Three year old on steroid tablets for wheeze

[AdventuringAbout]

My LO has a bad wheezy cough, and has an inhaler prescribed for viral wheeze. Today the GP gave her three days of steroid tablets too. Hopefully these will work fast, as she's miserable and exhausted.

This is the third "viral-induced wheeze" episode since September. The first put her in hospital overnight. Does anyone have any advice/experience about whether this is likely to be identified as asthma, or anything I should be looking out for?

[HarriettandBob]

My DS had / has viral induced wheeze and also had a bout of bad breathing episodes at the same age. I think it was 5 in 5 months with the last one resulting in an ambulance and an overnight stay in hospital. He was then prescribed the brown preventer inhaler (clenil modulite) and has had no serious problems since. He is now nearly 7 so it is 3 years since he had any bad episodes. He has not needed to use the blue (reliever) inhaler once.

He has recently had a nasty cough and cold and I have been checking his breathing constantly as I know he has been a bit slack with the brown inhaler. The cough is almost gone and needed no additional medication at all.

[HarriettandBob]

Sorry I should have said that DS2 is identified as asthmatic and gets a flu jab / spray each year. I do think he is / will outgrow it though.

[justabigdisco]

My 3 year old is the same. Neither I nor my GP think it is asthma as she never gets breathless/wheezy in between colds but when she does have a virus it can get bad quickly. Have been in hospital once but the steroids have prevented us from going in on several occasions - they really do work.
I went to the GP about 9 months ago as I was worried about the frequency of the viruses and the number of times she needed steroids. She put her on a brown inhaler (clenil) and it has been MUCH better since. She gets colds but either not wheezy or only slightly. Think we've used steroids once in that time (or possibly not at all, can't remember)
I'm going to ask my GP about to stopping the clenil in the spring to see how she gets on.

[justabigdisco]

Also from what I understand having frequent viral induced wheeze does NOT mean they will get asthma (some will, but a lot will just grow out of it - I'm hoping my DD does as no one in our family is asthmatic at all)

[AdventuringAbout]

Thank you - sorry went quiet, she was very poorly again. Have seen a more senior doctor now and got LO started on the Clenil. Hopefully we can avoid the sudden dips / any more hospital, and get her steady now. Thank you again for the insights.