Is it asthma or isn´t it? Am i just overreacting? Help!!

[Heather1977]

Going to cut a long story short - DS (6) has always been prone to bad coughs. When he was 2, he was diagnosed as having "bronchial hyperactivity", not asthma, and given inhalers. I was told he would grow out of it.
Now that he is 6, things are better, but every time he gets a throat virus, maybe 3 or 4 times a year, he gets a cough that just goes on and on afterwards. It is a dry persistent cough that doesn´t seem to bother him. He doesn´t wheeze or struggle to breathe. It is just how often he coughs that doesn´t seem right to me. Maybe every 30 seconds at peak.
None of the doctors we have seen seem to have any answers, so we just give him his inhalers for a couple of weeks until it goes away.
I guess my question is, should we just carry on? Or will it get worse and could he end up turning terribly asthmatic? He is very sporty and plays a huge amount of football so I hope not!
I recognise I am very nervy around this subject, as my younger DS was hospitalised with bronchioliotis was he was 10 months and it was very traumatic...
Am I overreacting??

[pipsqueakz]

I've been thru exactly the same with my older two dc's. I thought it was s nervous cough in the end. So took him to my nurse practicione rather than gp. She referred him to ent. He ended up having an allergy test and found the dry cough to be a condition called rhinusitus. Its basically allergies to all sorts ie pets dust pollen mould etc. He is on antihistamines cough still there at times. He gets wheezy too almost asthma like to me. He has inhalers for asthma too but he only takes when wheezy. Might be worth finding out about allergies?

[DeWe]

Dd2 is like this. The GP prescribed inhalers and described her as mildly asthmatic. She would perhaps have 1-2 phases where she needed the inhaler over the winter.

If anything it's got better as she's got older, she's now 9yo and didn't use it at all last winter, although the one before she did. She's better at recognising the signs and having a couple of days of using it to clear it rather than leaving it and having a couple of weeks.

[Heather1977]

Thanks for the messages, took him back to paediatrician today and she has referred us to allergy doctor so we will see. If they are allergic to dust etc, it´s pretty difficult to avoid isn´t it! Anyway, I am going to wait and see what they say. Hate hearing him cough all the time...

[pipsqueakz]

Indeed its a fighting battle but antihistamine will help and hoover mattress buy allergy covers for bedding etc. Hope all goes Ok :)

[Heather1977]

Thanks very much, we have never tried antihistamines, may be a better route for him...hoovering mattress, never thought of that!!

[pipsqueakz]

Let us know how you get on. Oh and instead of polish when dusting use a damp cloth. Polish can irritate the cough. Soz to keep on lol. I have rhinusitus too it also saves money on cleaning products lol.

[Heather1977]

We went to the doctor and he has no allergies which is great news. He has basically been diagnosed, as he was before, with "bronchial hyper reactivity" which is not asthma, but a viral-induced cough. He needs to take inhalers as soon as he starts with a cough (usually we wait for a few days which is wrong as the tube has started closing by then) and he will grow out of it. I´m really relieved - they advised me to always makes sure he wraps up after exercise and not to use very strong chemicals and sprays around him when cleaning.

[pipsqueakz]

Glad you have a diagnosis. Bet your feeling bit more reassured.