Your first concern as a parent of a kid with asthma is to keep him or her healthy and safe. You try and ensure your kid understands his or her personal asthma management and action plan. You clean your home, ridding the air of possible episode triggers. You make sure that your child is correctly using medication. But all this hasn't eased the fear of a violent, potentially fatal status asthmaticus episode.

Nobody can convince you to not worry. What you should be able to do is identify an asthma emergency, and know what to do to protect your child during an episode.

Common signs of an Asthma Emergency

Your kid's pediatrician will outline specific early warning signs for your child in his or her personal asthma action plan. Usually, asthma action plans for older children are made using peak flow readings, which monitor how well your kid's lungs function. Identifying these indicators and knowing how to read peak flow zones will help you and your child if an asthma episode is impending. However, you might want to a list that also outlines the physical signs of a possible violent asthma episode.

According to the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program (a part of the National Institutes of Health), all of the following symptoms indicate a potential asthma emergency. If you recognize any one of theme, contact your doctor immediately. It might be a good idea to stick this list on the refrigerator or a bulletin board, and give a copy to anyone that might look after your kid. If the person watching your child notices any of these signs and can't get a hold of you right away, they should dial 911 at once.

First Actions to Take in an Asthma Emergency

Check your kid's asthma action plan created by your healthcare provider. The plan will give detailed instructions for responding to certain symptoms that occur. It will also have more thorough directions for multiple groups of symptoms and signs (or multiple peak flow zones). For instance, a plan might be based on traffic lights, with each level of asthma symptom severity corresponding to a traffic light color, with green being the least bad symptoms and red being the worst. Every zone should provide the proper medication or action necessary.

If your doctor hasn't yet made an asthma action plan for your kid, contact your doctor for one. Make sure that copies are given to your kid's school, coaches, babysitters, daycare providers, a neighbor, and the parent of your kid's best friend. When the people who look after your child's safety have a written plan of action, complete with warning signs and treatment methods, you cn rest a little easier.