I am seething with this doctor and very worried. Do I have any right to be?

[ChristineSmartyPants]

Here and here are the previous threads where lots of posters advised that I should be taking my daughter to the doctors and that it possibly sounded like asthma, and then that I should take her back.

Well, we got another appointment for this afternoon. My daughter was being a bit reluctant about it, but allowed the doctor to listen to her chest and used the peak flow meter.

He said that he could detect a wheeze, and that her peak flow was lower than he would expect for someone of her age size and that both of these things indicated that an 'asthmatic response' so I sat poised, waiting for the prescription.

He then told me that it was 'pointless prescribing anything' as the asthma was mild and so she could 'live with it'. So now I have an 11 year old daughter who is convinced she is going to have an asthma attack, no medication, and not even a recommendation for antihistamines.

AIBU and what on earth shall I do?

If you're not convinced ask for a second opinon.

Go back, see another GP, explain your concerns. Or ask if your surgery has an asthma nurse (many have a practice nurse who runs a specific clinic) and make an appointment with her/him.

YANBU but neither is the doctor. It's not a brilliant idea to have a child dependent on meds; if she can survive (I mean survive) without them, it's better for her to learn proper breathing techniques & trigger/stress control. According to one school of thought, which I belong to.

Nope, you were right before with your last thread but not this time.

It's mild, medication is not likely to be the answer here - you need to get some help with some breathing techniques.

Your bad experience the other day may have led you to mistrust what you were told today.

My dd also has a slight wheeze. I took her to the gp who examined her, but didn't want to prescribe any meds for her. Instead, he suggested making sure that she took lots of aerobic exercise to strengthen her lungs and to bring her back if I thought it was getting any worse.

I asked him what I should do if she had an actual asthma attack and he said I should phone for an ambulance.

I agree with ItsGraceActually, and was glad to have a GP who would suggest alternative treatment or management options, without resorting to medication straight away.

Could it be allergy triggered? I get very wheezy this time of the year from pollen allergies and am only given anti histamines did have ventolin before but really did not do much if I am honest, but I do use an air purifier in the bedroom which helps [they are expensive but I got mine on ebay for half the price]

This happened to me when I was about 12. Breathing techniques and stopping (exercise etc) when your getting out of breath do help and I have found it mostly manageable.
I had an asthma attack when I was 22 in a nightclub and a friend with asthma let me use his inhaler and I was ok. It was quite scary though and I was in and out of conciousness, my friends knew I had 'mild' asthma and the other friend recognised that I was having an attack.
I then went to a new doctor and explained what happened and they said the same thing, no inhaler for mild asthma. I asked what I should do if I suffer another attack and he said "Go to A&E". It hasn't happened again though (I am now 25)
I have found that breathing techniques, stopping strenuous activity, not keeping pets and going outside for fresh air all help. Also, I wouldn't advise using anyone elses inhaler ever! If I did ever suffer another my DH/friends/family know to get me to A&E, although I think the one I had happened because I ignored the signs (throat feeling tight, getting out of breath) and didn't go out for fresh air. Hope any of that helps!

If you are not happy get a second opinion. my sister has serious asthma, been hospitalised on many an occasion, I recently went to the docs, who detected a slight wheeze, and diagnosed it as allergy related( it being hayfever season, which I do suffer from)
If she has got a slight wheeze she is highly unlikely to have a full blown attack any time soon.
Asthma is very quickly diagnosed ime, and drugs are sometimes not necessary
The GP is going with the more likely diagnosis
are you seeing a different GP all the time?

Pixie, it's a judgement call and I'm not saying my view is the only one. One of the asthmatic children in my life uses an inhaler occasionally; the others don't. The one who does suffers from other immune-related disorders as well.

Anthistamines and steroids are hormone treatments. I think you need to balance any (possible, unproven) long-term impact on the immune system against immediate risk.

OP's doctor was wrong not to have explained the whole thing to her in more detail. The advice to book an appointment with an asthma nurse is good, imo.

Thanks for all the responses!

I do understand that she perhaps doesn't desperately require medication, but I did want something to stop the cough (and the chest tightness she has admitted to) which are not very pleasant for her.

Maybe the doctor could have let us use an inhaler once, to sort things out, while we were there?

I would also like a Ventolin inhaler just in case, although I wouldn't let her use it unless there was a real emergency.

whatname - we have had a different doctor yesterday and today because I wasn't happy with the response I received yesterday.

Christine, shoot me if you like but - while you're waiting for a nurse appoitment - why not try steam inhalation for the wheeze? Teach your daughter to do slow diaphragm breathing, as well (I'm a smoker and it works for me!)

Somebody mentioned aerobic fitmess above - it helps a lot because, when the body is more oxygen-efficient, there'll be less of an urge to do "paroxysm breathing" if her lungs act up. This is a good summer for trampolining ...

Urgh. Typing with both eyes on Midsomer Murders

One peak flow reading and hearing a slight wheeze on auscultation is meaningless.

So no, inhalers aren't necessarily indicated at this time.

HOWEVER her cough, slight wheeze and chest tightness could all be asthma symptoms. The only way to find out for sure is to carry out some diagnostic tests.

I would ask if you have an asthma nurse at your practice. S/he will be able to do a history, assessment and some diagnostic tests and decide if asthma is the problem and if so, what treatment to instigate. If you still get no joy from that practice then register elsewhere.

You may want to get a second opinion, but just for your info I had similar at the same age and when I started to learn the flute was able to control my breathing better and the asthma cleared up a lot.

Christ, some of the replies/experiences on this thread are scary. Asthma is a variable, obstructive, inflammatory disease. You can try all the exercises and breathing exercises in the world but if you have true asthma you need medication. Some of the GP comments mentioned are frighteningly clueless.

My Mum has lived with severe astma all her life. She does use inhalers but then she has very bad attacks occasionally. She has learnt to control it by doing breathing exercises and using yoga.
Apparently some inhalers use steroids which are obviously not a good thing to be using very often. So I would recommend following the doctors advice and using alternative techniques to ease the wheezing.

Stewie (or should I call you Meg) - yes I do, and yes he does. In my first reply I used the word "survive" without inhalers. Which the child in question was not able to do. He's followed an intensive sports programme since diagnosis, and is not only an award-winner ( ) but, at 18, hasn't needed an inhaler for three years.

That is dangerous advice lavenderbongo. Low dose inhaled corticosteroids are NOT dangerous. They are small doses delivered directly to the areas of inflammation and have few to no systemic side effects.

If your mum is having bad attacks occasionally then her asthma is not well controlled. She needs her inhalers regularly; breathing exercises and yoga are beneficial but do not treat asthma.

Asthma can kill. There were 1,204 deaths from asthma in the UK in 2008 (29 were children aged 14 years or under). 90% of those deaths were preventable according to Asthma UK.

And, unlike you, I didn't make any assumptions.

I think that you should speak to the asthma nurse. I would have asked about a ventolin ihhaler. if she does have asthma you would be able to tell if she feels better.

Can you keep a diary of when she is wheezey and what she has been doing? It might throw up a trigger point

This is weird. I didn't claim asthma deosn't exist or doesn't matter. I do know more than your average layperson about immune disorders. I answered the OP as best I could, you disagree, end of. I'm really not interested in discussing how much you know about asthma.