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Asthma Management Guide
Asthma Triggers
The cause of asthma episodes is inflammation in the airways that result in an oversensitivity of the airways to various stimuli or “triggers”. These triggers cause inflammation and narrowing of the airways. There are common triggers, but each student’s are different (many students have more than one). It is important that the child identify his or her triggers in order to avoid or control the cause of asthma episodes.
Most asthma triggers fall into one of the following categories:
- Air pollution
- Allergies caused by dogs, cats or other animals; cockroaches; house dust-mites or mold; pollen from trees, grasses, flowers and weeds
- Aspirin and other non steroidal anti-inflammatory agents or other medicine
- Colds or flu
- Strong physical expressions: hard crying, hard laughing, yelling, excessive fear, or excitement
- Exercise (exercise-induced asthma can be avoided through adherence to the student’s treatment plan)*
- Smoke from cigarettes or fires
- Strong odors from perfumes, incense, solvents, and sprays
- Weather changes or cold air
Discuss asthma triggers with the student to determine his or her triggers. If the triggers are not known, help determine them by having the student keep a trigger log. As soon as possible after an episode have the student record what happened right before they noticed a sign of an episode or what he or she was doing at the time.
Once the trigger is identified, it can be avoided or controlled to manager future episodes.
*It is important to remember that with proper management, the student with asthma can participate in physical activities.