With good management, a child with asthma should be able to lead a normal, active life. Exercise is also a common trigger in children, as well as adults. Irritants such as perfumes, cigarette smoke, wood smoke, hair sprays, paint odors, cotton or wood dust, industrial chemicals and fumes, and outdoor pollution may also bring on an attack. Cold air and changes in the weather, in which winds sweep in from other areas carrying irritants, pollution or different pollens, often cause a flare. A cough, shout or laugh may stimulate the vagus nerve that leads to the lungs, and cause an attack.
Allergies play a part in triggering attacks in a large percentage of children with asthma.
Some of the most common offenders are animal dander, pollen, mold, ragweed, house dust, bacteria, dust mites, fungi, and animal and human skin fragments. Certain foods, such as chocolate, shellfish, milk, orange juice, eggs, nuts and peanut butter, along with foods or drugs containing sulfites and other preservatives, can also trigger attacks. Some children may develop severe bronchospasm from aspirin and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen, naproxen and piroxicam. A recent study performed at the National Jewish Center for Immunology and Respiratory Medicine, Denver, Colo., found that children with severe asthma suffer from depression and guilt feelings, often have problems in school, and limit their normal activities because of the disease. Asthma's damage extends to the family, whose lifestyles are often affected.