Should I be keeping DD off school tomorrow? Please help!

[PFB1]

She's my eldest so I'm not entirely sure what the protocol is with this sort of thing.

DD has had a bad cough (only at nighttime) for the past couple of weeks. I've been sending her to school each morning as she's been her normal self in the day although admittedly more tired having been up coughing through the night. She's been fine at school but when she's got home she's been tired. Particularly tonight.

Anyway, I've put her to bed and she's having a coughing fit every 30 seconds. It's awful for her. I know that tomorrow morning will come and I'll need to wake her for school as I have every morning for the last couple of weeks. She'll be tired but will get on with the day at school. In my heart of hearts I feel it's unfair on her if I send her again tomorrow and think she'd benefit from a day of resting and possibly a visit to the GP.

My mum would only keep me off school if I was at deaths door so I'm not sure if I'm being too cautious in considering keeping her home. She's already had 1 day off since starting school in September for a sickness bug which came on one weekend. Really grateful for any advice. Thanks.

My reception aged DD has blue and brown inhalers to deal with viral wheezing/night time coughs.
We find the inhalers help massively, and usually shorten the ‘episodes’ to one bad night of coughing.
Is keep her off for a day or two if she’s exhausted.

Personally, when I have an asthma attack I need to rest at least the next day. It's such an awful feeling.

As an aside, my asthma manifests as a cough. I've been told that I can't possibly be having an attack as I'm not wheezing. If I get to a wheeze you better get an ambulance bloody fast!

Keep her off, let her rest up and give her little body a break.

This was my dd. Ages 2, 3 and 4 once she got the first cough of the autumn season, she’d be up coughing all evening. She was quite often sick with coughing. She’d maybe fall asleep and then wake up coughing 5 minutes later.

We were given inhalers etc, but nothing worked. Eventually we were given phenergan to be given 1 or 2 hours before bed. This was quite successful. She grew out of it about 6 or so

I would take her to the GP. My son had something similar a couple of years ago, and when I finally took him to the GP, he diagnosed a chest infection, which antibiotics got rid of in a few days. I felt awfully guilty for not taking him earlier!

Okay, I think I'll keep her home tomorrow regardless of how tonight goes, just to give her body a really good rest and to get to grips with the inhalers and start her back on Monday. Thanks so much for the help, support & advice everyone. It has really made the last 24 hours that bit less stressful. I'm on my own with the kids so it's been nice to be able to share the load with others

I’d giver her the rest as well. It’s friday anyway.

Enjoy your nice quiet day tomorrow

Poor kid, lots of mummy cuddles definitely keep her off till she's better.

Have a duvet day and then stay in this weekend. Lots of fluids and keep her warm. You're doing great

My daughter has cough variant asthma too. She has had a flare up of night time coughing and has been moved onto motekulsat (sp?) I don't really like her on 3 medications when she doesnt have breathlessness/wheeze like me but it seems to be improving things for the moment. Its weird she's been fine for months and then suddenly is back to night time coughing fits.

Do do do always seek out of hours/help if she says shes breathless/finding it hard to breathe regardless of what medication shes taken as asthma can get worse so quickly and a tight chest feels awful and can usually be relieved with more drugs..

Oh meant to say she's year 2 and sent her to school as she wanted to go and its getting under control (took her out for gp and asthma nurse trip.) If she'd been tired or not wanted to I wouldn't send her but shes fine in the day. Def keep a reception child off if tired and wants to be off after an asthma fit.

Thanks everyone. So far not so much as a cough tonight! Could the inhalers be this effective already? Seems they're like magic!!! although it's still early so we'll see how the night progresses.

Fingers crossed for a good night tonight. DS had this at a similar age. We used the inhalers for a few weeks and he's been fine since.

Through the whole night we've only had one coughing fit What a difference the inhalers seem to have made! It's only just happened just before 6am. And I can hear the wheeze when she inhales. I've put my younger DD's video monitor in her room so I've been able to hear any coughing straight away. I gave her 2 puffs of the inhaler and watched her for a while but decided to give her a 3rd. The coughing has already subsided a lot. I'm guessing the inhalers working is all confirmation of the doctors diagnosis.

The coughing hasn't completely stopped though... should it completely stop after using the blue inhaler? Sorry for all the questions.

The coughing is increasing again and she says her chest still hurts a bit. Is this normal or does this mean the inhalers not working?

How much blue inhaler has she had? It takes a few days for the brown one to kick in. Advice is to take one puff of ventolin every 30-60 seconds up to 10 puffs to get things under control.

And the inhalers can be like a miracle cure, when I was finally diagnosed (after 40 years of struggling) it felt like the first deep breath I had ever taken.

Did they give you a spacer? If not, get one from the pharmacist today, it is so much easier to ensure she is getting the full dose.

Ventolin is a short term treatment so she may need a lot before the brown inhaler (steroid) becomes effective. They always prescribe it with a label that says 2 puffs 4 times a day but you can ignore that. And don’t hesitate to call your practice nurse for advice.

The GP said to give her the blue inhaler 4 times a day (1-2 puffs) but said that it may be best to give all 4 times in the evening since that's when her symptoms are.

He said if need be give up to 5 puffs.

So last night I gave her 2 puffs of the brown inhaler and 2 puffs of the blue inhaler before bed. Then she had no symptoms all night so I decided not to wake her to give her the blue inhaler. My understanding was that the blue one treats the symptoms and there were no symptoms to treat. When she started coughing this morning, I gave her 2 puffs of the blue inhaler which seemed to temporarily improve things. Then when it the cough returned I've given her 2 more puffs of the blue & 2 puffs of the brown. She's still coughing but doesn't seem to be wheezing so much. Is this normal or should the cough stop after having the inhaler? Should I have woken her through the night to give her the blue one? I'm so confused by all this.

She could well have a nasty cold which had brought in the viral induced asthma, i had that with severe bronchitis - as soon as they gave me inhalers I could get some air into me, but was still ill with bronchitis.

I'd never needed inhalers before or since.

When I am bad, like when I have a cold, I have to take loads of ventolin (blue) just to get the symptoms under control. But only when I have symptoms, coughing in my case too. A lot more than four puffs on a bad day though.

I wouldn't have woken her to give it.

If you are happy with her condition now, then I would wait and call the practice nurse after opening hours. They are the ones that do most of the monitoring and management of asthma patients. Get her to advise you exactly how much inhaler you can give and how to deal with the attacks.

Dont be afraid to give more ventolin though if you aren't happy. You can take absolutely loads of that stuff without coming to harm.

But always call for advice after 10 puffs in one day. Call 111 if you are worried, and 999 if she is struggling to breathe.

I'll see how she gets on. She's up now and still coughing but she didn't cough in the day much at all yesterday so I'm hoping the cough will ease now that she's up out of bed. If not, I'll call the practice nurse. Thanks everyone.

Please call the practice nurse anyway so you know what you can do if she is bad again tonight.

Your daughter sounds just like me! I'm asthmatic, which presents generally as a night-time cough, mainly in the autumn after a cold. I've been coughing now for four weeks, and I've just phoned in sick for the first time since this time last year!

I think you're doing fine. The brown inhaler takes 3-5 days to work, but when it does, you should find that you need to use the blue inhaler less, if at all.

The blue inhaler works like magic, but only lasts four hours, so doesn't get rid of the cough completely. I'm currently on a long lasting reliever (only available for over 12's, I'm afraid), but I'm still coughing in the night.

I'd lest her rest this weekend, keep her warm, as cold air is often a trigger, warm drinks and if she feels unwell with a temperature, then straight back to GP