Hello 
Was on this thread yonks ago but as ds2's asthma's been worse this Winter than ever before so thought it might be good to come back :)
He's 8, had bronchiolitis at 3 days old, repeated attacks of viral-induced wheeze to the point of hospital admission. Diagnosed with viral-induced asthma at 4. We were told he would probably grow out of it... :(
He's been on Seretide and Montelukast for the last two years but since the Summer he's rebounded from chest infection to chest infection, amoxycillin no longer works and I fear Clarithromycin doesn't now either. Start of each bring on an intense attack, he's nebbed with Ventolin if needed and has a course of Pred until the wheeze eases. We don't monitor sats but use a peak flow meter to gauge how he's doing - plus the tug usually gives it away...
So he finished a course of Clarithro on Saturday and is already back with the deep coughing, sore chest, temp and lack of appetite. Luckily we've an appointment with the most switched on GP on Friday, he's determined to sort this out.
And to add to the joy, looks like ds3 has viral-induced wheeze as well.
Anyway, enough misery 
Something someone raised earlier about when to give Pred, we used to always give it when he woke up. I guess because he's had so many courses of it the hyper effect doesn't kick in as much now.
We found that for him it's far more effective given in the evening to get his body through its naturally-low steroid levels during the early morning - it takes about six hours to be effective.
While having lots of it as a toddler did affect his growth at the time, he's now up to the 75th centiles for height and weight.