Get the 411 on chronic illnesses that often affect young people:

Asthma

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Asthma is the leading chronic disease in children and teens. In an asthma attack, the muscles around the bronchial tubes (the airways) become inflamed and produce excess mucus. The airways narrow and it becomes difficult to breathe. The feeling of an asthma attack has been described as similar to drowning.

Asthma works in the same way as allergies. While some people are predisposed to an asthma attack, what triggers asthma varies from person to person. Triggers include air pollution, pollen, allergens from animals and insects, mold, tobacco smoke and viral infections. The National Institutes on Health released a study that stated that cockroaches and their residue can cause attacks as well. Stress is also believed to cause some asthma attacks.

There are many different medicines that doctors may use to help people with asthma. Some medicines are swallowed (pills or liquids), some medicines are inhaled (breathed in through your mouth or nose), and some medicines are injected (given as a shot in one of your muscles or veins). For most people, inhaled medicines are used first because they start working very fast (usually in less than five minutes!) and they don't have too many side effects. This is because inhaled medicines go right into the lungs and not into the other parts of the body.

Medicines can work in different ways to help people who have asthma. Some medicines make the muscles around the airways relax. These medicines are called bronchodilators. Bronchodilators are probably the most commonly used medicines for asthma. They work by relaxing the muscles around the airways during an asthma attack.

Some medicines lessen the swelling and irritation in the airways. These medicines are called anti-inflammatory agents (corticosteroids or steroids). Anti-inflammatory medicines reduce the swelling inside airways and decrease the amount of mucus in the lungs. Some medicines are used to prevent asthma attacks from starting (cromolyn sodium). Cromolyn is an anti-inflammatory medicine that prevents airways from swelling when they come in contact with an asthma trigger. Cromolyn is an inhaled medicine that can be used with a metered dose inhaler, or a "nebulizer."

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Cancer is a group of more than 100 diseases that have two important things in common. One is that certain cells in the body become abnormal. Another is that the body keeps producing large numbers of these abnormal cells. Hodgkin's Disease, Leukemia, and Ewing Sarcoma are three forms of cancer that are common in teens.

Hodkin’s Disease
Hodgkin's Disease is a cancer of the lymphatic system. Hodgkin's Disease, like other cancers, is a disease of the body's cells. Cells in different parts of the body work in different ways, but they all repair and reproduce themselves in the same way. Normally, this division of cells takes place in an orderly and controlled manner, but if for some reason this process gets out of control, the cells continue to divide, developing into a lump or tumor. Hodgkin's Disease involves groups of neighboring lymph nodes. The way the doctor makes the diagnosis is to remove a lymph node or part of it and examine it in the laboratory. This is called a biopsy. The treatment of Hodgkin's Disease, even when it has spread to different areas, is usually very successful. Most people can now be cured, or their disease can be controlled for many years.

Although the cause of Hodgkin's Disease is unknown, research into this is going on all the time. Hodgkin's Disease, like other cancers, is not infectious and can't be passed on to other people. It is not inherited.

The first symptom of Hodgkin's Disease is usually a painless swelling in the neck, armpits or groin. Other symptoms may include: night sweats or unexplained fever, weight loss and tiredness, cough or breathlessness, and persistent itch all over the body.

The main types of treatment used to treat Hodgkin's Disease are radiotherapy and chemotherapy. You may need either or a combination of both. Many people with Hodgkin's Disease can be cured, even when the disease has spread to different areas. Radiotherapy can be used on its own to treat early disease when only one or two groups of lymph nodes are affected. However, chemotherapy is now often given as well as radiotherapy in early disease. When Hodgkin's Disease is more advanced, chemotherapy is nearly always the main treatment.

Leukemia
Leukemia is a type of cancer of the blood cells. When leukemia develops, the body produces large numbers of abnormal blood cells. In most types of leukemia, the abnormal cells are white blood cells. The leukemia cells usually look different from normal blood cells, and they don't function properly. Leukemia is either acute or chronic.

Leukemia cells are abnormal cells that can't do what normal blood cells do. They can't help the body fight infections. For this reason, people with leukemia often get infections and have fevers. There are also not enough red blood cells to carry oxygen through the body. With this condition, called anemia, patients may look pale and feel weak and tired. When there are not enough platelets, patients bleed and bruise easily.

Typical symptoms of leukemia include: fever, chills, and other flu-like symptoms; weakness and fatigue, frequent infections; loss of appetite and/or weight; swollen or tender lymph nodes, liver, or spleen; easy bleeding or bruising; tiny red spots (called petechiae) under the skin; swollen or bleeding gums; sweating, especially at night; bone or joint pain.

The treatment depends not only on the type of leukemia, but also on certain features of the leukemia cells, the extent of the disease, and whether the leukemia has been treated before. It also depends on the patient's age, symptoms, and general health. Most patients with leukemia are treated with chemotherapy. Some also may have radiation therapy and/or bone marrow transplantation (BMT) or biological therapy. In some cases, surgery to remove the spleen (an operation called a splenectomy) may be part of the treatment plan. Chemotherapy is the use of drugs to kill cancer cells. Depending on the type of leukemia, patients may receive a single drug or a combination of two or more drugs. Some anti-cancer drugs can be taken by mouth. Most are given by IV injection (injected into a vein). Often, patients who need to have many IV treatments receive the drugs through a catheter.

Ewing Sarcoma
Ewing Sarcoma is a cancer that occurs primarily in the bone or soft tissue. Ewing Sarcoma cells can also spread to other areas of the body, including the bone marrow, lungs, kidneys, heart, adrenal gland, and other soft tissues. This type of bone tumor accounts for about 30 percent of bone cancers in kids and teens.

Ewing Sarcoma most often occurs in children between the ages of 5 and 20. Prior to adolescence, the number of males and females affected are equal. After adolescence, however, the number of males affected is slightly higher than the number of females. It has been suggested that the increased rate of growth among males during adolescence may account for this increased incidence.

The majority of Ewing Sarcomas result from a chromosome rearrangement, whichn causes a fusion of genes. Trauma or injury is sometimes involved with the site at the time of diagnosis. However, this trauma is thought to bring the condition to attention rather than to actually cause it.

Symptoms of Ewing Sarcoma are: pain around the site of the tumor; swelling and/or redness around the site of the tumor; fever, weight loss, decreased appetite, and fatigue; paralysis and/or incontinence (if the tumor is in the spinal region ); and symptoms related to nerve compression from tumor (e.g., numbness, tingling, paralysis, etc.).

Ewing Sarcoma is treated with surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy, amputation, resections for metastases (e.g., pulmonary resections of cancer cells in the lung), rehabilitation including physical and occupational therapy, and psychosocial adaptation, prosthesis fitting and training, supportive care (for the side effects of treatment), antibiotics (to prevent and treat infections) and continual follow-up care (to determine response to treatment, detect recurrent disease, and manage late effects of treatment).

For more info:
National Cancer Institute
www.nci.nih.gov
(800) 4-CANCER

Leukemia and Lymphoma Society
www.leukemia-lymphoma.org
(800) 955-4572