Can Childhood Asthma be Outgrown? :: Health Respiratory Essays

Can Childhood Asthma be Outgrown? Today asthma is the most common chronic childhood disease, with the number of children with asthma increasing every year. In 1995, the Environmental Protection Agency reported that 5.5 million children in the United States had asthma. Now an estimated 6.1 million children under 18 in the United States currently suffer from asthma, according to the American Lung Association. However, some asthma sufferers manage to â€Å"out-grow† their childhood asthma. â€Å"By the time high school was over I found that I wouldn’t need to use my inhaler anymore and I haven’t used my inhaler in about three years,† said Jen Nelson, sophomore journalism major at Northeastern University. Today Nelson is asthma-free and in good health. â€Å"I have been pretty much okay. Last year I got the flu so I had a couple of symptoms, but it wasn’t to the point where I needed to use my inhaler,† said Nelson. At the age of 7, Nelson suffered a â€Å"really bad† asthma attack and was diagnosed with one type of asthma, bronchial asthma. â€Å"I developed it [asthma] because I had so many cases of bronchitis†, said Nelson. After having asthma for about 10 years, Nelson was told by her doctor that her asthma â€Å"wasn’t severe anymore† and â€Å"that they no longer considered her to be asthmatic.† Then there are the asthma patients who still have occasional problems with asthma accompanied with allergies that developed during their childhood. â€Å"I was diagnosed with asthma at a very early age. I have had it ever since I was very little. It has come and gone (and come again) over the years,† said Joanna Old, senior journalism major at Northeastern University. Through the age of 10, Old suffered from severe asthma. â€Å"I was hospitalized when I was around 4 or 5 for asthma†¦[Usually] when you have an asthma attack, your lungs get tight and you hear wheezing. Well, during this particular attack, the nurse didn’t even know what was wrong-it turns out my lungs were closed so tightly, there was no wheezing-no breathing at all. I stayed in the hospital for about 3 or 4 days hooked to an IV with an oxygen tent,† said Old. During this time, Old was also on steroids and used an inhaler regularly to manage her asthma. â€Å"I was actually very sickly looking because of the drugs. I remember my hair being very thin and wispy—and I never wanted to brush it!,† said Old. As Old grew up, her asthma seemed to become less severe.