Nebulisers

[Wendyjayb]

Hi all, my ds is 2 and was diagnosed with cronic asthma a year ago. We've been in hospital 6 times in the last year and to be honest it's starting to get me down.
Does anyone know how i go about getting a nebuliser at home for him

We got advised to get one by Ds's consultant and they ordered me one at a special rate.

Some doctors don't recomend them and say 10 puffs of ventolin through a spacer works just a well.

To be honest we've still ended up in hospital several times last year

I just ordered one through my chemist, if you've got a diagnosis of chronic asthma you can get a tax rebate which makes one cheaper. Your chemist will be able to explain it to you.

Alternatively, does your doctor's surgery have any for loan? Some do, it depends on whether your GP is content to let you treat his asthma at home.

I tried to get one for dd - would have been easy enough to buy one online, but the asthma nurse got funny about prescribing the liquid for it.

She advised the 10 puffs through the spacer...

Ds's consultant prescribed his Ventolin at up to 10 puffs every 4 hours, as its apparently just as effective (have seen the paper, but can't remember who did the study now).
Prob best to talk to his asthma nurse or consultant about an escalation plan.

Hi- just wanted to let you know we were where you are now...about 17 yrs ago...we, too, thought it would make sense to get a nebuliser but GPs nurses and hospital all very unkeen. Their line was, if DS (and later DD too) are bad enough to need a nebuliser, they should be in hospital being observed. I know what a pain and a worry it is to have these frequent hospitalisations, esp when you have other LOs too. But my real reason for posting was to tell you that both DS and DD imroved rapidly once they were old enough to use the inhalers properly, I don't think either had an admission past age of 3, DS (19) is now symptom free and has been for years, DD is fine as long as she uses brown inhaler properly, so be of good cheer- things WILL improve. Best of luck with this bit, in the meantime.

I thought the trend now was towards asthma being managed at home where possible - or am I just bloody lucky to have an understanding GP? (who is also a star where allergies are concerned BTW)

Thanks everyone.
The only reason i asked was because he alwasy seems fine after a nebuliser and i just feel it would be better to do it at home and not stress him out anymore than he already is.
I've got an appointment with his consultant next month so will ask.

I think our big problem is by the time we administer his 10 puffs of blue pump, it's generally to late and he needs nebuliserI think it's because he's still to small to tell me when his chest starts to feel tight