Wheezing into 2013 - Support thread for parents of asthmatics

[Sirzy]

As the old thread is filling up I thought I would get a new one started!

This thread is for anyone with a child with asthma, or asthma type symptoms. Between us we have to much experience of inhalers, nebulisers, steroids, sats and all things asthma!

[Wheresmycaffeinedrip]

Hope your other ds has a great birthday. And glad to hear he's perked up a bit!! :) yay for drinking!!

[DizzyHoneyBee]

My DS is also 8.

[Sirzy]

I always give DS pred in the morning, no idea why but the hospital always do it that way!

[DizzyHoneyBee]

Sirzy, trust me if you give pred. at night then you will find out why the hospital said to always give it in the morning!

[Wheresmycaffeinedrip]

The hospital gave dd her first dose of pred at night. And then promptly informed me it can send them hyper. Was an interesting two hours :o

[Sirzy]

I know, he has had it at night before when going in at night and its always a sleepless night lol!

Not as bad as when he had had dexmethazone though!

[Wheresmycaffeinedrip]

I Remember an absolutely horrific weekend with the dissolvable purple pred and bright yellow antibiotic. I still shudder thinking about it :)

Thankfully last time I got given the white pred pills and no anti b needed. The relief was immense :)

[Sirzy]

we have only ever had purple pred. Thankfully he takes it ok now as I have been showed in that stuff to many times in the past!

[DizzyHoneyBee]

Last time my DS had pred. they gave him a dose of 6 tablets, I have never known him to be so badly behaved; that evening he was truly horrendous but would then burst into tears and say he didn't know why he was being like it. I took him back to the GP the next day and he halved the dose. Awful stuff, poor DS was so unhappy.

[Wheresmycaffeinedrip]

The brown inhaler can apparently send them hyper too. We only have the blue thankfully as dd has so far reacted that way to purple pred and yellow AB. If only they could lace it with a sedative :o

Would help if drs didn't look at u like u were nuts too when u ask for alternatives due to reactions.

[Sirzy]

We never had any problems with the brown when Ds had that thankfully

[DizzyHoneyBee]

We have the orange inhaler here, the brown one didn't work for DS. No problems so far with it.

[Sirzy]

Ds is on servent now which is purple and works pretty well although I think the dose needs increasing

[Sirzy]

So apparently allowing DS to walk to 5 minutes (at his slow pace!) to my sisters was a bad idea - I ended up carrying him most of the way!

[Wheresmycaffeinedrip]

:( sirzy

[cedmonds]

Ds has been ok got a cold and a horrid cough but so far it hasn't got any worse. Sorry there are so many ill little ones around at the moment. This was the first Christmas that we haven't had to do an A+E/ooh/admissions for DS

[Sirzy]

Thats good, fingers crossed it stays that way

[Tinkerisdead]

Can I join this? Apologies I haven't read all the thread but I'm thinking this may be a good place for advice.

Bit of backstory- when dd1 was 18 months she was hospitalised with bronchilotis and was diagnosed as a "happy wheezed". She had a nebuliser in hospital and we left with a ventolin inhaler.

She's now 4 and each winter I've endured raised eyebrows and comments like "she's still got that cough?!" we lived in an old damp house and have moved to a new build that's obviously much drier.

This winter she's been coughing for around two months now. Initially after three weeks of persistent cough (and using ventolin) I went back to the GP who said she has "narrow airways and a wheeze" but that this does not equal asthma. He told me to use ventolin when she has coughing fits and a steroid (brown) inhaler has a preventer twice a day. Assuring me its a mild steroid etc and won't affect her growth. (the leaflet says differently). Despite using both inhalers, with a spacer, nothing has improved.

I know nothing of asthma or the like, I'm not even certain we're using the inhaler/spacer properly as I wasn't shown. I took her back today and they said again she has a wheeze and keep on the inhalers. But I'm concerned about her using a steroid everyday to no effect.

Am I meant to allergy proof her room? Keep her on steroids? How do I use the spacer to good effect? I'm so confused and the doctors are really dismissive. Can anyone arm me with some facts or actions to get this under control?

[Sirzy]

I wouldn't worry about the inhaled steroids, apparently it needs to be very high doses before it becomes an issue.

WRT using the inhaler and spacer - hold the mask over her face and puff the inhaler once then count to 10 if repeat doses are needed then shake the inhaler and repeat.

Ask your GP about seeing the asthma nurse who should be able to go through everything with you - they are generally much more clued up than GPs!

[DizzyHoneyBee]

I'd agree about the inhaler steroids not having an impact on growth unless it is high levels. DS is the tallest in his school (he's got another year before he leaves) and has grown out of every pair of school shoes he has had at each half term in the year.
Like Sirzy says, ask for an appointment with the asthma nurse.

have a look at www.asthma.org.uk/about-asthma/my-child-has-asthma/ and there are links to free leaflets you can either send for or download, I found them really useful when DS was first diagnosed.

[Tinkerisdead]

See, I didn't even know there was an asthma nurse. Dd has no understanding of what's wrong and cries at the inhalers so a trip to the nurse would be great.

Her room gets quite cold, am I better to keep it warmed up? What about dust mites etc should that be a concern?

Thank you for responding I truly have no idea what I'm doing. I've read back on the thread and see a diagnosis isn't forthcoming under 5. I wondered why they never said "asthma" but ply us with inhalers.

(contrary to my name dh is not a dr!)

[Sirzy]

Can you make giving the inhalers into a game? you pretend to take it/give it to toys and things? DS has covered his spacer in stickers to.

Triggers differ from one person to the next, dust mites certainly trigger DS so I have to keep his bedroom really clean.

[wontwearsocks]

A rare visit back to this thread for me. I used to be Suiledonn on older asthma threads.

My dd1 is 6.5 now and thankfully has improved a lot in the last couple of years.

2012 is (fingers crossed) going to be our first year without a hospital admission for dd1 if we make it through the next few days.

Unfortunately she isn't well at the moment. She has a cold and a cough and it feels like it will be one of those 'watch and wait' nights with her. I've given her Ventolin and although she is breathing faster than normal she isn't tugging or grunting. I'll give it an hour and see if she needs to go to OOHs to see someone.

DrsWife Do I recognise you from a 2008 ante-natal board?