Kids with asthma

[Celluloidgal]

What do I do?

A few months ago, I noticed that my 4 year old seemed to be coughing a lot. Especially at night. No fever. No runny nose. Gave him some just cough type medicine - didn't work.

Finally I thought, "Gee, I better take him to the Doctor just to check it out." She asked if he coughed after activity. Gee, I hadn't noticed...(I'm feeling like a bad mom now ) She gave him medicine for the inflamation in his lungs, and an Albuterol inhaler. She also gave him a breathing treatment while he was there.

A week later, no improvement. I went to the doctor again. They gave him an antibiotic and a sample of Advair (inhaler). She said to use the Albuterol as his "rescue" inhaler and the Advair once in the morning and once in the evening. This whole time she has never mentioned asthma. She also sent him to get his lungs x-rayed at the hospital. When she got the results she said they were inflammed and to check back in a couple of weeks to see how the Advair is going or if we need a nebulizer. It is either asthma or broncitis. (Please forgive my spelling)

IF he is diagnosed with asthma, what do you do first? What am I looking at here? Am I jumping the gun? Should I wait 2 weeks or see a specialist doctor?

I can't believe my DH actually asked if maybe I could post this on the DIS!!! (I'm slowly winning him over! )

 

[grinningghost]

My DD has cough variant asthma. She was diagnosed about 5 years ago. She has a rescue inhaler and uses it when she really starts coughing bad, but it seems to be improving as the years go on. Although after a bad cold, she really has a lingering asthma cough. That's when we really need to watch her for wheezing.

But know that asthma is really common these days in kids. The school nurses have shelves of inhalers lined up from all their asthmatic students. It's really kind of weird. I don't remember any asthma when I was young. There's also tons of info on the web and in the library. Once you know more about it, you can deal with it easily. As they say, "knowledge is power". Good luck.

 

[Aimeedyan]

Unless he's struggling to breathe right now, I would wait until you see the doc again. Lots and lots of asthmatics are on just what your son is on: Advair for daily maintenance and Albuterol for emergency situations. I've been on them for years... so since he's having it treated like that for now, I would wait until you see the doc again. It would be different if he wasn't being given anything for now, and having trouble breathing, and still had 2 more weeks.

When I was first diagnosed, we always went to see an Asthma and Lung Specialist, but I know that now because so many children have asthma, that most Primary Care Physicians are pretty equipped in handling it... since it's so common. WHen I was diagnosed as a kid, most PCP referred you to a specialist.

When we moved here, every asthma and lung specialist in town required a referral from my PCP, even on a PPO! Pissed me off, and I never went to one here... so, you might not be able to even go around your current doc and get a specialist. So many are requiring referrals regardless of insurance plan requirements.

If it's asthma, they will likely put him on something like a temporary steroid to get him under control if he's still struggling, or maybe even on daily neubulizer treatments for awhile. If he's responding to Advair, they might just keep him on that. I have had GREAT success with Advair, LOVE IT, and all the asthmatics I talk to that use it also love it. I can't even remember my last asthma attack =)

Don't stress, easier said than done, right? Feel free to ask me any questions, I've had asthma for 19 years now... been so bad to have been in ICU at times, but have been really good lately =)

 

[floridafam]

Our son went quite a while before he was diagnosed. One Dr. said bronchitis, one Dr. said "croup", etc.

He would wake up in the middle of the night coughing and having a hard time breathing. Sometimes, I would be able to see it coming-his breathing would change slightly or he would feel a little down.

Cough medicines never worked! We had to get the nebulizer and Albuterol so much that our insurance company ended up purchasing the nebulizer for us.

Finally, he was sent to the Pediatric Pulmonary Specialist and he first had a pulmonary function test, then he had a chest x-ray then he had blood drawn.

You should know that he had this test on a day when he looked perfectly normal and was not having trouble with his breathing or coughing.

A few hours later, we met with the Dr. and he said that our DS had asthma and went over a huge book, prescribed meds and showed us his chest x-ray and results of his PFT. They do one PFT and then they get a breathing treatment and another PFT.

The results were dramatic. I can't quote specific numbers, but he was having trouble that day and we didn't know it.

Our DS had a mucus plug show up on his x-ray which the Dr. was worried about and he had to be tested for Cystic Fibrosis. The Dr. said every one of his asthma patients must bet tested for CF.

I hope this helps a little in regards to what you might go through. They will probably test his blood for allergies and see what may be triggering the breathing/coughing problems. DS is allergic to trees, grass, dust mites and weeds.

You mention he coughs a lot, so did DS. He was always "clearing his throat." From what I've read, many asthmatics do this.

The Pulmonary Specialist also said that many children with asthma have some slight GERD and this makes the coughing or wheezing worse (our son never had wheezing).

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[Snowysmom]

Both my sons have cold and exercise induced asthma. We noticed a problem with older DS when he was 4 and if he ran around for a while he started coughing. They also do little coughs and clear their throats alot. They both have albuterol inhalers that they take before activities and as a rescue inhaler. They have been on a long term inhaler during their sport seasons. Both have been to the ER after sports practices or games and needed atrovent treatments but that is extremely rare. It seems to be getting a little better as they get older. I have noticed now that they are teens, as long as they take the albuterol before their sports, they are doing OK. They just see the regular pediatrician. As long as your child is not having problems breathing, you could probably wait and see the doctor in 2 weeks. Asthma is much more common now and many primary care doctors know about the treatment options. I hope your son does well.

 

[Celluloidgal]

Thanks everyone who responded. I'll keep you posted.

I think I just need to see what I might expect. The more I read about it on the web, the more his symptoms seem to match up with asthma. Keep us in your prayers

 

[floridafam]

Make sure, if you do see a Dr., that they test his IgA. My son has a low Iga (not extremely low) which kind of makes him pick up things easier than his sister. If they both get a cold, she'll be over it in a day and his will just linger and linger and then bring on the asthma.

We had a heck of a time his first 2 years of school, he was constantly picking up some sort of cold which would not go away.

This is only my opinion, but I think any child with suspected asthma should see a pulmonary specialist. Several Dr.'s we saw would give the steroid shots or various other things but the Pulomonary Doc did the PFT and was the first to confirm asthma.

Again, good luck. You will be in our prayers.

 

[cvemom]

My DD was diagnosed 4 years ago and fter much trying and switching of meds her Dr has her on Advair and Singulair. We started this 2 years ago and I can now count the number of times she uses her albuterol on one hand. Three cheers for Advair and Singulair.