School opening windows and cold triggering asthma

[Burnt0utMum]

Got myself in a bit of a panic over this and don't want to act irrationally. Kids have only just gone back to school today and we've had a message about 11am asking that children are sent in a jumper or cardigan to school as they will be having the windows open due to covid guidance. DS is in year 1 and has been hospitalised twice in the past couple of months with difficulty breathing. He is on an asthma plan now and we believe the cold to be the main trigger for the attacks. I'm in the process of getting him a blue inhaler to be kept in school but prescriptions seem to be so slow at the moment so right now he doesn't have an inhaler at school. I am panicking that he could get very ill again today as it's freezing and has been snowing. I've asked the school to keep a close eye on him but I'm still concerned. AIBU? Is it fair to keep him in the cold despite the harm it can cause him? They told be he can wear extra layers if needed but the trigger is actually breathing in the cold air so layers is beside the point.

I've done many a first aid course as a school employee and they quite often do have blue, 'ventolin' inhalers for emergency use.

I think they have an inhaler, just not a spare one to keep at school?

Sorry, misread the post - I see you do have one but need a spare for school. Can you hand that one to the teacher when you drop off and take it home each night until you get a spare sorted?

You need 3 inhalers

1. home
2. school
3. spare

You need a preventative inhaler for every morning and night (and a spare)

You need a spacer

You need a peak flow

You need asthma action plan for school

And you need a 6 monthly asthma review at the GP with a GP or asthma nurse…

Ahhh I’m so confused as to why you don’t have enough in place.

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/416468/emergency_inhalers_in_schools.pdf

Schools can now have a spare inhaler, mainly intended for if the inhaler in school runs out or is forgotten.

If the school have one if they are aware he has been prescribed a reliever inhaler and if he has a care plan then in an emergency with parental consent they could use it.

He has 1 blue reliever inhaler at home, 1 brown preventer inhaler that we do morning and night and a spacer to use with both. He's on an action plan through the gp and at the moment they are waiting to see how he gets on with the brown inhaler through winter and then will be reviewed again. It's only been a month since he was last in hospital so honestly not sure yet if it will help or not. Didn't even realise a separate action plan was needed for school. They've just said to get him another inhaler to be kept in school and that's it. I'm new to it all and still learning. How do I get a peak flow?

You can get a peak flow on prescription and it’ll be free

Cannot wait for Spring to come!! X

Thank you! I didn't even know this was a thing. Will ask for one as well as the extra inhaler.

Of course you are not being unreasonable to be concerned. You would be unreasonable in the current context to expect them to close all the windows though. I would also be very concerned about him catching covid with breathing problems, so having windows open is overall to his benefit.

There are some good suggestions about keeping him a warmer with seating position and snoods/masks/layers. Can you speak to his Dr to consider his hospital admissions and push for the prescription or give other help on how to keep him as well as possible. Can you ask school to take his ventilator you do have each morning/return each afternoon just until you get a spare? Unfortunately the only other alternative really is to keep him off until the spare ventilator for in school use is available.

Of course it is not fair on him, there are many things in the pandemic where there is no solution that suits all, the risk has to be balanced and it is always not fair to someone.

A child of year 1 age they are unlikely to bother with a peak flow as if will be hard to get a reliable reading.

yanbu.

i have cold (and warm) air triggered asthma. Honestly, the best trick is the scarf worn over the mouth/nose.. i wear the floaty type scarves this time of year, so i can just pull it up.. that extra couple of layers makes a lot of difference!

If they'll let him wear a face mask, if he can tolerate it, it'll do the same job.

Shocked that he has been hospitalised twice yet he doesn't have an inhaler in school !!!!

Does he play outside at playtime ....because that will colder.

I'd ask for him to be sat away from the open window but sadly this is how classrooms are these days.

I think it's awful that schools are doing this, there was one poor child on here that had chilblains on her hands. How can children concentrate/write or type properly when they are freezing. What schools should be doing is airing classrooms really well during all the breaks and then just having the windows open to what is comfortable in between. Blasting the children all day long with freezing air is just horrible. When you're cold your immune system doesn't work as well either so basically it just makes everyone more susceptible to catching it.

@Lulu1919

Shocked that he has been hospitalised twice yet he doesn't have an inhaler in school !!!!

Does he play outside at playtime ....because that will colder.

I'd ask for him to be sat away from the open window but sadly this is how classrooms are these days.

He won't be sat still when he's outside at play time though will he? And he'll be wearing a coat/hat/scarf/gloves potentially.

Even before Covid, DC at local primary school had been given permission for warm neck snood to be worn all the time during school day. Just ask, they will say yes.

@MatildaJayne

My friend is a TA in a primary school with severe asthma and she has struggled. If she has a serious attack she can be off for a few days recovering. The school have got quite arsy with her over her sickness record, despite the fact that it's entirely caused by the freezing conditions. Both windows and doors constantly open to get air circulating. She would wear a mask to warm up the air but can't when in class as she works with children who need to see her talking.

I'd suggest a thin mask. At least there are plenty about to choose from.

Perspex mask?

Can’t understand a delay in getting a blue inhaler and spacer to the school..? They have them everywhere.

The school asthma plan can come later - they can take in the inhaler and spacer at your request and tell them the plan is coming after. There’s no need to wait to have them all together.

Every year I send my kids in with new inhalers and spacers. They see their consultant in or around that time but it doesn’t always line up with a fresh asthma plan for the first day back of school.

Actually it’s the asthma nurse that draws up the plan. Anyway - I’d chase down the blue inhaler and spacer and expect to get it on the day - good luck

@Tal45

I think it's awful that schools are doing this, there was one poor child on here that had chilblains on her hands. How can children concentrate/write or type properly when they are freezing. What schools should be doing is airing classrooms really well during all the breaks and then just having the windows open to what is comfortable in between. Blasting the children all day long with freezing air is just horrible. When you're cold your immune system doesn't work as well either so basically it just makes everyone more susceptible to catching it.

This. The advice is to open windows for a few minutes every hour. Schools do seem be OTT with this.

He won't be sat still when he's outside at play time though will he? And he'll be wearing a coat/hat/scarf/gloves potentially.

This is irrelevant. For someone with asthma triggered by cold, it's breathing in cold air that is the problem (which will happen even more when he is running around).

as pp explained, the neck snood can be raised over nose as required to warm the air going in, less restrictive and comfier than a mask.
A lightweight cotton one would probably be best for air permeability, rather than arctic weight fleece.

My DD had a spell of problems with her asthma a couple of years ago- I was forever being called into school or dashing off to A&E, know exactly how stressful it can be! Cold air seemed to be a trigger for her too.

As others have said highly recommend a tube scarf/neck warmer he can pull over his mouth. Also agree he definitely should always have a blue inhaler to hand - wherever he goes, inhaler needs to go too, so if that means taking it into school every day for now. School need clear instructions on when to give it to him, how much, when to call you or in an emergency, an ambulance. We did up a whole action plan with school for my DD. Asthma UK has really useful advice and resources, including a downloadable action plan.

Also I found blue reliever often didn't help my DD, I think because she'd be taking it too late - by then she'd be getting stressed and finding it increasingly hard to take it, which made everything worse. So need to make sure your DS and/or school recognises signs as early as poss, and gives inhaler straight away. My DD got better with this as she got older! Hope it settles down soon for your DS, nothing worse than seeing them struggle to breathe!

I monitor CO2 indicators in a primary school, even with the windows open constantly it is very difficult to get readings down to ‘acceptable levels’. Opening external fire doors during breaks purges the air more completely and we then see a drop. But the temperature in the room struggles to recover before the next purge.
We are damned if we do and dammed if we don’t at the moment!

You definitely need better asthma management OP and there are lots of other good ideas about lightweight face coverings.

What do you mean prescriptions being slow - have they not prescribed it yet? That's ludicrous. He should have it at school, in the medicine cabinet. Taking one back and forth is nonsensical, it'll be forgotten one day or lost.

I had to fill in an online prescription request form which they apparently take 3 working days to review. Then however long to send the prescription through to the pharmacy, I don't know. Then the pharmacy say it takes them 4 working days to process and get funny if I try to chase. I wish I'd requested it sooner but I didn't realise it was needed. I thought we had everything we needed when I spoke to the asthma nurse before Xmas.

Try not to panic but I would speak to school about dc needs. My dc has an illness that is affect by cold weather the school have a care plan drawn up which has actions such as sitting away from the window (near a radiator if possible), no outdoor activities when the temperature is lower than x degrees, able to wear fingerless gloves, boots, other non uniform items if it helps condition inside and also states medical interventions needed. Since this has been put in place dc has been much better. I also encourage dc to tell teachers if they feel like the conditions in school are affecting health.