Asthma, thick air keeps some confined indoors

Four-year-old Connor Atwell knows what to do when he catches a whiff of wildfire smoke.

Beat a hasty retreat indoors.

Otherwise, “I get wheezy and coughy,” the Virginia Beach boy said.

The summer of 2008 has not started well for Connor and other asthmatics.

Just when the living should be easy, they’re wheezy.

The smoke blowing in from fires in the Great Dismal Swamp and North Carolina is a trigger of asthma attacks.

Children and families who were just gearing up to hit playgrounds and basketball courts and swimming pools are instead heading for the air-conditioned relief of their living rooms.

Fortunately, most are not having to go to doctors’ offices – pediatricians and Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters aren’t experiencing a big upswing in asthma emergencies. But the smoke does put a damper on summer life.

Dr. Cynthia Kelly, a CHKD asthma specialist, said her practice has seen a slight increase in children with breathing problems related to the smoke. However, the calls and visits have not been anywhere near as large as what’s experienced in October, when the fall allergy season collides with the arrival of colds and viruses.

Still, some patients, particularly those in regions closest to the fires, have had to have their medications adjusted.

The CHKD-affiliated allergy and immunology practice treats about 5,000 children with asthma throughout Hampton Roads and the northern part of North Carolina.

“A lot of families are already keeping kids indoors when the air quality isn’t good,” Kelly said.

Eight-year-old Jevon Johnson of Virginia Beach was set to play basketball and ride bikes with his 11-year-old brother and two sisters, who are 10 and 7, once school was out.

But on days when the air’s been thick with smoke, he’s had to sit inside instead.

“He usually tells me before I notice it,” said his mother, Brandy Johnson. “His chest feels tight and he coughs.”

“I can barely breathe sometimes,” Jevon said.

She can tell he needs to go inside when he starts taking breaths between words of a sentence, and a spot in his neck pulls in with every breath.

“He just wants to run. They’ve been in school, and now that it’s summer, they want to try everything at once. I keep telling them, 'You’ve got three months.’”

Jevon has used his inhaler more, and has had more treatments with his nebulizer machine, which vaporizes his asthma medicine to ease his breathing.

Kelly said outdoor athletic camps have posed a problem for some children, and she instructs her patients to make sure they take their inhalers with them.

“Be prepared is our motto,” Kelly said. “Control your asthma instead of letting it control you.” Patients who need to use their inhalers more frequently than every four to six hours should call their physicians.

The American Lung Association of the Atlantic Coast advises people with asthma, emphysema and bronchitis to monitor their breathing, stay inside as much as possible and avoid exercising outside when the air is smoky.

If driving through smoky areas, keep windows shut and air conditioning on. Breathing through a damp cloth also can help.

The smoke has cramped the style of adult asthmatics as well as children. James Paulson, 33, enjoys running outside this time of year, when the temperatures are still fairly moderate. He usually runs six days a week through his neighborhood in the Deep Creek area of Chesapeake. Lately, though, he’s had to run on a treadmill at the gym to avoid the smoke.

“It’s nasty to start with, and unpleasant to run outdoors,” Paulson said. “Then there’s the wheezing.”

His 6-year-old son, Sam, also has asthma. He knows to stay inside when it’s hazy outside. Otherwise, “I cough every minute,” Sam said.

One of Sam’s soccer teammates, Zachary Dzarnowski, had to miss his end-of-the-year soccer party because the smoke was too thick for him to participate in the outdoor celebration.

“The back of my throat feels like it’s burning,” said Zachary, who was diagnosed with asthma when he was 1. “It makes me tired.”

His mother, Ruth Dzarnowski, said she doesn’t have to convince the 6-year-old to stay inside when it’s smoky outside. Over the weekend, they had planned to go swimming at a YMCA pool. “If it’s like this, I don’t want to go,” he told his mom.

One of the frustrations, too, is not being able to predict the comings and goings of the smoke.

“The minute you think it’s gone ...” Paulson said. “ ... it comes back again.”

Elizabeth Simpson, (757) 446-2635, elizabeth.simpson@pilotonline.com