New asthma diagnosis

[Morethanwords1]

Hi all,

My daughter (aged 4) has had a cough since the beginning of March, she's not poorly with it but the cough just won't go away. We noticed it was much worse in the night/morning and when doing anything energetic, she just can't catch her breath. The doctor thinks it's asthma and has prescribed a blue inhaler to use for the next few weeks with 2 puffs, 4 times a day. I'm no doctor, but I was googling and it seems the blue inhaler is used when there is an actual attack, so I was wondering (not because I disagree, but because I'm interested!) why we have to use it in advance/regularly if it's not a preventative? Without tempting fate, she seems to have coughed much less today, so hopefully it will help.

[LIZS]

It is probably ventolin which is a reliever so eases symptoms and opens airways. That in itself may reduce the issues. A preventer is a daily dose once formally diagnosed and used if symptoms are not specifically triggered.

[OooohAhhhh]

Hi, my child recently got diagnosed with asthma as well due to a long standing cough, which was much worse at night than in the day.
Dr prescribed us the blue one too, I phoned them back up as it didn't do anything.
Dr then prescribed a different asthma spray, which was the brown one, which is a preventer, so you use 2 sprays in a morning and 2 sprays at night. This did the trick. My child didn't suffer with typical asthma breathing problems such as wheezing etc, so the blue one was no good, he just needed the brown one to prevent the cough.
So I'd definitely call your Dr back on Monday.

[OooohAhhhh]

P.S we got told it's probably childhood asthma and they will probably grow out of it.
I know a lot of children who have been diagnosed with it as well, so it's quite common.

[sthitch]

Thanks both. He did say to call up in next couple of weeks if no good and he will prescribe a steroid, which I assume is the brown inhaler. Today has been better, not back to normal but miles better than she has been, so I'll give the 2 weeks unless she gets worse.

[sthitch]

@OooohAhhhh

P.S we got told it's probably childhood asthma and they will probably grow out of it.
I know a lot of children who have been diagnosed with it as well, so it's quite common.

I hope she does grow out of it. We have it in our family, my side grew out of it and my husbands side hasn't. But she also had covid in March so I do wonder if it's off the back of that, but she's totally fine in herself except the cough!

[DriftGames]

Same for my daughter although she developed the consistent cough just before she turned 2. She's 2.5 this month and they've said asthma. Originally gave her a blue inhaler but she refused to take it, she now has a syrup (salbutamol) which she takes when she needs it, but she also takes a chewable tablet every night (Montelukast) which is really helping.
Definitely worth a call to the GP if no improvement with the reliever.

[sthitch]

@DriftGames

Same for my daughter although she developed the consistent cough just before she turned 2. She's 2.5 this month and they've said asthma. Originally gave her a blue inhaler but she refused to take it, she now has a syrup (salbutamol) which she takes when she needs it, but she also takes a chewable tablet every night (Montelukast) which is really helping.
Definitely worth a call to the GP if no improvement with the reliever.

Aw 🤗I think my daughter would have been the same at 2 and not sure on it at all, luckily she will happily take it, I think she's sick of coughing and wants to be able to dance and play without having a coughing fit! I'll definitely call back if she's still no good!