Severe Asthma and Your Teen: Surviving College
If your teen has severe asthma, chances are that you have taken more than your fair share of trips to the doctor’s office, the emergency room and the pharmacy because of your child’s disease. You’ve helped your child learn how to use various inhalers and maybe even helped them to take injectable medications to help control asthma symptoms. You’ve been there to help manage all of the requirements and stresses of a chronic disease - and now your teen is going off to college. How can you help your teen independently manage his or her condition under changing circumstances? Here are some tips to help ease the transition.
Who Manages Your Teen’s Severe Asthma?
Take a hard look at how your teen manages his or her asthma, and how big of a role you play in the management. Does your teen take his control medication daily without prompting or do you feel like you have to constantly remind him? Can your teen recognize the signs and symptoms of an exacerbation and use the rescue inhaler appropriately? When your teen goes off to school, her responsibility for managing the disease will become almost 100%. If your teen isn’t there yet, it’s important to find out ways to increase her level of responsibility before she leaves for the first day of classes.
Why Won’t He Take His Inhaler When He Needs It?
If you’ve been dealing with this chronic illness for a while, you probably know every medication side effect, the telephone number of the pharmacy and every asthma trigger your teen has. On the other hand, it might seem that your teen barely knows what the symptoms of an asthma exacerbation are. They were there at every doctor’s visit – why the difference?
A study in the Journal of School Nursing states that there are four main factors that affect a teen’s ability to manage his or her asthma.
- A desire to be “normal.” Teens have a strong need to feel the same as their peers – having asthma makes them feel different.
- The unpredictability of the disease. Teens are trying to master their own lives and unpredictable asthma attacks complicate this developmental task.
- Credibility of the teen with asthma. Because people don’t always understand the limitations that severe asthma can cause, it can affect how others see your teen.
- Self-management issues. Your teen may just need more education about the condition, the medications or the triggers of asthma. Alternatively, your teen may understand all of these aspects of severe asthma, but may lack the motivation to take control of the disease because of the above three factors.
Moving to Independent Asthma Management
Taking these issues into consideration, sit down with your teen and talk about the impending move to college life. Ask them questions about their disease such as:
- Medications. Does your teen know which medications should be taken daily and which is the rescue inhaler?
- Asthma symptoms. Can your teen explain how he or she feels when she is having an attack? If doing daily peak flow readings, does your teen know what number is in the green zone and which number means the rescue inhaler is needed? Can your teen tell when he or she is in danger and should seek emergency help?
- Triggers. Does your teen know what makes the asthma worse and which situations to avoid?
If it seems that your teenager doesn’t understand these essential factors in asthma management, it is important to schedule a visit with the asthma specialist. Explain your concerns to the provider ahead of time. This will allow for the provider to understand your concerns and find ways to discuss these concerns with your teenager.
