2 year old with a viral induced wheeze. advice needed

[indiapops]

I hope I'm posting in the right place as I'm new here
My son is 2 and suffers with a viral induced wheeze. He's been in hospital and I've been through A&E countless times with him. Originally they said wouldn't happen frequently but the slightest cold brings in on. In the past they gave him the preventive inhaler, which worked but they stopped it. He's now only on salbutamol. Since Christmas he's had pneumonia, croup, ear infections and a continuous colds. Today I went back to the GP because he finished this round of antibiotics yesterday (this was for croup) the wheeze started days after this diagnosis and is worse than when it started. I've been given more antibiotics and now hes been referred to pediatrics. I feel so helpless with it all. He doesn't seem to get better for more than a couple of days. I've been sat wondering is there anything I can do ?? Rip my carpets up?? Is anyone in the same situation or can anyone offer any advice? It would be greatly appreciated right now x

Sorry this has been happening, there is a long running thread with some wise posters on there, I just found it on this page but could not link - it is titled something like wheezing into 2013. They have given great advice to me (under different name) & have lots of experience.

I can relate as my son has had lots of viral wheeze episodes, regular chest infections etc only last week he was blue lighted in, once in he had a nebuliser & admitted for the night then fine again. In the past he has been super ill, high dependancy & IV salbutamol in the past & like your experience as soon as the cold hits it seems to go to his chest. However for us it is getting better as he is getting older. It was worse between 14 months & 3, (worse as in more regular) it felt like there was no break between episodes. But now the colds are getting less frequent, he has been on lots of different medications currently waiting for a review for his inhalers.

The poster Sirzy (I think that is right?) had lots of wisdom & I am sure would help if you posted on that thread.

You need to get clarity whether he has VIW or asthma. (Although it can be hard to tell which it is in some cases).

If he's asthmatic, there will probably be a daily routine of meds to minimise risk of things going wrong and a whole host of other things to try. Most asthmatics have specific triggers, if they minimise their main triggers they have many fewer episodes.

If he's been to A&E loads, it doesn't sound like merely VIW. Sorry. :(

I'm so sorry you are going through this ds1 had his first episode of viw at 2.5 years. That winter was horrendous. He was poorly that frequently and with the family history, eczema and hay fever he was treated as asthmatic. It continued for another 18 months or so.

However, he is now 5 years old and hasnt had to take an inhaler since a flare up last May. The gp thought that was triggered by hayfever.

I know it's a terrible time and there are no guarantees but hopefully as he gets older and you get more experienced in dealing with it it will get easier.

My daughter had/has VIW but we have been prescribed inhalers. She has been to hospital 3x with it since she was 2 and 3 months as on these occasions the inhaler didn't seem to have any effect. It is stressful as you can't predict with any regularity when it's going to happen next. As others have mentioned, my DD's worst experiences occurred in the 2nd to 3rd year. She is 4 next month and (touch wood) only had a mild version a couple of weeks ago, prior to that it was last summer.

She had the flu jab last October as she is considered 'asthmatic' but I know that they put off that diagnosis at your son's age.

My DD also had an allergic reaction to Milk on her cereal - very suddenly started wheezing and coughing, the same occurred with ice cream so we have eliminated 'raw' milk from her diet - she doesn't react to yoghurt or cheese or cooked milk- so if it was in 'macaroni cheese' for instance, she'd be fine.

Thank you for your replies and sorry it has taken me so long to reply. After the last episode we had our appointment with the pediatrics team. my son is now on the brown clenil inhaler twice a day. I was told originally that he couldn't have it as it's not licenced for his age but the doctor said it's fine and the amount he will have will definitely not cause any issues. I was happy with this but it isn't stopping the problems just making them less severe. The doctor said that he shouldn't of been left to carry on getting sick, it should of been handled better. It makes me realise I'm not some crazy woman who isn't kicking up a fuss for nothing. He will have follow up appointments every four months. I really don't know why they didn't refer him to start with. They say it's a viral induced wheeze but said it's the same as asthma, I thought it was two different things I'm sorry to read that so many of you are going through this. I think it's scary for me as a mum so can only imagine how each of these children suffering with this must feel. I hope you all get the help you need for these little ones xxx

Hi there. If it's some comfort my son suffers from viral induced wheeze too. Been in and out of hospital. I'm an extremely anxious person and this is ever so frightening xx