Does my 5 year old need to see a Dr ASAP?

Asthma kills people don't seem to get that it's not just a bit of wheezing it's deadly

The story told to teenage dd by the asthma nurse was A teenager was having an asthma attack he walked past a different Dr's surgery and a pharmacy to get to his Dr's collapsed and died he didn't realise he could go into a chemist or a different Dr's surgery to get help he thought he had to go to his own whether this was real or illustrative it effectively made the point not to mess about with asthma (pretty sure it was based on a true story tbh because there was a lot of push about emergency asthma services around the same time)

You don't stop the brown inhaler unless a Dr tells you to. It literally prevents the asthma. She may well grow out of it but for heavens sake do what the drs tell you to do. Asthma can kill children. It shouldn't be taken lightly.

Also, getting to the bottom of asthma in kids is an absolute minefield!

Omg just why why why do people write posts like this .
and you are a doctor? Words fail.

That’s harsh. Doctor or not, there’s no real need to word that as judgey as you have. Advise by all means, but hold off on the snark.

I wouldn’t be too hard on yourself about stopping brown inhaler. We stopped it for my 3 year old over the winter (albeit on doctor’s advice) as he had no episodes for around a year, and then suddenly had a very bad one a few months ago. We also hoped he had grown out of it, but clearly he wasn’t ready to go off the brown inhaler.

Also, you can be on the brown and blue inhalers at the same time. Brown is a preventer whereas blue is a response to an attack / wheeze. Surprised your doctor said one replaces the other.

Have her checked for pectus excavatum too (chest indent)

I don’t think all asthma comes with wheezing, my husband had asthma as a child and it came back 20+ years later. He doesn’t really wheeze and his mum said he didn’t as a kid, he just cant catch his breath. He also stopped his brown inhaler (it was irritant induced so thought it would be fine) and after a while it gradually returned.

Hope your LO feels better soon, asthma is very scary if you don’t have any experience of it - I didn’t and used to get really worried when my adult husband was unwell with it so it must be awful when it’s your child ❤️

My daughter has had asthma since nine months when she first encountered a cat (she got her first blue inhaler then they didn't say asthma but over time it became called asthma brown inhaler from one). Overtime we've figured out it seems to be allergy related and also worse when she has a virus /Hayfever. Monteleukast and age have been a game changer and we haven't had a hospital visit in a few years but every time she stops the brown and the monteleukast it comes back (she's a teenager now and "forgets "). The main point I wanted to make is she never wheezes she coughs to the point of vomiting /turning blue /unable to speak. Lots of people with asthma cough please don't think she doesn't wheeze it's not asthma. The inhalers are fairly benign way more benign than uncontrolled asthma. Please don't drop them without medical input.

I have an asthmatic child, and some of what you describe sounds like asthma - my child rarely wheezed, it was the coughing that gave it away. They too can go for long periods without an issue and we’ve had trials of being on and off a brown preventer inhaler (on the advice of an asthma nurse and weaning off slowly).

You have a child who’s needed their blue inhaler multiple times in a couple of days. That alone is an emergency GP appointment or, given the chest pain, an A&E job.

Longer term I advise an appointment with an asthma nurse to talk about triggers, red flags that you should get medical advice for, how to use an blue inhaler during an attack and to explore whether your child needs nut allergy testing.

I have read every post so far @Dabrat21, but I haven't noticed you or any PPs mentioning if you have checked the dates on all of your dc's inhalers. Reading that you have several brown inhalers available, just reminded me that some inhalers can go out of date relatively quickly, so please do check the dates on all of the inhalers, and keep them in a chronological order, if you do not already do so. Good luck in getting everything that needs to be sorted, sorted very quickly now.

Do You have an Sats monitor?

Asthma can occur in cycles, as a child mine would always flare up badly in September, I'd have chest infections in December and a bad flare up again around March, like clockwork from age 7-13. Much better with no really episodes unless I had an infection through my teens and 20s, now in my 40s I have hay fever too so on an anti histamine for a lot of the year, have to up my preventative inhaler to 2 daily puffs Feb-April ish and often again mid July to Sept.
Her patterns aren't unusual, and could be exacerbated by any allergies, did you get her tested for a nut allergy? If it's believed she has asthma the preventative is an ongoing every day medication, the blue reliever is an occasional thing and shouldn't be relied on as the only medication to sort a flare-up or attack.
Tbh I can understand your confusion, I don't know if it's better in the UK but here GPS will throw out inhalers with no really information about how and when to use them effectively

The early days of having an asthma kid when you have no experience of it are tough. It’s not like other medical issues, there’s no black and white answer for any of it. No ones symptoms are the same. There’s a whole bunch of stuff you wouldn’t recognise as asthma but the experts know. There’s so much trial and error especially in young children. There’s a lot of trialling stopping inhalers altogether to see if they’ve grown out of it yet. There’s a lot of trying different inhalers and different doses and I didn’t understand any of it at first. The best thing to do is to try and get an appointment with an asthma nurse. Get some clear instructions of how many puffs of the blue inhaler you can go to when she’s symptomatic and when you should seek further medical advice.

Also op chance there could be anxiety too. Don’t mess about with chest pain and obviously approach it as if it is physical but good to check out other things too alongside. The breathing this sounds reminiscent of sigh syndrome just to flag that as a potential. The poster above said another possible condition. I have no idea and of course you can have asthma at the same time as anxiety too so even if there was some element it wouldn’t rule out physical.

Once you've been checked out and athsma causes have been (hopefully) eliminated, perhaps look up precordial catch - I used to get that a lot ,and it was a stabbing pain in the chest and you have to breathe really shallowly for a few minutes to avoid the pain. Then a kind of deep breath makes it 'pop' and then it's all back to normal. It's totally harmless, but painful for that short time and a bit scary if you don't know what it is. So it could be something like that.

Surely this post is a wind up? I can't imagine any responsible parent not getting immediate medical help for a child whose breathing is abnormal and is complaining of chest pain!

I'm also bewildered by giving of a brown inhaler rather than ventolin.

OP, you must take responsibility for your child's health. Asthma is very serious and can be deadly. No family history does not mean your child does not have it. I have severe asthma and rarely wheeze, but I do a funny gasp and a coughing until I'm sick.

Could the dairy intolerance be causing reflux?
have you got a new cat etc?
it does sound odd.
im asthmatic and mine is only triggered by running/colds and cold weather. But also laughing too much.
the brown is long acting but wouodnt be 6 months.

Did I read right that you’ve only given two puffs of the blue inhaler? That will make next to no difference during an asthma attack, she would need up to ten puffs.

Sorry but yes you have messed about, you stopped her brown preventer inhaler without medical advise - as you suddenly decided she was cured. Did the fact it was called preventive inhaler not give you a clue to its point? And the fact no issues happened probably meant it was doing its job.

get Medical advise now

Did the asthma nurse not do a peak flow test ? My ds did one aged 4/5

The brown inhaler won't help tonight, it has to build up in her system.

Get urgent advice now.

You need to be under an asthma nurse, not a GP. GP’s are awesome but they can’t be experts in everything. When we got put under the asthma nurse for my DS when he was 2, I couldn’t believe how knowledgable she was. We get regular appointments and can easily contact her if I feel something isn’t working or I need advice. They can’t really do the official asthma tests until age 5/6 but our asthma nurse said that if they suspect it before that then they treat it as if it is confirmed. Blue and brown inhalers aren’t the only options and a specialist will know what else to try for your daughter if you don’t think those are doing the job.