Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Children's health

Mumsnet doesn't verify the qualifications of users. If you have medical concerns, please consult a healthcare professional.

Original poster

Can we start a new asthma support thread now dreaded winter season is looming?

987 replies

Knackeredmother · 21/09/2011 09:26

Hi,
I can't seem to find the old support thread. I lurked on it during many long, lonely and frightening nights and admissions with ds over the past year and a half.
My ds is 21 months now, was hospitalized at 8 weeks severe bronchiolitis (really thought he would die) then every 3-4 weeks since whenever he gets a cold. No symptoms in between colds but a wet, crackly chest with some wheeze with every cold. Plus of course the dreaded tracheal tug and sternal recession that heralds an admission.
It is all so bloody draining and heartbreaking!
We are just starting with a new bout today after a whole 8 weeks of being well. I am debating whether to call in sick for my nightshift tonight or leave poor hubby with an inevitable hospital admission AND our 4 year old!
Anyway, would be good to hear from others going through similar so we can all support each other ( or direct me to the original support thread!)

OP posts:
cedmonds · 16/10/2012 19:47

I have had words and the head is not happy i think a few people would have had there wrists slapped tonightWink Hopefully it wont happen again. We used to have problems years ago with the Clenil(when he was on it) and the montelukast before he was on the tablet.
Glad DS is doing ok sirzy hopefully he will stay that way.

alibobins · 16/10/2012 19:56

Cedmonds that is disgusting Angry
Ds1 seems to be doing better at school and managing his inhalers better he was a bit tight yesterday but had football practice x

DizzyHoneyBee · 17/10/2012 07:26

That's awful about the schools. I'm a governor and I agree that you need to contact them if the head teacher is not taking appropriate action. I had an issue I needed to raise with the head teacher about asthma care and it was done and dusted within a day so there is no reason that they can't act on it if they get on with it - the school had an email from me before school and when I went in after school to discuss it with them they had new policies and procedures in place.

MrsFruitcake · 17/10/2012 08:52

New to this thread...

DS (4) suffers every winter. He's just started school and within three weeks, picked up a bug. Developed from the Wednesday onwards and was manageable, but on the Sunday, became very listless and floppy, wanting to lay on the sofa which isn't like him at all. He started having difficulty breathing so took him straight to A&E where her was taken into resus for monitoring - very scary for him and me. He had a large does of steroids and some ibuprofen to keep his temp down.

Spent a very tearful and restless night on the children's ward and they let him home Monday lunchtime with Clenil and steroids and open access for the rest of the week. Thankfully, he recovered very quickly and was back at school the following week with his inhaler which the school was very good about giving him.

Now I am watching like a hawk - will start the inhaler again if I see the signs, as he'd never had it that bad before. Unfortunately, he had a perforated eardrum last week, and missed two more days of school.

Hoping that we'll be able to manage it at home next time.

ilovemydogandMrObama · 17/10/2012 18:51

cedmonds Sad not sure if you remember DD1's scary incident earlier in the year? It was reported (not by me) to the Board of Governors as a child protection issue as a child was put in danger. This meant that measures had to be taken to ensure that it never happened again, and part of the school wide plan involved all teachers reviewing care plans, plus the SENCO meeting with the parents to ensure the care plan was up to date.

MrsFruit Sad it's so so scary seeing your child in resus and hope it never happens again. DD1 always seems to develop some sort of virus at the start of a school year, but seems to be getting less severe. When she started Reception, it developed into pneumonia, in Year 1 she got just a bog standard chest infection, and she's now in year 2, and had a few trips to the GP to be on nebulizer, but hasn't been blue lighted to Children's Hospital, so am feeling a bit smug Grin. Hopefully he has asymptomatic asthma which is he gets asthma when he gets ill rather than chronic asthma. But good that you feel that you can manage at home.

alibobins · 18/10/2012 08:52

Ds1 had his surgery yesterday and is recovering well this is is 10th GA and the aneathasists was a little concerened as ds de-satted during the op :( he had to have a steriod injection but seems fine now.
I received the written response from his school today and a copy of the reviewed policies. It has been decided that through the winter months ds will have his inhaler at lunch time and if he needs extra they will ring me.
Hope everyone is doing better things seemed to have calmed down x

Sirzy · 18/10/2012 10:40

Ali hope Ds is ok now.

Ds had his flu jab this morning, hardly flinched at all!

cedmonds · 18/10/2012 12:48

ilove I do remember that. He was no way as bad just need some Ventolin and stayed at school. I have spoken to the governors and they are sorting it. It worked really well last time. Spoke to ds's teacher this morning about Ventolin before PE and she was fine said she had never got the message from office about email from GOSH. Communication in that school is rubbish

alibobins · 18/10/2012 12:48

What a brave little man x x

cedmonds · 18/10/2012 12:48

alli Hope ds is ok and recovering well.

alibobins · 19/10/2012 17:34

Ds is bouncing around as normal apart from 7 stitches in his head you wouldn't notice anything wrong Smile
Hope everyone has a wheeze free weekend x x

lollipoppi · 22/10/2012 17:25

How's everybody doing? All quiet on this thread which I'm taking as a good sign Smile
DS had his appt with consultant today, all went well, they have given us open access to the wards and have another appt for 2 months time. X

Sirzy · 22/10/2012 18:15

Glad Your appointment went well lolli

Ds is ok, managed 24 hours with no ventolin for the first time in around 6 weeks so that's good :)

Got his consultant appointment next week

lollipoppi · 22/10/2012 22:05

That's great news sirzy, fingers crossed he stays off it for a while!!
Good luck for your appt next week, I thought of 100 questions I should have asked after I had left!! Grrrrr! Pregnancy brain!!

alibobins · 28/10/2012 21:04

Ds1 is having a rough night already he went to a Halloween party and has come back very wheezy Sad he's had 10 puffs and is now dozing on the sofa wheezing away.

lollipoppi · 29/10/2012 09:15

Hey Ali, how's DS doing this morning?

alibobins · 29/10/2012 13:39

He's still chesty Sad it turns out they've got a cat and ds is extremely allergic to cats I just didn't think to ask x x gp has given him a short course of pred to settle him down x x

shelsco · 29/10/2012 18:44

Hi. I've posted in child health but I thought this might be a good place to ask for advice too!
DS2 has brittle asthma and i've booked him in for the flu jab tomorrow. He had the swine flu jab 2 years ago and on the first dose he was fine but on the second jab he seemed to have a bad reaction. He was crying and saying he was in pain all over and really weak. He couldn't get out of bed or even lift his head off the pillow he was so weak. It really frightened me so I rang NHS direct who basically accused me of getting the vaccine off the internet! (I didnt!)
I later found out that they had changed the advice and stopped giving kids 2 jabs as a few of them had suffered bad reactions. My question is: has anyone's dc had a similar reaction to a flu jab then been ok for subsequent jabs? I'm terrified that ds will have bad reaction again but am also terrified of him getting flu as every time he gets a cold his peak flow drops right down and he ends up on steroids. My head is saying get the vaccine as every time Ds has asthma attack it's terrifying but the reaction to the vaccine last time really frightened me as well.

Sirzy · 29/10/2012 19:26

Ali - hope he is feeling better now.

Hi shel! When DS had his first flu jab he had 2 doses I thought that was normal for children the first year they have it I know our GP still does it that way. Thankfully he has never reacted badly to a flu jab, can you speak to the nurse before it is done?

alibobins · 29/10/2012 20:19

Dd has just had the flu jab and as it is er first time she will have 2 injections 4 weeks apart. She had no major reaction other than a sore arm.
Ds1 has never had it due to the fact he has got serious allergies he was unable to have the swine flu one either.
He is feeling much better his peak flow has gone up and his sats are sitting better at 96 they were 92 at the gp's.

Sirzy how is your ds doing?

Sirzy · 29/10/2012 20:23

Glad he is doing better :)

He isn't bad. Still gets out of puff very easily but did manage 2 weeks with no ventolin but has needed it again this week. Seeing his consultant on Thursday so hopefully he can find a solution to the breathlessness!

cedmonds · 29/10/2012 20:24

Oh no Alli hope he stays a bit more settled.
Shel Ds has had the flu jab since he was one and always been fine but he had a reaction to the swine flu- really high temperature and generally a bit like flu.

shelsco · 29/10/2012 21:21

Thanks ced, hopefully it is only the swine flu jab that causes a bad reaction in some people then. That does make me feel a bit less anxious. I did speak to the nurse the other day sirzy and she didn't really say much. I don't think she knew what to say.

This thread is fantastic btw. I always dread this time of year as, once the colds start circulating I'm on constant stand by, just waiting to see what happens and keeping my fingers crossed that we manage to keep things under control! It somehow makes me feel better that I'm not the only one.

Sirzy · 29/10/2012 21:26

How old is your ds Shel?

I know what you mean about the colds. first sign of a snuffle and I start worrying!

shelsco · 29/10/2012 22:43

He's 10 now although a very small, frail looking ten! he had really bad attacks when he was little after having bronchiolitis , pneumonia and repeated chest infections but they seemed to come on really quickly, as soon as he got a cold. We were told to up the inhalers and we seemed to get it under control with the inhalers for about 3 years but he seemed to stop growing and the asthma nurse wondered if it was due to the inhalers.
We were referred to the consultant who said if he had been ok for 3 years it wasn't asthma. He told us to stop the inhalers as most of the time he doesn't need them, only when he gets a cold. We did stop them and he grew and wasn't bad for about a year. Over the last year, however, he's needed his ventolin before exercise, especially football. And when he gets a cold, no matter how soon we start his inhalers, he seems to need prednisolone. I just hate it, the minute he gets a sniffle I sleep with one ear open, listening to him coughing! What about your ds - how old is he?