Recognize Early Signs of Asthma Before the Wheezing StartsWant to know how our family finds signs of asthma in our son before the casual observer? It wasn't easy in the beginning, but now we are old pros at recognizing that dark circles under the eyes don't always mean that he's 'just tired'... 
...but that he may be showing the first visible symptoms of asthma. Some people thought we were nuts at first. We weren't overreacting, though. It took a lot of observation, but seeing those early signs of asthma means that our son doesn't have to wait until he has real trouble breathing to receive treatment. Every kid is different, and so is each asthma case, so remember to always stay in touch with your doctor about your own child's asthma. The first time my son had a full blown asthma attack, I didn't recognize it for what it was. Still a baby, he'd had a cold for a few days and I was afraid the rumbling in his chest could be pneumonia. Boy! Was I wrong! After an emotionally draining experience, we learned that he'd been suffering from asthma all along. Great (I guess) - at least we knew what it was. We just didn't have a clue what to do about it. We've now learned to watch out for the symptoms our son has as he 'gears up' for an episode. If I see any of these early signs of asthma, especially in combination, it's a sure bet that an asthma attack is on it's way. Here's a list of our son's early warning signs of asthma:
If we let it progress, he begins to experience:
For more asthma symptoms , continue reading at this page this page . It will give you a better understanding of the more severe signs of asthma. As soon as I see those tell-tale dark circles under the eyes, I ask him if he 'needs to breathe' (our term for a breathing treatment). He's old enough now to know if he needs to or not - which is great! No more guess work on my part with a toddler who can't express himself. I'm excited that he's beginning to recognize his own signs of asthma that I can't see from the outside. As he grows, I expect him to take more and more ownership for letting us know when he is having problems breathing. 
As a family, we're now pretty good at stopping the asthma signs and symptoms before they turn into an attack. Here's a photo of the nebulizer our son uses when he's having trouble. It's a great travel size, so we pack it in our suitcase when we travel. Just in case. If you want to know more about asthma prevention and what we do in our family, be sure to visit my other pages. You might find something that works for us, works for you too. Believe me, we hated that nebulizer when we first got it. But when we saw our son go from struggling for air... ... to breathing comfortably in minutes, we quickly learned that we never want to be without it. The next step is to minimize the triggers he's exposed to and keep up with our natural treatments. That's what keeps him healthy and helps stop the attacks before they start. But that's a story for another page! Return to Top
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