Toddler with brown inhaler - how long should I take to work?

[Reesewithafork]

He’s had a cough for months but has also picked up loads of infections due to starting nursery so we pretty much have one week on and one week off with illness.
recently was given ventolin which helped but then he picked up another infection and the cough got worse again so he’s been given a brown inhaler.

my question is how long does it take to work? The gp said two weeks, the asthma nurse said six weeks, and when I looked online it said 3-4 days.

the reason I ask is because the cough seemed to get better for a couple of days then today has got bad again. He won’t even take the brown inhaler this morning because it makes him cough so he yanks it off his face before he’s done the ten breaths.

I’m so tired and broken and just praying something takes this bloody cough away so we can all get some rest

It was a long time ago now but if I remember rightly it took about a week or so but when it started to work the difference was unbelievable, ds was just so much better.

For me, it calms things down quite a lot within three days. But for really excellent control it’s more like a few weeks. He really does need to take it though, do you have an asthma specialist nurse who you can call for advice on how to persuade him to take it and manage the coughing? Or the Asthma UK helpline?

It starts to take effect after a week or so but takes 6 weeks of regular use to be at maximum effect.

persevere with the inhaler. Let him play with the spacer, pretend to give it to Toys etc to get used to it

10 puffs seems like a lot?

Are you using the blue inhaler as well? Do.

It depends on the child, the brown is a preventative inhaler so it can take days to weeks to lessen the swelling in their airways. It does make them cough to begin with. My son was 3 when diagnosed asthmatic and giving inhalers was hard as he didn’t like it. However I wrapped him in a sheet (as only me in the house) so he couldn’t rip it off and we cuddled up and did it. He soon got that it was getting done no matter how much he protested and would sit and get it over with. Made giving his blue if he was wheezy/coughing easier too. Have a look on asthma uk - lots of information on techniques and inhalers on there. They are the same whether or not you have an asthma diagnosis. Hope your wee one is feeling better soon. Try the blue if he’s coughing a lot as that’s how my sons asthma presented initially now he coughs and wheezes. The salbutamol really helped.

@SheWoreYellow I think the op said ten breaths rather than puffs as you’re right that would be a lot!

10 puffs fine for salbutamol but usually it’s 1/2 puffs of brown am and pm. The salbutamol can make them quite jittery initially too, until they get used to it. My son was never interested in playing with the spacer but he got a drink or whatever in between puffs we stick stickers on it it does eventually become normal (he’s 11 now)

If like with my own asthma medication the brown inhaler is to be used daily as a preventer. It won't get better until the trigger (cold, chest infection, allergy air quality, dust are all triggers for me) Did they also give you the blue reliever?
I've had asthma since a toddler, and there are a couple of things you can do at night, such as prop up the head side of his cot bed mattresses, make sure bedding is anti allergy with dust covers. Make sure the nursery is dust free and vacuum cleaned every couple of days whilst he is bad.
Also, although it's a chest infection that is causing the issue with you, I always found a little bit of antihistamine helped with coughing, whatever the trigger - check with the doctor first though.

Did that make sense? I should have proof read!!

I remember petrified my eldest who had similar issues we ended up with an organ ge inhaler after she was in respiratory distress a couple of times. Once she started the inhaler it was a game changer I’d say it took a couple of weeks and the regular a&e trips stopped and the endless steroids!

she quite liked listening out for the clicks on the spacer and counting them with us for the ten breaths.

Yeah, I’ve only ever seen ‘take a few breaths’ as how to take it, so was presuming the ‘ten breaths’ was a mistype for ‘puffs’. As ten puffs would be a normal Ventolin dose I was wondering if she’d got them mixed up.

Hopefully not!

10 breaths is standard for little ones with the spacer to give time to get it all

Hi no I meant ten deep breaths. Two puffs but then they said to count 5-10 clicks/breaths to ensure he was taking it in.

we are on two puffs twice daily of the brown and two puffs up to four times daily of the blue.

he was doing really well taking it until the cough got worse and it made him cough so I think we might just have to hold it on and hold his arms down so he can’t yank it off. It’s horrible though when he’s coughing and has to have it over his face. I wasn’t sure if it was normal for the brown one to make them cough, the blue one doesn’t seem to do it as much.

our house is so dusty, I try to stay on top of it with wet dusting and hoovering but honestly it’s back literally as soon as I’ve finished cleaning.

he’s also on Benadryl twice daily as recommended by the doctor

@PutinIsAWarCriminal it does make sense thank you! It’s a viral infection rather than a chest infection (his chest was clear) but he’s got a terrible mucousy cough that keeps making him sick because he doesn’t understand to spit the mucuous out.

whenever he gets any kind of cold or infection the cough comes back with a vengeance and it’s terrible at night at the moment

My daughter has just started brown inhaler, took around a week to take effect, make sure your brushing his teeth after then rinsing otherwise he might get a sore mouth/ throat

We used to play a game of "doctors and nurses" when my son was reluctant to have his brown puffer, just putting on a "doctory" voice really to ask him to use the spacer, or sometimes making more of a meal of it with our play doctors kit. Sometimes worked!

I didn’t realise that about rinsing, he brushes his teeth after the bed time one so I’ll make sure he does it after the morning one as well

I’m not sure I’ll be able to get him to actually
rinse as he doesn’t understand the spitting out yet!

We were told to take the blue inhaler first, leave it for 10 mins and then take the brown. That way the blue has opened the airways and can help them breathe more brown. Agree that noticeable effect after a week or so. We used to pretend to give it to his teddy as a form of encouragement. We also found a certain type of spacer helped- it was a small cylindrical yellow one with a face mask. There is a visible valve going backwards and forwards on the top and he likes making it go in and out with breaths.

Just a sip of water is ok, he doesn’t need to spit it out.

@DanceToTheMusicInMyHead thats the one we have. He’s really good with it but today the brown one made him cough so naturally he pulled the mask away so he could cough. I’ll try the ventolin then the brown tonight when he goes to bed to see if that helps!

thanks, I’ll make sure he does a sip every time, I feel really bad now! Our chemist went through all the steps with us when they gave it to us but didn’t mention that.

Today is his fifth day with the brown inhaler and not seeing any difference yet. He’s still coughing through the night and having coughing fits during the day.
I’m really hoping after a week or two it magically helps the cough to go because we are all completely exhausted at this point!

Is the blue inhaler helping at all?
If so, keep using it regularly. You can’t really overdo it (we were told).
If it isn’t helping, then maybe it’s not an asthma cough. I’m guessing though.

Up to 6 weeks for a preventer to work at full capacity

I think the blue one is calming it down a bit but he’s still coughing a lot.

his nose is running constantly though so I wonder if the cough isn’t going because the trigger - the cold/infection/mucuous hasn’t gone yet. As I’m imagining the inhalers can’t do much for the mucuous?

@Livpool yeah we were told it would be reviewed in six weeks but I guess I was expecting to see a bit of improvement by now but maybe I’m being a bit impatient

At age 3, ours made a huge difference within a week and has pretty much kept asthma under control for 16 years now.