Asthma and benylin night coughs

[chipmunksex]

dd (10) is checking her peak flow for a few weeks to assess her breathlessness. It's about 20% less than it should be btw. The GP I think is very sceptical, I think, that there's anything to worry about.

It occurs to me that we frequently give her benylin night coughs-to the point that it's one of those things I always keep in. Again, tonight she is coughing and complaining of a tight chest.

Question is should I take her back to gp early? (we're supposed to go back in 2 weeks)

Does she plot her readings on a chart and if she does what does the line look like?

She does- not a huge variation, a bit lower in the mornings.

I can't quite work out if dd has asthma or that this peak flow test is to try determine if she has it? If it's to diagnose it then I think night time cough is one of the main symptoms of asthma in children and that there isn't always a wheeze present.

When my dd was about 2, our GP dismissed the persistant and painful night time cough that came on with every cold dd had and lasted for weeks on end. He said because she didn't wheeze it wasn't asthma. In the end we were so desperate (she would cough virtually as soon as she was laying down, until she was sick. She would then stop for a bit after that and it would build up again until she was sick again) that I freaked out (with worry and lack of sleep I think) and they let her try an inhaler. It made a big difference. Up till then I used to give her pholcadine cough medicine every night which helped a little. I think its worth asking to try an inhaler if dd hasn't already. If it's asthma it will probably make a difference and if it isn't then it probably won't.

Does she use an inhaler?

Yes, sorry I knew I hadn't worded my OP very well.

The peak flow is to try and get a diagnosis, dd has been to GPs twic- first time they listened to her chest and it was fine, so advised wait and see. Second time peak flow for month; no listening to her chest this time.

The thing is only dd knows how she feels and gp seems reluctant to believe anything she says, so unless I have seen her wheezing and gasping for breath or her chest is crackling, then it's as if she thinks dd is making it up.

Have you tried stepping up doses of her brown inhaler?

Does she have any inhalers or has the gp just got her plotting the readings? DD is an asthmatic and her chart looks like a mountain range with quite large differences between am and pm readings but her asthma is poorly controlled. Her doc is aiming for her to have a much smaller variations in readings. Has your DD's reading dropped now she's feeling tight or has the tightness been there all the time she's been doing the readings?

GP woudn't give her an inhaler- "I don't want to give her medication that she doesn't need"

Sorry, cross-posted. Very frustrating for you. I went through the whole sceptical thing with my GP, but DD was diagnosed aged 3 (after lots of visits).

I'd keep records of when she is bad. Consultant asked me to video on my phone when DD was wheezy with her top off - you can see the way their chest does a sort of see-saw motion and pulls in below the ribs, which I think is a sign of asthma rather than just a cough.

lots of crossed posts, sorry.

She has periods of breathlessness, tightness and coughing most days and frequently wakes in the night coughing too.

For a diagnosis of asthma there needs to be a variability in peak flows of 20% or more on three days of a week for two weeks. The peak flow should be done in the morning upon waking if possible and in the evening as going to bed.

If she does have asthma the cough mixture will make no difference. She could also be having hayfever symptoms so you could try an antihistamine, leave her bedroom door open at night to allow air to circulate and avoid pets, plug-in air fresheners, smoke, spray deodorant and dry air.

Can you see a different gp? Did the gp check her peak flow technique because if she's not doing it properly her readings won't be accurate.

I'd go back to the GP.

Sidge, is that on any given two weeks?

Her asthma isn't being managed properly, go back to a different doctor

You could try getting a humidifier for your dds room. I have a 3 yr old asthmatic dd and getting a humidifier for her bedroom made a difference almost overnight. Much less coughing and better sleep for my dd.

With dd we always plot a reading before she does an inhaler when she's tight chested or breathless and mark it on her chart, she'll also do a post inhaler reading too.

Patsy usually across the two weeks that you do daily peak flow readings. There isn't really any need to do them daily for a month, 2-3 weeks of daily readings is enough to give a pattern and potentially make a diagnosis.

Sidge - Ah, I just wondered as my DD is too young for peak flow, but I think in a random 2 weeks she would not have symptoms on three days of a week (nor me - another asthmatic). But I guess ours is controlled by drugs so we shouldn't have symptoms.

You're right, if on medication the idea is that if you're well controlled you should be symptom free, or at least rarely getting symptoms.

What age is your DD? Some children can master peak flow readings by about 6 or 7 but it really depends on the child. Under that age it's difficult to firmly diagnose because you can't do peak flows or spirometry so have to 'diagnose' based on symptoms. If you suspect asthma, treat it as asthma and the symptoms resolve then it's probably asthma!

GP again today, but low peak flow dismissed as a cold .

She's being having symptoms for at least 6 months that would be one doozy of a cold.

They're going to get her an outpatients appointment, though as I said I was still not reassured.

Glad you have an outpatients appointment chipmunk. The symptoms you are describing sound very like asthma to me. I was told that young children often don't have a wheeze. My GP was hopeless and it's so frustrating to say the least, when you feel they aren't working with you. Regarding colds - I found that dd could have the slightest sniffle and it would bring on the most dreadful night-time cough that then went on for about 6 weeks. As she had just started nursery, just as the cough was starting to get better, she'd catch another cold and off it all went again. It was a nightmare and to be told by the GP that she wasn't wheezing therefore not asthma, meant that her suffering was prolonged before she was eventually given an inhaler. Let us know how you get on at appointment.

I'm asthmatic, and that sounds like asthma.

I would steer clear of the cough mixture, it won't do anything to help her and having weird stuff in your throat can make you feel panicky if you are tight and wheezy.

can you go to your asthma nurse instead of the GP - they are much more knowledgeable about childhood asthma IME

Thanks for the support- I really felt like the gp thought I was some sort of freak who was attention seeking yesterday