Book Review: Asthma info for Teens
Asthma knowledge for Teens – A Disappointing New Book
Teenagers seem to have increasingly 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 increasingly 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 build 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 approximately asthma written for teenagers, so I was keen to buy and read the new 350 page, hardcover book “Asthma data for Teens” from Omnigraphics, edited by Karen Bellenir. that first edition needs a lot increasingly editing. There is considerable redundancy, and many short chapters would have been better summarized in two sentences. Each of the 60 chapters is simply knowledge downloaded from an World Wide Web site, an action that many teens are increasingly likely to undertake instead of reading that thick book without pictures (and precious few diagrams). that makes the “organization” increasingly like a jumbled “flight of ideas.”
The data in that new teen book is up-to-date, including a chapter on omalizumab (anti-IgE shots for severe allergic asthma). However that chapter gives a distant list of rare side effects from the shots but no notion who might benefit from that 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 fabric, but it’s highly
Some of the info in that book is misleading, such as “cats may protect against asthma; asthmatics are 12 times increasingly likely to develop COPD; allergy shots can sometimes prevent asthma; and it is fundamental that all public with chronic diseases take their prescribed medications as directed by their doctors.” Some sections don’t even apply to teenagers, such as “The Difference within 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 vital to teens, but the knowledge approximately 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 that book does not energize them to assume responsibility for their own asthma management, and to utilize health care professionals as resources, not dictators. Although a list of 23 Web sites with asthma knowledge 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)
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Original post by Dr. Enright
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