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.

So, instead of being referred quickly to the chest clinic by a receptionist, you'd rather have waited longer for a GP appt, and then waited for a chest clinic referral after that?!

Maybe it's more the slight shock and upset of your DC possibly having any diagnosis - like my mixed feelings at the thought my DD probably has mild dyslexia ? But my main concern was to find out more about it and what it meant for DD.

It's the fashion these days to give asthma medication after prolonged coughs in Paeds . Had to give it to dd about 2 yrs ago . Apparently in case of silent asthma, when I politely asked the dr. About it.

YABVU

First of all according to you, the NP had incorrectly thrust this diagnosis onto your child. Sounds like you were uncooperative and possibly unpleasant.

Now, you have had a volte face and the NP is at fault for not making more of a deal of it and giving you more information. Which you clearly did not want at the time.

You say 'this is not good enough'. I agree. But frankly it's your behaviour which isn't good enough. You've fucked up. But we are all human and we all do from time to time. God knows i do it spectacularly on occasion.

Now stop your unhelpful behaviour and raging at others, and work out, with help, what's best for your son.

Good luck with sorting him out.

OP, this nhs fact sheet might be good for a start

Flis that is assuming my gp would refer which I doubt.Wanting info re a label is not a lot to ask imvho and going by this thread if he does indeed have Ashma I should know what to do in an emergency,what type it is etc.

Bupa -pmsl!

Oven you weren't there,I was very polite.

You still seem very down on the Nurse - what should the receptionist have done to, waited till a GP appointment was available or offer you an earlier appointment with the specialist Nurse? I think your resistance is shown by the fact you mention "half the town" has the virus in every single post you make, showing you still are doubting.

Oh and how catchy I fucked up I'm not sure.I gave him the inhaler sooooooo

And why do you insist in calling asthma a label, it isnt, its a medical condition.

Like I said, OP, don't be a dick.

Your son's medical file probably has a note on it, right next to the asthma bit, saying "mother uncooperative, obstructive and refused to affect diagnosis" or "mother a loon"

I'm amazed at the cost of the inhalers in some countries.
when dc needed one in germany we just walk into the next gp to get a private prescription then went to the chemist to pick it up. cost us 4? for the presc. + 10? for the inhaler.

So even better that you have a referral that your GP may not bothered with then?

Yes. I do doubt he has it-2 coughs out of 9 years does not an Ashma sufferer make imv uninformed opinion as said nurse didn't give me any info.Half his class had the same virus and cough lat year and this year.

Said nurse didn't answer a lot of my questions or give me any info on Ashma so yes I wasn't that impressed.

Why is it a label? What's your problem with your DS bring diagnosed with asthma? Millions of people have asthma, it's not something to be ashamed of. Your attitude is very odd.

What is your problem with an "asthma label". I am short sighted, should I be upset about that?

Yeah, every second person has asthma. I don't understand this 'label' fixation you have. It's asthma not the plague!

What Altinkum said:

"A asthma nurse is more informed, up to date in knowledge in the condition than a GP is, so YABU on that."

At our practice, if the GP suspects asthma, he will make you an appointment with the asthma nurse, not the other way round. She is the expert, he is not.

Ds has exactly this kind of asthma, can't shake a cough, but not the really wheezing asthmatic sound. It can be quiet and cause no trouble for ages, and then suddenly flare up when he has a cold or overexerts himself. He had an attack of breathlessness and coughing when doing his swimming badge in a cold sea in the summer: the fact that we knew about his condition meant we were alert and could get him out before he had a serious attack.

Dh was diagnosed with asthma a long time ago, makes no difference to his insurance and he hasn't had any trouble in years, but is useful to know should it flare up again. It is not a stigma, nobody cares, it is extremely common, employers don't care (and dh has been doing heavy physical work in the past), the insurance company don't care. But knowledge is an insurance in itself.

I doubt it Poached we know our gp well,he treats all our family and has done for years.He is lovely and very informative I doubt he'd ever write anything so nasty,is happy to answer questions,encourages it.I doubt the nurse would either she may have been unhelpful but I doubt she would be so vindictive.

Does it matter if half his class, the town, the world, the universe etc etc has a cough and a virus??! You have no idea about any one else's medical history, yes viruses and coughs are common in Winter but being prescribed inhalers for them is not normal.

Asthma UK have a brilliant website, and a useful helpline during the week.

I love these AIBU threads. It is almost unanimous that you are BU based on your own account of events - but your tone remains v snarky and convinced you are absolutely in the right. What was your intention in starting this thread?

Do any of your relatives have asthma?

Do your children currently not have any diagnosed health conditions, and you are trying to keep it that way?

Hi Polkadotcircus. My dd (10) was only diagnosed within the last 6 months with asthma....we had taken her to A&E after a cold turned into being unable to get to the top of the stairs without having a sit down. We had a couple of inhalers which she needed to use near pets, after running cross country, during a cold and had wondered off and on about asthma....she would also wheeze every now and again and had an occasional persistent 'cough'....almost sounded like a nervous cough. The hospital at the time told us to go and visit our surgery as they were convinced it was asthma. We did this and our GP sent us straight to the asthma nurse as 'the expert'. 6 months later and she has now been diagnosed by the nurse as asthmatic (after peak flows daily, low dose prevention inhalers and far less reliance on her reliever inhaler.....plus no visits to A&E!) Since this time, I have found out an awful lot more about asthma nurses and they are indeed wonderful - highly competent, very, very important within children/school settings and I regularly sing their praises. A Nurse manager colleague told me the tragic story of a boy who was sent into the hall at school for persistently coughing and 'disturbing the class'......he was found 15 minutes later dead in the hallway as he was having an undiagnosed asthma attack. The stats on asthma are far, far higher than anybody imagines and although I can't recall the exact ones, it's something like 1 person dies in the UK every 2 minutes from an attack. My message therefore is that it's FAR better to be informed and over cautious when it comes to asthma.