Respiratory specialist - what tests are they likely to do ?

[elmofan]

DD 4yrs has an appointment for next Tuesday to see a respiratory specialist in regards to her recurrent chest infections & the possibility that she might have asthma . My GP has said they will want to do lots of tests but did not go into any detail so i am just wondering what sort of tests are they likely to put her through . Any ideas ?
TIA

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Sorry no info but curious how you get on as my dd is 4.4 and been given inhalers as she gets a cough and lots of mucus every time she gets a cold,which is about every 6 weeks!
Hope your dd gets on ok and please let me know how your app goes. x

Will do donutbrain

My dd is the same every time she gets a cold it goes straight onto her chest :( she has had 17 antibiotics in this past 11months with 3 chest infections & 1 lung infection .

DS is 2 and a half. He had lots of recurrent chest infections and had loads of tests.

The first tests he had done were tests on his immune system (blood test) and tests for cystic fibrosis. This uncovered nothing. He then had several tests for reflux and a test on his swallowing. This suggested reflux but not strongly enough to necessarily be definitive. He then had a CT scan done, which showed some changes on it, so he then had a broncoscopy and ciliary brushing done. The bronchoscopy also suggested the cause was reflux. He's been on reflux meds since and has only had one chest infection since January.

The CT scan and bronchoscopy were both under GA which was a bit traumatic for us but DS did ok with it all. The reflux tests were a barium swallow and then pH study which involved a tube down his nose for 24 hours. So all of those tests were quite intrusive. There was one further test we could have done but it sounded hideous and it tested for a really rare problem so we said no to that one.

That said, although the actual tests were unpleasant, we really believe we have got to the bottom of his problems with the reflux and it is only due to the testing that we discovered it.

If you have any particular questions, let me know.

Strawberrycornetto :( your poor ds that all sounds dreadful tbh . DD's last chest infection was on June 1st & that took 2 strong antibiotics & steroid tablets to clear her chest but now she is on 2 inhalers her chest seems to be staying clear . She is due to start school in September & I'm worried the infections will start up again . Hopefully we will get some answers on Tuesday as to whats causing these infections . Good to see your ds is doing well . Thanks for your reply x

ELMOFAN

How did dds appointment go today?
Hope it went well

My DS1 (2.4) had silent reflux as a baby and has not been able to come off the tiny newborn dose of his reflux meds that stopped him getting heartburn. However, he has also been on quite big doses of ventolin and becotide for the last year to control terrible night coughing/some wheezing etc.. (and had a severe chest infection last November). He has two puffs of each morning and night and coughs for upto 3 hours each night if not. We have kept trying to reduce the dose without success until recently.

At that point, we upped his reflux meds to the correct dose for his weight (due to the reflux being worse) and in the last week I have reduced his asthma meds by half - so far so good. I really hope that we have not been pumping this stuff into him for a year when what he really needed was better control of his reflux.

I hope the appointment has gone well today OP. Let us know how you got on.