Asthmatic 2 year old - noisy breathing

[cmotdibbler]

He's been a bit grot for a week, have upped his steroids to his prescribed max, and he's having Ventolin every 4 hours in the day. But is coughing like a heavy smoker, and wheezing sometimes, but also has noisy chest sounds - not a wheeze, but if cuddling him you def hear all the air entry into his lungs. Is also doing the breathe in, pause, then suddenly breathe out thing. Not sure whether these last two things mean anything, but the breathing out thing goes away after Ventolin.

Seems unaffected by all this though.

WWYD ? Is going to the GP going to do anything usefull ?

i have no knowledge of asthma, but if you're concerned, you should take him to your gp. (i would)

I am not an expert on asthma, but ds2 (3 1/2) has had chest issues and been on both the blue and the brown inhalers.

If you are using the ventolin as often as every 4 hours, I would go to the doctor.

cmot I would take to the gp as they will be able to listen to his chest properly
sometimes the noises that we hear externally are upper airway rather than lower down
he may need some abs to push him along to recovery

Have checked and it is chest noises - he is snotty too so you get noises from both bits.

As his asthma is mostly related to getting a cold, we are 'allowed' to give him regular blue puff since his main issue is mucus overproduction and inability to cough it up.

back to the GP then....

DD gets asthma when she gets sick (not asthmatic when not ill)

The advice from the consultant at Bristol Children's is if she needs more than 10 puffs more than every 4 hours, she needs to be seen (and on the advice sheet).

he may need steroids etc...

If in doubt, take him in. I always would rather some doctor thinks I'm over reacting (but actually don't care what they think )

how is your DS cmotdibbler?

My dd has just been prescribed Montelukast for excessive mucus production. Her symptoms are mostly nasal, but it is suitable for both chest and nasal mucus. It's apparently particularly suitable where steroids don't control the symptoms adequately. Has your GP mentioned this?

He's still hacking away - this is pretty usual for him in the winter, but DH will be taking him to the GP tomorrow. He's certainly not acutely ill (only 2 puffs every 4 hours in the day), but we are just so used to him coughing that its sometimes hard to know when to take him. Esp as the GPs are never terribly bothered as he's never had 'crashing' asthma, just this continual mankiness that in the past has led to him collapsing part of a lung when it got blocked and infected (and it still took a fight for anything to happen).

I'll get DH to ask about Montelukast - DS has horrid mucusy nose too, and it would be great to not have that.

Try putiting in a room with lots of steam usually helps with mine when they are hacking away (small room with kettle boiling with lid off best - obviously kettle out of reach and dc supervised!