Exercise induced asthma

[Gampopa]

Hi All:

I'm posting this in the Pedi section because I wanted a broader reach. I had a 8 yr old in my school nurse's office with exercise induced asthma. Rapid breathing, tight chest, anxious etc. All the signs of severe asthma attack. Couldn't reach parent, and she has no inhaller at school. We were able to settle her down and after about 30 min she was OK to go back to class. My question, can exercise induced asthma lead to respiratory arrest? Do you know of any cases of this?

Thanks

[Nurse_Ziba]

i would like to share this url: exercise-induced asthma - mayoclinic.com.

i'm a school nurse too and we've encountered exercise induced asthma. with regards to your question, can exercise induced asthma lead to respiratory arrest? yes, one the complications of eia is respiratory failure. personally i haven't encountered cases that went to respiratory arrest.

here's another article about eia that i find very useful:

exercise-induced asthma: follow-up

author: anthony j saglimbeni, md,

return to play

the severity of an eia attack varies greatly. although cases of respiratory arrest and even death have been reported, the usual scenario is of a mild respiratory difficulty during play, which either spontaneously resolves or immediately responds to inhaled albuterol. oftentimes, the athlete self-medicates and never leaves play or alerts the trainer or doctor. although no clear-cut guidelines exist, a player who is removed from play for an asthma attack should be kept out of play until his or her respiration has normalized. this should occur within 5-10 minutes of medication administration. the athlete should be monitored closely for signs of relapse over the next several hours. if the symptoms do not completely resolve with sideline medication, the athlete should not return to play and should be referred for further treatment. depending on the severity of the patient's symptoms, this may require transportation via ambulance.

complications

complications of an untreated asthma attack include status asthmaticus, respiratory failure, and even death. more commonly, an anxiety attack can be precipitated secondary to dyspnea.

prevention

the optimal treatment of eia is to prevent the onset of symptoms. see the medication section for a discussion of drugs used to prevent eia.

prognosis

the prognosis is excellent for athletes with asthma. with proper interventions, most symptoms can be prevented, and performance should not be limited by eia if this condition is treated properly. newly diagnosed young athletes need to be educated that this condition should not be perceived as an insurmountable disability. using examples of the numerous elite athletes (eg, jackie joyner-kersee [perhaps the world's greatest athlete]; amy van dyken [olympic swimmer]; jerome bettis [former running back for the pittsburgh steelers]) with this condition can help young impressionable athletes continue in their endeavors without fear of failure or medical distress.

please continue reading here: exercise-induced asthma: follow-up - emedicine sports medicine