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Childhood should be joyous and free, with long days that never seem to end. That's the way most of us remember our childhoods. Unfortunately, we forget that childhood can be just as stressful for a child as adulthood is for an adult.

For a child with asthma, that stress is often multiplied many times over. Imagine never knowing when you might suddenly be unable to breathe?

Researchers have found there's a clear link between pediatric asthma and stress. But it might surprise you to know that the link may be spiral in nature, with asthma feeding the stress, then the stress worsening the asthma, which causes more stress, and on and on. In addition, when a child has asthma, additional stress is placed on the entire household. This stress is added to the burden the child is already bearing simply by having asthma.

The most important first step to reducing the impact of pediatric asthma and stress on your child is to stick to your child's asthma treatment plan. Research among families of children with asthma has shown time and again that families misunderstand the disease and have a tendency to treat it only after symptoms have appeared. This not only puts undue stress on the child and the family, it puts the child's life at risk. By sticking with the treatment plan on a daily basis, whether there are symptoms or not, you can actually prevent the symptoms from showing up. When you drift away from the treatment regiment because your child hasn't experienced any recent attacks, you allow the symptoms to return, which then contributes new stress to the situation.

No matter how well things are going, there will always be a nagging fear in the back of your asthmatic child's mind that it can only last so long. That sooner or later something will trigger another asthma attack. Unfortunately, the more your child worries about triggering an attack, the more likely the stress from that worry will actually lead to an acute episode. Which, in turn, leads to still more stress.

Caregivers can easily be caught up in the relationship between pediatric asthma and stress as well. Caring for a child with asthma can be stressful for parents and for siblings. There's the worry that his symptoms might flare up at any time. There's the fear that an acute attack might actually take your child from you. Then there's the concern about being able to afford the treatments and required medications.

According to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, many families with asthmatic children operate in a constant crisis mode. They coast along, pretending everything is fine, until an acute asthmatic episode strikes in the middle of the night and necessitates another trip to the emergency room. Then once the episode is brought under control, things settle down again for awhile, until the next one hits.

The best way to deal with pediatric asthma and the stress it causes is to get a working asthma treatment plan, says the AAAAI. A plan should include management of the asthma and the environment, medication, and clearly defined steps to take in case of an emergency. A solid action plan gives you and your child the confidence to handle whatever situations arise, and the confidence to know you're controlling the asthma rather than the asthma controlling you.