Asthma:
A Guide for Teens

Intro	Treatment
Common Symptoms	When to Get Help
Causes and Triggers	Asthma Action Plan
Dealing with Triggers	Living with Asthma
Exercise Induced Asthma	Resources
Getting Diagnosed

If you are reading this, you might be someone who has asthma. The more you know about asthma, the better you can care for yourself. This guide was created to answer your questions about asthma and help you manage your symptoms.

What is asthma?

Asthma is a chronic condition, that is present for years and affects how you feel and breathe. It’s not contagious-you can’t get asthma from someone else (like a cold), and you can’t pass it on to anyone else. If you have asthma, your lungs are more sensitive to certain things. When something irritates or bothers your lungs, the airways start to tighten and get narrower (the walls of your airways come closer together). You can have symptoms that occur every day, weekly, every few months or hardly at all. Some children seem to outgrow it but most teens with asthma will continue to have symptoms as an adult. Most importantly with the proper treatment, people with asthma can have normal and active lives.

What exactly happens when I have asthma symptoms?

When you have asthma, the airways in your lungs are swollen and inflamed. The airways are the tubes that carry air in and out of your lungs. When you are exposed to something that irritates the airways, they start to narrow, getting smaller with less air able to move in and out. Muscles in and around the swollen airways get tight and more mucous is made. This causes you to have trouble breathing, with chest tightness, coughing, and sometimes “wheezing”, or a whistling sound when you breathe.

Next: Common Symptoms

Written by the CYWH Staff at Children's Hospital Boston

Updated: 9/4/2009