7 month old and Asthma

[buzzybeess]

Is there anyone here with knowledge of Asthma
my 7 month ds was first diagnosed with bronchiolitus when he was 8 weeks. hes had it on and off since then.
the gps on the last 2 visits have thrown in the asthma word and hes been prescribed 2 different inhalors to use daily. the thing is they dont seem to be helping at all, should i not be seeing an improvement in his wheezing ?

[Sirzy]

What inhalers are they? How long have you been using them and have you been shown how to do them properly?

sorry for all the questions, the steroid inhalers (normally brown) take around 6 weeks to be working at their best as they build up.

[buzzybeess]

atrovent and ventalin. we use the orange spacer. He's been using atrovent since november and we were only prescribed ventalin yesterday.

[Sirzy]

Neither of them are preventers, ventolin if adminstered correctly should improve things quickly but only works short term.

[buzzybeess]

ventalin one we do 2 puffs twice a day and atrovent is 4 puffs 4 times a day.

[buzzybeess]

right ok. i have no knowledge of asthma and whats best. all i know os he's freaking me out

[Sirzy]

Ask if you can see your practise asthma nurse. They tend to be better at asthma than GPs

Has he had a chest x Ray to rule out recurring/not clearing infection?

[buzzybeess]

No hes not been xrayed. Thank you I will ask to see a nurse. Thanks for the advice its much appreciated

[hellhasnofurylikeahungrywoman]

Call the asthma nurses at Asthma UK, they are bloody brilliant at what they do 0800 121 62 44.

[buzzybeess]

Actually thinking about it, hes not been officially diagnosed, as hes not 1. Do you think i can still ask to see the nurse ?

[buzzybeess]

Thankyou Hells,I will

[Sirzy]

No reason they won't see him, with or without the diagnosis they should still treat as asthmatic. It may be that a preventer inhaler is needed to help.

[buzzybeess]

sod it i will, even if its just to make sure im giving him the inhalors correctly. Thank you everyone.

[PannaDoll]

I think you definitely need a second opinion and/or advice on how to administer the inhalers correctly.

What were the symptoms that led to an asthma diagnosis? Is it 'just' a rattly, phlegmy cough because that could be so many other things and an asthma diagnosis so young suggests a 'well it could be asthma' approach ifyswim?

Was he actually struggling to breath at any point?

[buzzybeess]

He's not been officially diagnosed so im still hoping its not. He was admitted into hsp in November with breathing problems and was diagnosed with the Bronchiolitus. Hes had that on and off since, say once every 4-6 weeks. They kept saying he would grow out of it once 6 months. His wheezing has actually got worse in the last month, its loud, worse when he eats, its sounds like an old man who smoked all his life. he has a terrible cough which gets worse during the night.
They are not saying its defo Asthma. Its me freaking out, it just sounds so horrible.

[hellhasnofurylikeahungrywoman]

He needs to be seen again as things have got worse and not better. Poor little man and his mum, asthma is horrible.

[buzzybeess]

he was seen only yesterday by the gp, im going to see how he geys on over the weekend and go from there. thanks all

[nocoolnamesleft]

If your GP diagnoses asthma at that age, please change GPs (or demand to see a paediatrician). You just can't diagnose asthma that young. Sounds more like recurrent viral wheeze, which is incredibly common in babies who had bronchiolitis when they were really young. And they usually grow out of it.