5) As with print publications before the Internet, one can count on some traditional sources for straight-forward- though unadorned information. One is "Teach Your Patients About Asthma: A Clinician's Guide," from the
National Institute of Health, with sections on infants with asthma, plans for staying active for children, talking to others about asthma, and other practical advice. Another is the American Lung Association's Childhood Asthma, at http://www.lungusa.org/noframes/learn/aschil/ascchildhoo.html, a 6 page practical text on the causes, symptoms, and triggers of childhood asthma.
6) Leading the grassroots movement of informed parents of asthmatic children is the Allergy and Asthma Network Mothers of Asthmatics, Inc. With its On-Line Survey on Asthma and Managed Care, current allergy and asthma topics, and Bulletin board and Research News, the AAN/MA leads the pack in bringing important information to other parents and professionals. It can be found at http://www.podi.com/health/aanma/
7) Sympatico offers a rating system and hyperlinks to information on various diseases, including Childhood Asthma. Try them at
their website.
8) A buried treasure is "Asthma in Children" by a Canadian physician, Tom Kovesi, M.D., at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario. Found at http://www.cheo.on.ca/asthma/index.html, there are particulars on patterns of asthma, using inhalers, monitoring your child's asthma, and the like.
More Specific Information
1) Get familiar with Medical Matrix Pulmonology at http://www.medmatrix.org/SPages/Pulmonology.htm. This professional site, though not limited to asthma, has abstracts, reviews, articles, Practice Guidelines, cases, textbooks, and patient education hyperlinks (to mention a few) that are diverse and helpful. Under the Disease heading, choose the Asthma Resources section which leads to numerous clinical articles, guidelines, news items, courses, and educational modules that could be of use in the management of your adult and young patients. A large collection- it includes the Matrix search engine.
2) One of the most useful newsgroups is alt.support.asthma. Organized in a lengthy Question and Answer format, i.e., What is a spirometer? this FAQ is a collection of personal experiences, suggestions, and practical information (most of the contributors are not health care professionals). It is available at http://www.cco.caltech.edu/~wrean/asthma-gen.html. Within the group there is a FAQ: Asthma Medications. It (and the group) are maintained by Patricia Wrean. Asthma Medications is an alphabetical list of the most commonly prescribed medications for the prevention and treatment of asthma, (though not oral steroids) both in the U.S. and overseas. There is no information regarding dosage, contraindications, etc.
3) A more definite newsgroup for your children or young patients is Kids talking to Kids About Asthma. You can join this group by sending the message "sub ASTHMA-K your name" to listserv@sjuvm.stjohns.edu.