Asthma or something else?

[susang84]

My 3 year old DD has had a flemy cough since September. Her chest is always clear when she's seen by the doctor and after several antibiotics and a referral to the asthma nurse she was given a blue inhaler for the any severe coughing fits and the brown inhaler for daily use. She started at 50 mcg then it was increased to 100mcg. The asthma nurse said its sounds like catarrh running from her nose and getting stuck in the back of the throat so not asthma. Especially since she can dance and run around like normal with no wheezing or coughing fits. You can actually hear and feel stuff rattling in her upper chest when she breathes.
I was finally referred to paediatrics where I saw a very young doctor who within 2 minutes said its asthma and increased the brown inhaler even more to 200mcg!
I've phoned back today asking to see another doctor because despite my protests felt I was being fobbed off and being seen again in 6 weeks. My dd also has recurrent thrush and urine infections, very pale lately and seems to be really tired lately too. When I highlighted all of this I was ignored.
Am I being paranoid here it was I was right to ask for a new referral?
Also, is 200mcg of a steroid injection not quite high for a 3 year old?
Please help cause I'm starting to doubt my gut instinct

Make sure she is washing her mouth out after the brown inhaler as that can cause thrush. And definitely keep pushing for a better diagnosis, if it was asthma then it should have shown improvement with the inhalers. X x

Asthma-type symptoms in young children look and sound very different from the wheezing that is seen in older children, teenagers and adults. I didn't know this when my DC was 2.5yo and didn't understand why inhalers were being prescribed for something clearly non-wheezy. To my everlasting shame, because of this lack of understanding I didn't use the inhalers. My DC ended up in hospital.

Trust the doctors. They know what they are doing. Ask them to show you what to look for - I was taught how to recognise the signs that a small torso is having to put extra muscular effort into breathing in - there are specific places where a dipping inwards when a child breathes shows that extra muscles are being used which shouldn't normally be needed. It's not at all unusual for a young child to still be running around and for no wheezing to be heard even if their blood oxygen levels are far too low.

FWIW my dd had an asthma diagnosis at 3 and I'm not sure she ever had it (no symptoms now for a year, she's 6). DH has asthma and she was more quickly diagnosed as a result. Inhalers did help with her coughing though. From dh asthma really needs to be as closely controlled as possible because that way you end up taking less meds in the long term not more. I don't think you actually absorb much into your body from inhalers so the dose isn't that much different to the adult one.

Hi. My dd (5) has had a similar cough on and off since Jan. We are being referred to a respiratory paed soon but have just seen an ENT as she also has glue ear, snoring, sleep apnea etc. He's recommended she has her adenoids removed and from what I've seen online enlarged adenoids can cause a cough too. Ger cough sounds the same as yours - phlemy but her chest is always clear. Large adenoids can block mucus draining and cause a cough. Does your child have any of these symptoms? Snotty noses, snoring etc are all common.

Yeah she does and both my husband and I had to have our adenoids out when we were young. I was just so angry that the pead doc wouldn't listen to me and just ignored everything we said.
Hopefully this second doc will be a bit better! X

Ds1 was diagnosed with asthma. I told the doctor that I really didn't think it was.

Inhaler made no difference. Turned out to be a reflux cough