Free Your Child from Asthma : A Four-Week

Minimize your child's asthma symptoms, avoid unexpected attacks, and say good-bye to emergency room visits! In Free Your Child from Asthma, Dr. Gary Rachelefsky, a leading asthma specialist who has treated thousands of children over the past 30 years, explains why so many children with asthma aren't getting the care they need and how, in just four weeks, you can help put your child on the fast track to a symptom-free life.

Gary Rachelefsky, M.D. is clinical professor and co-director of the Allergy Clinic, and associate director of the Allergy/Immunology Training Program in the Department of Pediatrics at UCLA School of Medicine. He is also Director of the Respiratory and Allergic Disease Foundation and the Allergy Research Foundation.

Patricia Garrison is a health care writer who has worked actively on national campaigns for childhood asthma.

Acknowledgments

xi

Introduction: What's Wrong with Your Child's Asthma Care?

xiii

PART I UNDERSTANDING ASTHMA CARE AND TREATMENT

1 Assessing Current Treatment: Is Your Child Symptom-Free?

3

(14)

Raising Your Asthma IQ

6

(3)

Why Your Child—and You—Are in the Bind You're In

9

(1)

Common Asthma Missteps

10

(4)

How to Measure Progress: The Childhood Asthma Bill of Rights

14

(3)

2 Asthma Basics: What You Need to Know

17

(14)

Asthma Clues and Causes

18

(2)

What Is Happening in Your Child's Lungs?

20

(3)

Identifying Asthma Triggers

23

(5)

Conditions That Aggravate Asthma

28

(3)

3 An Asthma Diagnosis: What It Means...and What It Doesn't

31

(8)

The Importance of a Healthy Perspective

32

(2)

Debunking Common Myths About Asthma

34

(3)

Confronting Your Fears About Asthma

37

(2)

4 Figuring Out the Medication Morass

39

(24)

The Challenges of Treatment

40

(3)

The Long and Short of Asthma Medicines

43

(9)

Asthma Devices: The Best Route to Symptom Relief

52

(7)

The Steps in Asthma Treatment

59

(4)

5 What About Alternatives? The Pros and the Cons of Natural Treatments

63

(24)

Factors Other than Medication That Can Affect Treatment

64

(1)

Alternatives and Your Child

65

(6)

The Alternative Arsenal: Potentially Valuable Treatments

71

(2)

"Who Knows but (Probably) Harmless" Alternatives

73

(3)

Troubling Alternatives

76

(5)

The Placebo Effect

81

(1)

Proactive Asthma Care and Alternative Treatments

82

(5)

PART II TAKING CONTROL: A FOUR-WEEK, PROACTIVE ASTHMA CARE PROGRAM

6 Week One: The Doctor's Office Exam, Exposed

87

(22)

A Lesson in History: What Should Be Covered in the Initial Office Visit

89

(10)

Proactive Asthma Care: The Office Visit, Revisited

99

(3)

Week One at Home: The Start of a Journey

102

(7)

7 Week Two: Charting Progress and Eliminating Asthma Triggers

109

(16)

The Week Two Office Visit

110

(1)

Adhering to the Prescribed Treatment Plan

111

(2)

Monitoring Symptoms at Home

113

(2)

Addressing Asthma Triggers Within Your Control

115

(4)

Getting "Uncontrollable" Triggers Under Control

119

(4)

How Your Child Should Feel by the End of Week Two

123

(2)

8 Week Three: Improving Life and Symptoms Away from Home

125

(26)

Assembling Your Asthma Team

125

(2)

Creating an Asthma-Friendly Environment at School

127

(7)

An Action Plan for Managing Symptoms at School

134

(10)

Asthma on the Road

144

(2)

Asthma Overnighters: Tips for Sleepaway Camps and Sleepovers

146

(5)

9 Week Four: Living (Well) with Asthma and Looking to the Future

151

(16)

Quality of Care: Should You Change Physicians?

153

(1)

Giving Allergies a Shot: Immunotherapy

154

(3)

Checking for Other Undiagnosed Conditions

157

(1)

Raising an Empowered Patient

158

(3)

Enjoying a Symptom-Free Future

161

(6)

Concluding Remarks

167

(2)

Resources

169

(4)

Index

173

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Free Your Child from Asthma : A Four-Week Plan to Eliminate Symptoms

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials