Confusion about medications
There is a lot of confusion about the controller medications we use for asthma. Kids immediately feel the effect of quick release medications, but they don’t feel the effect from the controller medications for several days. It’s really hard for them to understand that the controller meds will help them in three to seven days when the quick release medicine helps right away.
Elizabeth R. Woods, MD, MPH, Division of Adolescent/Young Adult Medicine
They ask some of the same things kids do
Parents ask some of the same questions that the kids do: often they want to know what they are doing wrong. Again, I always try to explain that there’s not necessarily anything that they are doing wrong and to focus on the hereditary part of it. In addition, parents often express confusion about the medicines we use to treat asthma, and they express confusion about the causes of the asthma and what the triggers are for their particular child. I really try and break those things down for them and tell them what we know about asthma, list the kinds of triggers that a lot of kids have, tell them about the triggers that we think their child has, how they can manage it control it so that their family can do the things it wants to do.
Shari Nethersole, MD, Pediatrician
Parents think their kids are on too many medications
A lot of parents think their kids are too many asthma medications. Understandably, they are focused on the “here and now” and they want the medicines that are going to help their kid feel better fast. They are less willing to fill the prescriptions for the medicines for which there is no immediate positive effect, even though those medicines can often reduce long term complications for their child.
Elizabeth R. Woods, MD, MPH, Division of Adolescent/Young Adult Medicine
Side effects of preventative medicines
I think that some families are worried about side effects from preventative medicines since they should be taken all the time. The most common preventative medicines that we use are steroid inhalers, and families have concerns about giving their children steroids every day. So we talk with them about the fact that the steroids only go to the lungs and are not absorbed systemically, that there isn’t a lot of published data saying that they negatively affect the child’s health, and there is a lot of published data that says that they really help control the child’s asthma.
Joanne Cox, MD, Associate Chief, Division of General Pediatrics
Taking medicine can help
When kids are feeling well they may think they don’t need their medications, and tend to stop taking them. For patients who participate in sports, we encourage them to take their medication explaining that it will allow them to play their best during the sport. I will discuss with patients “If you want to play the best in your sport you need to take your medication even if you’re feeling well.” A lot of them are like “Yeah, really?” This approach seems to catch their attention.
Kathleen Waddicor, RN, BSN, Division of Adolescent Medicine