Book Review: Asthma Information for Teens
Asthma Information for Teens - A Disappointing New Book
Teenagers seem to have more difficulty controlling their asthma when compared to other age groups. Younger children are "spoon-fed" their asthma controller medications by parents every day, but many teens, as they become more independent, no longer want to be told what to do. Teens don't want their friends to know that they have asthma since that label might make them less socially acceptable, so they "forget" to take a rescue inhaler when they leave the house.
There are only one or two small paperback books about asthma written for teenagers, so I was eager to buy and read the new 350 page, hardcover book "Asthma Information for Teens" from Omnigraphics, edited by Karen Bellenir. This first edition needs a lot more editing. There is considerable redundancy, and many short chapters would have been better summarized in two sentences. Each of the 60 chapters is simply information downloaded from an Internet site, an action that many teens are more likely to undertake instead of reading this thick book without pictures (and precious few diagrams). This makes the "organization" more like a jumbled "flight of ideas."
The information in this new teen book is up-to-date, including a chapter on omalizumab (anti-IgE shots for severe allergic asthma). However that chapter gives a long list of rare side effects from the shots but no idea who might benefit from this new therapy (rich kids with very severe allergic asthma and high IgE levels). Very often terms that most nurses would not understand are used, such as pathophysiologic, anticholinergics, arginine genotype, leukotriene modifiers, methylxanthines, immunotherapy, and nonadherence. The editor often details the credentials of the physicians and organizations which produced the material, but it's highly unlikely that teen readers will be impressed by attributions like, "Jerry A. Kishnan, MD, instructor of medicine in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine."
Some of the information in this book is misleading, such as "cats may protect against asthma; asthmatics are 12 times more likely to develop COPD; allergy shots can sometimes prevent asthma; and it is essential that all people with chronic diseases take their prescribed medications as directed by their doctors." Some sections don't even apply to teenagers, such as "The Difference Between Bronchial Asthma and Cardiac Asthma" (which occurs only in older folks with heart failure).
The ability to remain highly active and engage in sports and outdoor activities is very important to teens, but the information about how to prevent and treat exercise-induced bronchospasm are short and inadequate. Marijuana remains available and socially acceptable to most teen,, yet is not mentioned. Teens want to become independent, but this book does not encourage them to assume responsibility for their own asthma management, and to utilize health care professionals as resources, not dictators. Although a list of 23 Internet sites with asthma information is given at the end of the book (not including WebMD), their advantages and disadvantages are not discussed, and the readers are not given any advice on how to separate evidence-based truth from advertising and greed.
If you are a teenager with asthma (or the parent of one), Doctor Tom Plaut's Asthma Guide remains the best book to read.
Related Topics: Treating Asthma: Partnering with Your Doctor, Pets and Allergies (WebMD Video)
Technorati Tags: Asthma Information For Teens, asthma, allergies and asthma
Teenagers seem to have more difficulty controlling their asthma when compared to other age groups. Younger children are "spoon-fed" their asthma controller medications by parents every day, but many teens, as they become more independent, no longer want to be told what to do. Teens don't want their friends to know that they have asthma since that label might make them less socially acceptable, so they "forget" to take a rescue inhaler when they leave the house.
There are only one or two small paperback books about asthma written for teenagers, so I was eager to buy and read the new 350 page, hardcover book "Asthma Information for Teens" from Omnigraphics, edited by Karen Bellenir. This first edition needs a lot more editing. There is considerable redundancy, and many short chapters would have been better summarized in two sentences. Each of the 60 chapters is simply information downloaded from an Internet site, an action that many teens are more likely to undertake instead of reading this thick book without pictures (and precious few diagrams). This makes the "organization" more like a jumbled "flight of ideas."
The information in this new teen book is up-to-date, including a chapter on omalizumab (anti-IgE shots for severe allergic asthma). However that chapter gives a long list of rare side effects from the shots but no idea who might benefit from this new therapy (rich kids with very severe allergic asthma and high IgE levels). Very often terms that most nurses would not understand are used, such as pathophysiologic, anticholinergics, arginine genotype, leukotriene modifiers, methylxanthines, immunotherapy, and nonadherence. The editor often details the credentials of the physicians and organizations which produced the material, but it's highly unlikely that teen readers will be impressed by attributions like, "Jerry A. Kishnan, MD, instructor of medicine in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine."
Some of the information in this book is misleading, such as "cats may protect against asthma; asthmatics are 12 times more likely to develop COPD; allergy shots can sometimes prevent asthma; and it is essential that all people with chronic diseases take their prescribed medications as directed by their doctors." Some sections don't even apply to teenagers, such as "The Difference Between Bronchial Asthma and Cardiac Asthma" (which occurs only in older folks with heart failure).
The ability to remain highly active and engage in sports and outdoor activities is very important to teens, but the information about how to prevent and treat exercise-induced bronchospasm are short and inadequate. Marijuana remains available and socially acceptable to most teen,, yet is not mentioned. Teens want to become independent, but this book does not encourage them to assume responsibility for their own asthma management, and to utilize health care professionals as resources, not dictators. Although a list of 23 Internet sites with asthma information is given at the end of the book (not including WebMD), their advantages and disadvantages are not discussed, and the readers are not given any advice on how to separate evidence-based truth from advertising and greed.
If you are a teenager with asthma (or the parent of one), Doctor Tom Plaut's Asthma Guide remains the best book to read.
Related Topics: Treating Asthma: Partnering with Your Doctor, Pets and Allergies (WebMD Video)
Technorati Tags: Asthma Information For Teens, asthma, allergies and asthma
4 Comments:
Iwould like to know if a sewer leak thats draining in your yard is harmfull to your health by breathing it in and etc.?
It's so true what you said about teens "forgetting" their rescue inhalers.
I myself am guilty of it. I hate having my friends see me take my inhaler because it can lead to many questions that I don't want to answer.
But, thats not the only reason I would "forget" my inhaler. I really, really, do not like the side effects of using my inhaler.
I'm supposed to take 2 puffs before any excersie but I never, ever do that unless I'm doing something that I know is more than likely going to result in a bad asthma attack. But, when I do take those 2 puffs, even before the excerse it's so much easier to breathe, but that never lasts very long.
I so hate taking my inhaler that now when I feel and asthma attack coming on I will stop what I'm doing and try and calm myself and take deep slow breaths through my nose. Most of the time I can calm myself in about 30 min. although, by then I'm so exhuasted I can't return to the activity.
I now see though that I really, do need to have my inhaler on me. I had a asthma attack at dance class one night, which I was able to control, but I really scared my dance teacher.
Something does need to be done to help teens better understand their asthma, but a book a really not the way to go. I love to read but I would probably never read a book on asthma. The internet...I will read off of though.
What about Asthma is very young children? Below a year for example. I am having an impossible time getting my pediatrician to acknowledge that ALL the signs are there, they keep attempting to Diagnose my son with something else...he has even had an ambulance tech call it asthma, but his pediatrician dismissed it. I live in a small town, I can't even swtich offices and call it asthma...the doctors all eat lunch together!
We are spending more money on health care and we are taking more pharmaceutical drugs, yet disease conditions such as asthma continue to rise.
Alternative Health Tips
Interest in alternative medicine for possible treatment of asthma and allergies is continuing to drive people to look into the field of dietary supplements. They are looking at various therapies such as: acupuncture, homoeopathic remedies, herbal remedies, chiropractic, holistic healing, and various nutritional manipulations to name a few.
With all do respect for these treatments in general, variable results have been reported, and there does not seem to be a consistent consensus.
Instead of suppressing a symptom and creating a side effect by using a drug or using a specific herb to treat a symptom science should be looking at finding the root causes of the asthma and allergy symptoms.
A relatively new discovery called glyconutritionals one component required for optimal health is making an impact on thousands of people's health world wide and could have that same impact on yours!
Asthma:
Natural Treatments
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