Asthma: treating children with inhaled steroids

At a visit to your pediatrician for your child's recurring cough, you're prescribed...a steroid? If your child is diagnosed with asthma, that's likely the case. Many parents become confused when their child is given a steroid, picturing body builders and giant athletes. This article does a great job of describing the difference between different types of steroids. Parents -- your asthmatic children will not grow up to be muscle men and women -- at least not because of their asthma medication!

Steroids come in different forms and the kind that are used to treat asthma are called anti-inflammatories. They're inhaled deep into the lungs to soothe irritated tissue that causes the chronic cough and wheezing of the disease. There are risks to taking them, as there are with any medication, but most physicians agree that the benefits of controlled asthma far outweigh the risks of the medicine. (These types of medication differ from fast acting inhalers -- such as albuterol -- which are used during an asthma attack. Inhaled steroids prevent an attack, but won't stop one that is already in progress.)

As the article points out, the best course of action is to educate your child and yourself on the proper dosing and use of the medication so that your child can have well-controlled asthma with the fewest side effects possible. That means more time and freedom for playing and having fun!