Parents of Asthmatic children lets chat here...

[Nemoandthefishes]

As we all know now tends to be when the asthma kicks off worst so thought we could all have a thread going where we can chat about different things...

My dd1 is asthmatic and is 2.9yrs old, started with breathing issues at 3wks old and was officially diagnosed last october.She has been admitted too many times to remember from asthma attacks/respiritory issues. She is currently on 4mg montelukast, 5ml cetrizine antihistamine, clenil modulite 100 2 puffs morning and night, salbutamol when required

My ds does not suffer at all, only dd. not sure how no 3 will be, but i'm pretty sure dd's asthma all started when she had bronchilitis.

My DS 5 has asthma - he is on Seretide 125 two puffs twice a day and salbutamol when needed. Just had a really bad episode and struggling to get it under control.

We have had bad experiences of him when he was singulair earlier this year.

He is starting to say he thinks he is going to die when he is coughing at night. We reassure him but it breaks my heart to hear him say that.

He doesnt really wheeze, just coughing.

Exercise and stress - good and bad - are triggers plus getting a virus.

Good idea for a thread.

Have tried homeopathy but am not sure how effective it was.

DS2 still struggling.
Currently on 4 x beclometasone, 4 x serevent, 12 x prednisolone tablets per day.
Still needing Ventolin 3 - 4 hourly.
Was nebulised Saturday night.
He's coughing, hyped and exhausted.
Another appt at doctors tomorrow morning.
His peak flow is hovering around 200 - 220.

Our house is damp in the downstairs rooms, and we are currently nagging the estate agent to sort it out.
They dropped a dehumidifier off yesterday, so that is running pretty much constantly.

May have to ship DS2 out to relatives to see if that helps him get better.

That sounds so scary HumphreyCushion. We have a bad problem with damp and mould, which makes me and dd1 bad. Our house is part of dh's job, so we are not sure what they will be able to do about the damp. I started a thread a while ago asking about air purifiers, and some people thought they would be helpful with the mould spores.

Dd1 up wheezing and coughing last 2 nights, but seems better this morning. When she is like this she gets so overtired, won't nap, bad sleep at night and then is really screamy and tantrummy all day, the more worked up she gets the wheezier she gets - its knackering!

We have a dehumidifier and it seems to help a bit. It's shocking how much moisture it sucks up from the bedrooms.

Can't remember if I mentioned this before, apologies if so, but my children seem better when they take fish oil tablets (Omega 3). I think it reduces inflammation in tissues, so the lungs would benefit.

DS1 (just turned 3) has asthma and is on Beclametasone twice a day and salbutamol when needed.
I took him off the beclametasone all summer as we moved out of London and he picked up massively. He's had to go back on it now though as he is getting bad again.
I too have problems with his nursery not giving him the inhaler 'because he didnt look too bad' but I would have given it to him.

DS2 (7 months) has just been put on the same inhalers as DS1. He's only been on them a few days but is still really really struggling. He has a cold and the coughing and wheezing is really bad.
He seems to need the salbutomol much more often than DS1 does. I'm giving it to him every 2 hours or so - is that ok? How often can you give it when they are bad?

Bridie, I have tried giving dd's Abidec, which has fish oils in, but they spat it out , so I'll have a look if there is something else in Boots.

Has anyone's lo's been on Briycanyl (terbutaline), as a syrup,instead of the Salbutamol?

Today DD has gone on a school residential trip for one night, had a phone call from the headteacher at 7.3oam with a gentle reminder to remember her inhalers, PF monitor and her anti-hystamines, saying that in the past parents hade forgotten to pack them. I heart my DD school. She went off a little chesty this morning but they were still willing to take her after going through her action plan with me.

Hi all you parents dealing with asthma.

Just wanted to pop my head in, i have an asthmatic child, shes was diagnosed very young and we have been dealing with it for 10 years now.

Shes been in hospital many times, and that it truly scary, but i just wanted to pick up on the hyper bit.

Generally shes laid back, more studious than active (probably because of her asthma) During the last time she was hospitalised we were actually on holiday in NZ she went in with very very low sats and her breathing was shot, i actually had to carry her in because she couldn't walk. Anyway after the first nebuliser she got really hyper and started laughing and joking and this happens every time. I always think "Well maybe it wasn't that bad"! but of course it was.

6 months ago i found i that i had adult onset asthma, and i can vouch for the children getting hyper, nebulisers and steroids do make us hyper!!

Just a little bit of advise. My DD has currently got mouth thrush from the steroids in her meds, her voice is a bit squeaky too. Its just something to keep and eye on.

In terms of her size, and shes been heavily medicated for 10 years shes not tiny, but she is smaller than the rest of her class, she did catch up a bit in the last couple of years.

Good luck Mums

I am feeling rather ashamed about moaning about asthma when other people's children have it more seriously. Hi, squidandchips.

Bridie, good tip about the fish oils.
We give Efalex to our children - it's usually on BOGOF in Boots.

DS2 back to the docs this morning.
He's still wheezing.
Peak flow readings have dropped over the week.
SATS 93%.
He is now on 16 prednisolone per day, as well as the usual inhalers and antihistamine.

If that doesn't work, he'll be admitted to hospital to stabilise him.

He's gone to stay with my parents overnight, in the hope that the lack of damp helps him get a handle on this latest attack.

Dr has written a letter to estate agent, telling them that the damp in the house is exacerbating his asthma.

Hi Bridie3. I don't think you should be ashamed about moaning (not that i have noticed) asthma is a nasty condition and its scary to watch and to suffer from not matter if its mild or severe. In my experience my DD can be completely fine one day and the next she cant do anything. But as she has got older and through good management her attacks get less and less so that's always a hopeful sign.

I cant recall anything specific setting my DD off, when she goes she just goes so to speak, she does say that orange squash makes her bad, so that's always something to keep and eye on.

From personal experience, some things set me off more than others. We have a cat but my body just got used to her being around. Beer makes me really bad (though i know little ones wont have that problem!) some spices set me off, and cold air.

Both me and my DD go blue around the mouth which is not a good sign.

Just another thing, if you don't already know about it, we use a programme called the Peak Flow you can get it offline, and its an excellent way of keeping track, my asthma nurse found it very useful when dealing with us. (I hope i don't get into trouble for this, but its a good tool)

You might find the change of air is good news.

Squidyes, it's depressing how things can change so suddenly. I will look for the Peak Flowthanks.

Evening all, hope all the children are well. My DD is currently fast asleep having come home wrom school with a temp of 40. Breathing is a little bit rapid but isn't tugging or ressessing at all, has been coughing lots recently so has needed ventolin more but has setttled since had ventolin at 4pm. Hopefully it's just a bug and not a chest infection - off to GP's tomorrow if no better over night.

Hi, hope you don;t mind me popping me head in the door!

DS1 has eczema - it vaires in severity, sometimes it gets bad and other times you'd never know he has it.

I do have a bit of a suspicion that he is asthmatic as well. He has had a persistent cough for weeks now, and it sometime finding it hard to brtethe at night.

DP is asthmatic too

What I want to know is - what made you start to suspect that you son or daughter was asthmatic

Hope I haven't ramvbled and confused you....

By the way, DS1 is 3.10

sheik with dd1 she was hospitalised so much it was obviously asthma. If you are concerned take him to the gp he is old enough now to be looked at properly.

not a good day here dd1 has been coughing lots and generally unwell then tonight has thrown up about 6 times in half an hour tis all fun.

Hi buoti, with my DD is was the constant coughing all day and all night every single winter until she was 4 3/4 yrs old. After several trips to GP was eventually prescribed inhalers at the above age which helped. We have a very strong family history of eczema, hayfever and to a certain extent asthma.

Hi everyone Ds is 3.10 now and still not really controlled
We have had one addmission so far this month
He's on seretide ventolin atrovent montelukast ceritizine a nasel spray and azitromycin
He gets really breathless when trying to keep up with his friends

DD has just been prescribed her first lot of steroids, I am feeling very guilty that I didn't get her seen earlier. Has anybody any tips to make the soluble ones more palatable? Disolved the first dose in orange squash which didn't go down to well.

HI I HAVE ONLY JOINED MUMSNET TO LET YOU ALL KNOW SOMETHING VERY IMPORTANT.

ARE YOUR CHILDREN "MOUTH BREATHERS"? MY SON IS NEARLY 13 AND VERY SMALL FOR HIS AGE DUE TO HIS LIFELONG CHRONIC ASTHMA, LACK OF SLEEP, OVERUSE OF STEROIDS ETC. ETC.

WE WENT TO PORTUGAL FOR A MONTH AND HE WAS FREE OF ALL MEDICATION (EXCEPT FOR SINGULAR FOR NEARLY 1 MONTH) WHEN I GOT BACK I JUST COULDN'T STAND THE THOUGHT OF ANOTHER HOSPITAL VISIT AND THE STRESS OF WATCHING HIM NOT BEING ABLE TO BREATH AND YET ANOTHER COURSE OF STEROIDS AND NEBULISERS (WHICH I HAVE ONE AT HOME)

HE HAS BEEN HAVING BREATHING LESSONS AND IS LEARNING TO BREATHE THROUGH HIS NOSE. HE HAS STOPPED EVERY ASTHMA ATTACK SINCE BY BREATHING THROUGH HIS NOSE AND HE IS GETTING STRONGER BY THE DAY, I AM TALKING ABOUT A 3 WEEK PERIOD SO FAR, TODAY HE DID PE AND DID NOT NEED HIS INHALER FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HIS LIFE, HE ALSO JUST STARTED SENIOR SCHOOL, THE SMALLEST CHILD IN THE SCHOOL AND HE IS STILL MANAGING TO COPE WITHOUT MAJOR PANIC ATTACKS ETC.

IF YOU WANT ME TO TELL YOU MORE, JUST ASK. YOU CAN FIND ALL THIS INFO FOR FREE, OR YOU CAN GET SOMEONE TO TEACH YOUR CHILD.

I AM JUST SO AMAZED THAT ONCE I HAVE TOTAL CONTROL OF THE SITUATION I INTEND TO TRY AND SHARE THIS INFORMATION WITH AS MANY PEOPLE AS I CAN, AND I AM CONSIDERING APPROACHING ANY LOCAL PRIMARY SCHOOLS TO SEE IF I CAN HELP AS I THINK EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW.

HE STILL NEEDS HIS BROWN INHALER IN THE MORNING AT THE MOMENT AND I AM STILL CONTINUING WITH THE SINGULAR ONCE A DAY AS I HAVE BEEN ADVISED. BUT HIS BLUE INHALER USE HAS BEEN CUT DRAMATICALLY AND HE IS PARTICATING IN SPORTS ETC. MUCH BETTER.

HOPE THIS HELPS SOMEONE AT LEAST.

BEST REGARDS

Welcome to MN.
I'm so pleased your DS is doing really well.
Is it this?

Yes it is and I can't believe it works, he literally can stop an asthma attack without an inhaler and I am talking about a severely asthmatic child who previously would get himself to the point of not being able to breathe and me having to get an ambulance.

Before we went on holiday and during his year 6 sats in May I think he had at least 2 or 3 major attacks a week, 1 week we went to hospital 3 times and he was given 4 courses of steroids in the space of as many weeks.

I am not saying it is a cure, but given the way he was before, and the fact he is getting stronger and his ezcema has really cleared as well I think it is ridiculous that I have had to find this out by hours and hours of research, and that no doctor, and I have seen many many doctors in my time has even mentioned anything other than more and more drugs. The problem with all drugs is that eventually the dose has to be higher and higher and then you get to the point where "the drugs don't work" so I think to a point we are being highly mislead and maybe because Asthma drugs are one of the most profitable drugs in existance, or am I just being cynical, surely no one would want children or anyone to have to suffer, but I do wonder.

The main reason I had to try to find something for my son is he also has a severe nut allergy and is prescribed epi-pens, we had an incident this year when he nearly died due to various levels of incompetance, but I won't go into that, but I saw my son about 5 minutes away from death, just because he couldn't control his breathing, the asthma makes nut allergies much worse and I just couldn't take anymore.

I am not a believer in alternative therapies normally and even though he is doing this breathing method I am not taking any risks with his health, as they do not recommend that anyway, we continue with his medication, but we are gradually reducing his need for steroid based medication, now only taking his brown inhaler once a day, no longer taking the nasally inhaler steroid at all and still taking singular, but with the aim to cut it down to one every other day and eventually none at all. I am talking about a boy who clung to his blue reliever for his life and who yesterday went and did PE without even taking it outside.

That is fantastic news, WesthamLinz.
I have been scouring the net for info ever since I saw your post last night.
My son is a mouth breather, as am I (slack-jawed yokels, according to some people).
Could I be really cheeky and ask how much the sessions with the Buteyko instructor cost please?
We are at our wits end with our youngest son's asthma.
He has been on prednisolone for 14 days now, as well as inhalers and anti-histamine.
His previous attack was only three weeks prior to this one - given prednisolone again.
Anything that won't harm him but may help him is an option worth taking.

mm interesting link. Dd1 is too young as yet[i think] too look at breathing techniques.