Asthma - persistent cough - what could help

[ksld]

My DS (3.6) has had 2 recent asthma attacks out of the blue. No idea what triggered them, apart from maybe a cold. He has a blue salbutamol inhaler which helps with the wheezing. However the last few days he has been coughing and coughing, and last night made himself sick with coughing a few times. Should the inhaler help with the cough or not? Anything else I can do to help with the cough? I am seeing the Dr this afternoon to discuss an orange inhaler - not really sure what this is. Just feeling a bit at a loss how to help him, and wondered if anyone had any tips, and questions I should be asking the Dr?

My ds had a persistent irritating cough before asthma diagnosed - i was worried it was a weird tic or something. Tried a couple of options before GP tried (just going to get it) a cream and grey inhaler morning and evening. Beclometasone Dipropionate. Please don't take my advice as I am not medically trained at all! But, now he doesn't cough at all so it might be worth mentioning to your GP?

morethanmum - thanks for the reply.

Is this inhaler one to treat the asthma attacks or one he takes every day? Do you have another one for wheezing?

DS uses a spacer for his inhaler - will he need that for the inhaler you are talking about too?

Sorry for all questions - feeling very ignorant about this as never come across asthma before...

Yes. He uses it before breakfast and at bedtime using a spacer. He doesn't get attacks - asthma was diagnosed (finally!) after the cough, tiredness and reluctance/inability to do much exercise, even walking through town. He doesn't wheeze anymore so we only use this one.

Salbutamol is a bronchodilator which means it doesn't treat asthma in any way. It simply acts on the lung tissues to widen the airways. There are drugs that can directly treat asthma and the most common are inhaled steroids. Beclamethasone as mentioned is one of these. Inhaled steroids are not the same as anabolic steroids that idiot athletes take. As they are inhaled the doses are small enough to treat asthma by reducing swelling, irritation and mucus production in the airways but the doses are not large enough to effect the whole body systems.

The fact that your child has a persistent cough is an indication that his asthma is not well-controlled on Salbutamol alone.

My suggestion would be to take your child back to your GP. Most GPs runs asthma clinics in their surgeries. If you think it is best for your child, then ask for a referral to a hospital specialist. My daughter has asthma from an early age and it still affects her as an adult. Early pro-active treatment certainly made a positive difference to her childhood and, I believe, prevented her asthma from becoming a lot worse than it is now.

I'm not a doctor just another mother trying to offer help on the back of my own experiences.
HTH,
Kath

DD had 2 inhalers, preventor and reliever - which helped whilst wheezy.

Thankfully shes nearly grown out of hers, it was alergy related so anti-hitamines helped. We also got rid of carpets in the bed room, soft toys, and use hypo-allergic pillows/mattress covers as well as regularly pull bed out and hoover mattress etc.

When she used to be bad steamy rooms used to help as well

DS just been diagnosed with Asthma, bit has never been wheezy just breathless with activity and persistant phlegmy cough. Consultant said this was classic in age group(2)
We have orange inhaler(flixotide) used 2x daily with spacer and blue inhaler (Salbutamol)for relief.
No difference yet but only 2 weeks in

They explain the different drugs on the NHS direct site. Although Lindiriel has done a good job.

Hi there, my ds 15 months has been suffering from the same cough for months now, specially comes in the morning when waking and in the evening when put down for bed.

After taking him to the doctors many times, they have now told me is asthma and I'm using green and blue pumps as well as a syrup.

A friend advised me to switch to goats milk and his phlegm is gone but I am seriously now looking into taking dairy out completely, as someone in the alternative remedies shops suggested.

Has anyone else tried this?

Thanks and good luck

My daughter (now 23 months) struggled to sleep for 21 months due to coughing at night with asthma. we were all so desperate for it to stop. We tried all kinds of inhalers and medications. In the end, it turned out that milk at bedtime in her bottle was causing her to have excess mucas which was triggering her asthma all night. We started to give her soy milk instead and she has instantly stopped. She now sleeps through without coughing at all. She is still on brown inhaler (Pulmicort 50) and blue inhaler. Try stopping dairy in afternoon and before bed. It has transformed our lives. Good luck!