Allergy development that is “not a desired track” of the immune system is then subdued. But all the results from the studies are not entirely clear and there will be a need for more research before or can recommend someone to acquire pets for preventing asthma and allergies.

Any advice on animal acquisition must be treated entirely separately. There are often many aspects of such cases. And remember that it may be difficult to get rid of a pet you have tied up close to.

When a child has been asthmatic in connection with an infection more than two times, usually Mon happy to say that “now is diagnosed with asthma” set.

When children get bigger, your doctor still supports the clinical findings, but also to the spirometry measurements. Reversibility is important for diagnosis, ie spirometry measurements showing the normalization after the patient has been inhaling beta 2-agonists such.

The lighter the child is suffering, the greater chance there is that the asthma symptoms are gone or has been significantly better when puberty is passed.

We estimate that 30-50% have grown out of asthma symptoms at the time. If the external circumstances are unfortunate, someone who gets asthma back in adulthood.
- Is there a distinction between allergic asthma and asthma without allergy?

A pure allergic asthma is rare. Is it an allergy that has tripped the bronchial state, that in addition also called non-specific, ie, asthmatics are poor of other stuff as cold, heavy physical activity, smoking of others, including viral infections.

Some children only have asthma symptoms during the pollen season or in contact with fur-bearing animals, usually cats.

Non-allergic asthma are clearly more common in infants and toddlers who develop symptoms associated with infections and adults who have asthma later in life.

Especially people with asthma may react to NO2 with impaired lung function. In Norway it is particularly exhaust from diesel engines that contribute to increased pollution outside. Along with traffic will also fireplace on cold days to be a significant source of polluted air with a lot of particulate matter. Here come the biggest emissions from old wood stoves.

Particulate matter can both trigger and worsen the disease in people with chronic respiratory disorders. Particulate matter may also be carriers of allergens that can trigger allergies.

The normal respiratory tract may partly respond to exertion in the cold, both in animals and humans. Tissue samples from the respiratory tract in sled dogs who have been involved in sled dog in Alaska showed various degrees of inflammatory reactions – just as in our cross country athletes when they compete in cold weather.

However, it is important to remember that physical activity improves stamina and the ability to cope with asthma. People with asthma can participate in regular physical activity, even in cold weather, provided good protection against the cold in front of nose and mouth and with an individual needs asthma medication. In general, should not those with asthma run cardio at temperatures below -10 degrees?

But asthma disease is very individual with fluctuations in disease course and some will experience problems with the breath already by a few degrees of frost. It is important to have knowledge of their disease and that one takes into account their own reactions.

The reason that many people with asthma gets worse when they breathe in cold air, caused by over-sensitive airways and not the cold allergy. The cold air drivers indirectly to the drying of the airways and thus narrowing. In very cold weather are also more difficult to breathe through the nose. People with asthma causes breathing by mouth to further narrowing of the airways because the air does not have time to get warm before it reaches the airways.

The nose has a very important role in protecting the airways against untreated air and it has been shown that the size of the nose affecting the ability to breathe through the nose. To live in very cold climates (Greenland) can be difficult, and studies have shown that they have a higher nose caves than many other ethnic groups!

Asthma attacks triggered by one or more of the following factors: the allergenic substances such as pollen, mold , tobacco smoke, dust, pollution, fog, cold, various gases, strong smells, stress, medications, exercise, viral infections and some medications.
What happens in the respiratory system?

In particular, three factors, each of which causes seizures;

– Cramps in the muscles around the airways.
– Irritation / dermatitis (inflammation) in the mucous membranes of the respiratory tract that is caused by infection. The inflammation causes swelling of the mucous membrane, respiratory system are small and it becomes harder to breathe.
– Slim accumulation in the airway

Which exposure may aggravate existing asthma?

All drugs have mucosal irritant effect, can worsen symptoms of asthma. This applies to many forms of both organic and inorganic dust, smoke, gas and steam. Bad indoor environment can also trigger symptoms in asthmatics, like physical exertion, cold and stress.
Measures

All adults who have asthma or are experiencing severe worsening of their asthma should consider whether the work environment have or have had significance for respiratory complaints.

In a study of the labor inspectorate in 2007 called “Stop exclusion of asthmatics” found that all kinds of measures that were implemented to reduce the exposure had a positive effect. It was not possible to rank the measures according to effectiveness, because asthma is a disease characterized individually and it works well for one does not necessarily work equally well for the other. The measures should be adapted to individual needs. From other studies we know that the effect of different measures is better the earlier in the course they will.