• Colds and respiratory viruses

• Physical activity (exercise or playing)

• Allergies

• Exposure to smoke or other irritants

• Cold air

The American Lung Association (ALA) offers advice about how to reduce in-home exposures to some asthma triggers at: https://www.lung.org/lung-health-diseases/lung-disease-lookup/asthma/managing-asthma/reduce-asthma-triggers

• Preventative (controller) medications

• Rescue (relief) medications

• Avoiding triggers

• Frequent wheezing or coughing

• Unable to play/exercise normally due to cough and/or trouble breathing

• Waking up at night more than once monthly due to cough or breathing issues

• Needing their rescue inhaler more than twice a week

• More than two ER visits or courses of oral steroids (prednisone/prednisolone/dexamethasone) in one year

• Your primary care provider (PCP)

  • Pediatricians receive extensive training in managing childhood asthma

• A pediatric pulmonologist

  • Treats children with more severe asthma and those who may have other conditions complicating their asthma

• A pediatric allergist

• Vocal cord dysfunction

  • Vocal cords partially close (particularly during exercise) causing difficulty breathing

• Swallowing dysfunction

  • Food/drink can enter the airway (called aspiration) causing cough and inflammation

• Reflux (gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD))

  • Stomach contents move upwards and irritate the area around the vocal cords and/or enter the airway causing cough and inflammation

• Nasal allergies causing post-nasal drip

• Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD)

• Cystic fibrosis (CF)

• Anatomic abnormalities of the airway 

• Whooping cough (pertussis)

• Foreign body in the airway

• Protracted bacterial bronchitis (PBB)