Asthma advice

[anonymousflowergirl]

My 3 year old has asthma and is on the brown inhaler and has a blue one too.

he had a cold a few weeks ago following his nasal flu vaccine and since then he’s had a cough. It was fairly prominent initially and was advised to give brown inhaler now twice a day, instead of once a day and blue inhaler before bed. We did this and the cough got much better so we went back to the normal recommended amount of brown inhaler but now over the last week it’s still there a bit.. some days basically gone, then it seems to come back again and I think we’re on week 3 at this point so I’m not sure if I need to make another GP appointment or increase the dosage again as per GP even until after the cough has gone for a few days at least?

I’ve read other people their child coughs from sept - April but I’m wondering if a little bit of coughing is normal when your child suffers from asthma or if I’m not managing his asthma properly? :(

thank you

My child always used the brown inhaler twice a day. The blue can be used multiple times when bad. I would do what they previously advised, But I would go back to the nurse and check as well.

Yeah he currently has the brown morning and night and then blue as and when needed.

doctor told us to up the brown to 4 times a day and the blue also before bed if he’s coughing at night.

he tends to cough more in the day/with exercise atm. I’ll do what they said before and try contact them to ask for further advice - thank you!

My four year old has 2 puffs of his brown twice a day, and blue when needed (up to ten puffs if bad, but six puffs every four hours when wheezy with a cold). I'd go back to the GP or ask for a referral to the respiratory clinic. The brown one is the crucial one for management - sounds like he needs to maintain a higher dose to keep the inflammation down.

Thank you so much, I appreciate you sharing this! The brown twice a day seemed to be effective right until his nasal flu vaccine tbh, or whether it’s the time of year and he needs increase over winter? I will ask for the referral to get further advice. Thank you again I appreciate that x

We've been told to stick to the double pump twice a day until March and then review and try to wean down if he's doing well. Given how often they catch things over winter they said that it was unlikely his asthma would be well managed on a lower dose, but it's definitely worth asking. They also said that there are very few long term issues with using the inhaled steroid level that is in the pump, but there are big potential side effects to oral steroids which they need in hospital and at home if they have an attack, so it's worth erring on the side of caution. Not foolproof though - my little one was admitted to hospital again last week after I couldn't get his breathing under control 🤦 going to be a long winter!

Oh I’m so sorry to hear about your little one! I hope they are doing much better now.
the advice you’ve been given does make so much sense for sure! And absolutely if I can prevent the oral steroids it’s better to do so. before he had inhalers we were up a&e fairly often needing the steroids due to him getting a gasps/croupy cough out of no where. We finally then got the inhalers which have helped but i definitely think over winter he just needs that extra support - worries the life out of me it really does! X

It's so stressful!! He's much better now thanks, but typically if he's going to go downhill with it it's around 5-6pm which makes for a long night. I wish they would provide better seating for parents staying in with kids but that's an argument for another day 😂 definitely see if you can get a respiratory clinic referral, I found them really clued up and they also helped to lay out what steps to take for what level of cough/wheeze and when to drop everything and go! X