Inhaler prescribed, how long until you know it helps?

[strawberrycake]

Took ds to GP (again...) for his cough/ wheeze which was worse. Last night was horrific, nearly used out of hours doc as vomiting too. Took him first thing so they could hear wheeze cough at its worst. This time as well as yet another course of antibiotics this doc has prescribed a blue inhaler and aerochamber. If this is the thing that helps how long is it until we can expect to see a difference?

My DD has this (BTW as soon as vomiting I go straight to out of hours docs as then I know that her tummy is doing all the work and she is not breathing properly) anyway, with my DD the blue inhaler helps her breathing pretty much straight away BUT on Saturday it was bad (thought a trip to hospital was on the cards) and we went through half an inhaler, BUT is much better today
Hope this helps, and you have just reminded me to ring the asthma clinic!!

That's for the insight. I have no experience of asthma myself and he's only 8 months and not yet diagnosed as asthmatic. It's as yet only a case of a variety of symptoms which warrants giving an inhaler a try. He coughs awake every night (ongoing since 4 months), not too bad in the day and recently I noticed he wheezes worse after an allergic reaction to food which made me think it was more than yet another chest infection. I'll keep your info about the being sick to mind for future reference. It didn't seem like tummy-bug sick as no food/ smell. Just coughing up a lot of bile and water, which he'd been guzzling more than usual.

With Ds you can tell in 20 mins if the ventolin is working properly.

Is he just on the blue inhaler. He might need the brown one too to strengthen his lungs. In any case, 20 mins to improvement. Longer term. Well DS was prescribed one last year and has stopped needing it now. He's not had any wheezing for six months (he's two and a half). But that was with the blue and brown together.

Incidentally, you know you can increase the dosage to ten puffs (which is the same dose as a nebuliser) if he gets really bad. I was not told this but if symptoms are really bad it needs upping.

You do know the spacer is a magic trumpet the whole family can toot don't you? (You need to know this for when they get to that special age when they fight back and run away from it).

I find that the vomiting that goes with wheeziness is often when they get phlegm stuck in the back of their throat and can't get rid. They gag - and the vom appears including the phlegm that they couldn't get rid of. This is obviously worse when lying down - night time. Raising your DS up at the head end might help in less gagging. I know that pillows etc are not recommended at this age, but you can raise the mattress.
My GP says that if the 10 puffs blue are not doing the trick, then off to A&E. The GPs Nebuliser does very little more than this, so more intervention is better.

Thanks for all the replies.

He is sleeping peacefully. His breathing seems smoother than it has been for ages, quite relaxed for him. He's wrecked the poor thing with all the sleepless nights, only waking for nappy changes or small amounts of milk. After 5 min he cries for his cot and is off like a light once in there.

It's all very new to me.

whomovedmychoc I believe the spacer has already spent more time on my face than his! Luckily he loves nothing more than to copy me.

Hopefully the inhaler works and he gets more rest!

Pleased to say the difference last night was significant. Barely a single cough and smooth regular breathing, as opposed to the usual snuffs and grunts. He still needs to clear the chest infection but he's relaxed. Calpol is keeping his temp down well and no vomiting since yesterday afternoon.