If you have a child with asthma, how early did you know/get it diagnosed?

[YanknCock]

I am fairly sure DS is going to have asthma. He is only 13 months at the moment and the GP says it can't be diagnosed till he is at least two. GP also says some babies have narrow airways and the coughing/heavy breathing can be normal.

DS sounds terrible, and the PILs were giving me a bit of pressure on our last visit. I don't know what more I can do, we're taken DS to the GP at least 4-5 times with the same issue: He sounds wheezy, he coughs a lot (particularly in the morning and over night), his breathing sounds really heavy and congested. Every time the GP says his chest is clear and there's nothing to worry about.

He saw the Health Visitor for his 1 year check and she also commented on his breathing and said to continue to pester the GP.

But is there anything that can be done for him at this age anyway? DH was diagnosed with asthma at age 3 after a severe attack. I don't want to wait until something dramatic happens for DS to be diagnosed.

[Tortington]

dd couldnt breath when she was 3 montsh old.


the doctors ( this is 17 years ago) told be that they couldnt diagnose asthma until she was ONE year old.


i told them that she had asthma

i have asthma and i know asthma

they gave me a nebuliser to take home from the hospital

17 years ago.


take her to A&E

[jbells]

hi, your situation sounds very similar to mine, since DD was around 12 months she was continually having breathing problems, coughs, and a lot of mucus, i had asthma as a child so my parents no the signs, i have been back and forwards to the doctor had numerous lots of antibiotics given to me, and two diff inhalers, a month ago she finally got sent for a chest xray i still have not been told the results so i presume all is ok,however asthma can not be dectected this way it was to rule out something similar i have also been to the out of hours dr at hosp on a few occasions and i have found them a lot more helpful and concerned than my normal dr, the situation is very frustrating, i did find steroids really helped i was very reluctant to use them as DD is only 17 months but by this stage i was willing to try anything to help her coughing/breathing and within around 5 days her chest sounded clear, a week later i am starting to hear mucus building again so dont think its a long term cure :( if your dr wont take u seriously try an out of hours one see if they give u a diff opinion

[brimfull]

think ds was around18 months when we were given spacer with inhaler

no diagnosis as they couldn't rule out simple childhood wheeze at that age

however they treated the wheeze successfully
he did go on to have diagnosis and is now on successful preventers
agree that you should get another opinion

[TheHeathenOfSuburbia]

DD is 3, and had her first hospital admission a couple of weeks ago, with what looked to me v like an asthma attack, she was poked and prodded by any number of drs.

She was successfully treated with loads of Ventolin, but she doesn't officially have asthma, she has 'viral wheeze'.

Just trying to remember how the doctors said they would diagnose asthma...

• Cough that's worse overnight
  
• Attacks that come and go, possibly with a trigger (exercise, allergy etc)
  
• Family history (Me: DH and I both have asthma. Doc: Hmmm. )
  

Does he get chest infections?
What happens when he has a cold? (this is DD's huge problem)

[YanknCock]

DS does get chest infections, I think he's had two that required antibiotics. Plus loads of colds and a nose that is snotty more often than not, but I kind of expect that with him being at nursery full time since he was 8 months. He got ill loads when he first started and now seems to be used to it.

I really like our GP and he has been so good about other things for me and DH, and he is head of the practice. This is stupid, but I almost feel disloyal. We did see another GP once and he said basically the same thing about not being able to diagnose and it possibly being something DS would grow out of.

I wouldn't say he's ever sounded like he couldn't breathe, but it sounds laboured and wheezy. Never seems to bother him, he's got bags of energy and doesn't keep still. I am just concerned that he'll have a really bad episode all of a sudden, and we could be doing something now to prevent this.

I think I will do as some have suggested and next time he sounds bad on the weekend I'll take him in to out of hours. Appreciate your thoughts and advice on this.

[pointydog]

dd2 was 5. It didn't manifest itself until then.

[singersgirl]

DS2 was diagnosed with asthma at 13 months - in Singapore. They wouldn't call it that here until he was older. However, his acute exacerbations were treated in the same way that you would treat asthma and he was on asthma medications - daily steroid inhaler, Singulair tablets, long-acting beta agonist and Ventolin/nebuliser for attacks. All his attacks were virus-induced and he ended up in A&E several times and in hospital twice between the ages of 1 and 2; we then got a home nebuliser and were able to keep him out of hospital with the help of that.

He was hospitalised for 5 days with bronchiolitis at 9 weeks and DH was asthmatic, so I was told it was likely he would develop it, but from 9 weeks to 13 months he was considered a 'happy wheezer'. You just need to watch when they become unhappy wheezers.

He hasn't had a bad attack since 3.5 and he hasn't had to use an inhaler at all since he was about 6 - he's 9 now.

[DurhamDurham]

My dd2 was given her first inhaler and spacer at 3 months old as she had a cough she just could not get rid of. We were told that she may have asthma and she continued with an inhaler until she was 4 and then never needed it again. She's 13 now.

[dribbleface]

my ds had bronchoilitis at 5 mths and wheezed from that day until 8mths when started being treated for asthma (thought they won't diagnose). I had a useless GP and i went back almost twice a week as he sounded so so bad. Changed to a fab GP now and he is much better. he is now 2 yrs 3 mths and is on preventers and relievers but no eats/sleeps etc well. Still had bad periods but much much better.

Keep going back or change GP if you feel your not being taken seriously. I wish i had done it a long time before i did.

[Jojay]

As others have said, they won't formally diagnose asthma at 13 months old but there are plenty of treatments for asthma like symptoms.

Some symptoms to look for when he is wheezy are the tracheal tug - little dents or hollows where his neck meets his collarbone, as he breathes in, and also hollows under his ribs. Both these are indications that he is working pretty hard and he needs some treatment soon.

In A&E, (and many GP's too) they will probably check his oxygen saturation levels (sats). In my experience, anything over 92% is good, lower than that, not so. They test by putting a little clip on thier finger or toe, nothing invastive or scary.

DISCLAIMER: I'm not medically trained - this is a result of my experiences with two wheezy kids.

They'd probably treat initial symptoms with a Salbutamol (Ventolin) inhaler and spacer, and they are very effective.

But I fully agree about taking to the OOH service / A&E 0 hte easy way of getting a second opinion! Best of luck