To not agree with the nurse practiser's view that my DS has asthma and to think a diagnosis should come from a doctor?

[PolkadotCircus]

Soooo my v healthy but skinny boy 9 has had a nasty winter virus that he has had problems shaking off,symptoms involve a cough that won't go away.Loads of other kids and adults have had/got it here.

The same happened last year and our fab doctor gave him temp inhalers to calm his airways down which worked a treat and were never used again.

His grandad is the same(very skinny and some times gets a chest infection in winter it takes a whole to shake off) but still cycling 16 miles a day at 80.

Anyhow dtwin 1 keeping dtwin 2 awake so tried to get an appointment with our fab GP but because he is so fab it is nigh on impossible so was offered an appointment with a nurse which I reluctantly accepted as all I wanted were temp inhalers and ds better ASAP.

Anyhow after a very lengthy appointment when his puff was measured,history looked at,records filled in,weighed etc she finally gave us some inhalers.Puff was poor(errr yes he has a virus and a temp) and we were told to come back for a follow up asthma review.I said but he doesn't have asthma only to be told well this happened last year etc,etc.

So we went to the review puff beyond normal now and very good,virus over so no surprise.Nurse then said as he had asthma she'd like to see him again,keep him in her records,how many inhalers did he have etc,to keep him topped up when tight in the chest etc etc.

I said very firmly he doesn't have asthma and never gets tight in the chest.She then asked if he had eczema or hay fever.He had eczema as a baby and gets a bit sneezy in the summer ahhhh then they are linked so he does have asthma.Me-no he doesn't he just gets a cough he can't shake some winters.
I don't want asthma on his records unnecessarily.We politely agreed to disagree.

So aibu to think a)he doesn't have asthma and b) a diagnosis should come from a doctor.

There are different kinds of asthma. I have cough-variant asthma which means I rarely wheeze but often have paroxyms of coughing so severe I don't sleep for days and piss myself wherever I happen to be at the time

If it had been diagnosed properly ages ago I would have been saved a series of horrible chest infections and I my dignity.

YABU. You're also not a Health Care Practitioner.

I think she's talking about travel insurance flisspaps

scarletforya, I think it might be a bit dangerous to start speculating about different inhalers!

The purple one is probably seretide - it is a steroid preventer, and is not usually prescribed for under 16's

Salbutamol , the one you say is 95e, is a reliever, not a steroid - it opens up the airways and is extremely important to have on you if you suffer from asthma, as it provides instant help to breathe.

Nurse practitioner (ie one w advanced training) no such thing as "practiser"

op 'AIBU'
mn 'yes & this is why'
op 'no I'm not'

I know, I already corrected myself on the previous page. I meant salmeterol not salbutemol and it was the doctor who advised me that becotide is an equivalent.

Insurance rates? Insurance for what if you are in the UK?

FWIW:

• Childhood asthma is notorious for going away, it's not a life sentence.

• Asthma is an umbrella title used to describe a wide range of respiratory conditions. It can be difficult to diagnose except after chronic repeat presentation of similar sets of symptoms.

• Symptoms often only present, are only triggered by a real infection, when the symptoms are still persistently more chronic and disproportionate compared to non-asthmatics (and potentially life threatening in severe cases).

I think you need to go with this a bit, explore the possibility rationally.

*Ex-work colleague was an asthma expert & sufferer himself, we had long chats about all these matters when DH briefly had an asthma diagnosis.

But if you did get to see the GP and he confirmed that it was asthma you would be ok with the diagnosis????????

Again - becotide and the purple disc (seretide) are different.

Becotide is a steroid (preventer)

Seretide is a combination of a steroid and a long acting preventer.

Salbutamol (ventolin / salamol) is a quick, short acting preventer which is used for acute attacks.

Cross posts with hazeyjane

Asthma can range from severe, needing many hospital admissions and on steroids almost all the time, to having been prescribed an inhaler, but only using it once a year. And anywhere in between.

Insurance, do you mean travel insurance?
Some companies, like Insure and Go ask very sensible asthma questions.
fwiw, my kids are nearly one end of the scale to the other.
So, Insure and Go for example, rate accordingly.
My kid with not much, like yours sounds, I dont think there was any premium added whatsoever.

Amd as for their medical records.
Yes, the ones with more severe asthma have been rung up by a medical department of a large employer.
But that was after they had got the job.
And even then, the company used by the large employer to look into this sort of thing, had him fill out a medical questionaire, and then rang him up about what sort of dust levels, materials etc that he couldnt work with.
All perfectly reasonable stuff. And I was glad they did ring him.

I think she's talking about TRAVEL INSURANCE.

Our travel insurance cost did go up temporarily after DS's hospitalisation with asthma.

Ok third time I'm correcting this; I meant Salmeterol not salbutemol !

Salbutemol is just ventolin.

I have asthma it was triggered by my last pregnancy never had it before.

Hate to tell you but I went to the gp who checked my chest, confirmed a godawful wheeze and promptly transferred me to the asthma nurse for tests and a confirmed diagnosis plus follow up. The asthma NURSE confirmed as that is her job.

Oh and my gp is also fab fabby fab fab .

You can have latent asthma pretty sure dd1 had but she's too young to diagnose so, like you, we have inhalors for when winter comes and so does the stridor andpersistent cough.

YABU and a bit rude about your attitude to nurses tbh.

As. I said re spelling- I pad woes,auto correct.

As. I said if my dc is diagnosed as having a medical condition I expect some info not just a label.I wasn't snotty at all it was the reverse actually.I asked why he was getting the label and got told it was because he had a cough last winter-well so did I and half the town.That was it,no other info.

I should have had an info sheet at the very least.You can't diagnose somebody with a serious condition and not give out information.I'm also not happy that we were referred to the chest clinic by the receptionist just because our gp was fully booked as half the town has the same virus.A referral should come from a gp.

I know nothing about ashma and on reading this it is clear my DS is it at risk apparently from being blue lighted to hospital.I have no idea what Ashma he has ,what ashma actually is or what to do if he gets an attack.

My gp is far better at giving out info re conditions,he did actually say last year that he didn't have Ashma and was just giving the meds as a precaution.

Yes.
It can depend on all sorts of things like, can you walk 100 metres without needing a sit down, last date of hospital admission, how many puffers are you on etc.
But in the case of the op, my guess is that they would not charge anything extra whatsoever. Maximum guess £10? Possibly £5?

Dont like to keep mentioning a company.
But Insure and Go for instance, maybe others as well. You can put in details, and see how much the extra charge would be, without actually buying the cover.

I'm thinking the op is worried about her BUPA premiums.....

trixy to be honest, the cost of travel insurance would be the last thing on my mind if either of my DC were diagnosed with any kind of medical condition.

I could understand the concern if perhaps it were for medical insurance if the OP wasn't in the UK, with access to the NHS.

But being pissy over a diagnosis for travel insurance?!

If it helps all my asthma reviews are done by a nurse so I would not rule out her concerns as gp nurses deal with asthmatics all the time- I would book to see the dr with ds and take it from there.

Some have mild asthma and just need help when they get colds and may be more susceptible. And there may be things you can do to help.

Dare I say that you can also partly educate yourself by Dr Google[did I actually just say that!]
Also, my guess is that there are leaflets aplenty at your GPs surgery.

I am wondering, perhaps wrongly, if you are placing all your trust on emphasis on just one doctor.

Are there not other doctors at your surgery?

I don't understand how someone living in the UK can 'spend a fortune' on inhalers. 2 Ventolins are £7 at any pharmacy and AFAIK you only need one preventer a month, so about a tenner a month. Sounds cheap to me.

My sons Asthma presents as coughing, never has a wheeze, has hayfever in the summer months, it's all related.

Nurses are generally a lot better with Asthma related stuff, do courses, have the latest updates and info.

I trust the nurse at the asthma clinic more than GP as they are dealing with children with asthma all day.

You sound very strange.

YABU

I was diagnosed with asthma at 18 and my own GP will always defer to the nurse practitioners for specialist care.

I really don't understand why you are so adamant that he does not have asthma but I hope that you have not given your son the impression that it's something to be scared of or ashamed about

It is very frustrating when people with asthma are portrayed as geeky, lazy or weak types and does not help at all. To add to hazeyjane's list;
David Beckham
Lord Coe
Frank Lampard
Rebecca Adlington

Please put all your ideas/fears to one side and take on board the advice for your son the Asthma UK site is very good.

If you didn't like what the receptionist did, take it up with the GP you like so much. It's probably the case that she agreed on his instructions. "If we're fully booked, the nurse practitioner can deal with coughs".

I totally agree flisspaps read my earlier posts.