Emergency Cases
+233546829126During your appointment, your healthcare provider will conduct a physical exam and may order some tests, like x-ray, blood tests, allergy skin tests, and pulmonary function tests (PFTs).
The physician will take a detailed history of:
- Family allergy/asthma, with emphasis on parents
- Child's allergy history - e.g. eczema
- Child's history of illness to date e.g. frequency of colds
- Child's symptoms: Severity, frequency and duration of symptoms. What brings an end to the symptoms for example if the child has a cold, do the symptoms disappear when the cold is over?
- Child's triggers: what have the parents observed with respect to exposures to allergens or irritants, such as smoke, perfume, infection or emotions
This information will help your healthcare provider understand your child's pattern of symptoms.
If your child has just been diagnosed with asthma, know that you are not alone. Asthma Ghana and your healthcare team have many resources available to you.
- Start by learning as much as you can about the condition. Work closely with your child's healthcare provider to monitor your child's asthma symptoms. Ask questions and clarify any information you are unsure about.
- Reach out to Asthma Ghana's FREE Asthma & Allergy HelpLine to speak with a experts
- Begin keeping a diary to keep track of what non-allergic triggers affect your child's asthma. This will help you identify your child's triggers, and develop strategies to avoid them.
- Learn all you can about your child's medications. This includes possible side effects of medication and the appropriate technique for administering medication.
- Ask you healthcare provider about developing a Kids Asthma Action Plan. And Asthma Action Plan monitors asthma symptoms and has a written plan to follow when symptoms change.
- Join Asthma Ghana's membership alliance (ACMA) to connect with other Ghanaians living with asthma or impacted by asthma.
If you are concerned that your infant or child's asthma may be severe, observe their behavior for the indicators below and speak to your healthcare provider right away.
Observe your infant for any of the following indicators of Severe Asthma:
- Sits up, refuses to lie down
- Stops feeding
- Audible wheezing
- Pale or bluish-looking skin - anywhere
- Irritable
- Rapid breathing
- Using accessory muscles of breathing-in, drawing of muscles at the neck when breathing - it may look like the skin is being tugged in. If you see this, your child must be assessed by a healthcare provider.
Observe your child for any of the following indicators of Severe Asthma:
- Pale looking or bluish looking skin- anywhere
- Breathless
- Cannot walk or talk
- Wheezing
- Looks exhausted
- Rapid breathing
- Irritable
- Peak flow less than 50% of personal best
- Using accessory muscles of breathing-in, drawing of muscles at the neck when breathing - it may look like the skin is being tugged in. If you see this, your child must be assessed by a healthcare provider.