Experience of constantly chesty infant/toddler, distressing wheezing too

[liquidclocks]

DS (20 months) has been very chesty from about 4/5 months. We assumed he'd just picked up a succession of coughs and colds and just wasn't managing to shift them. He had a few courses of antibiotics from doctors I bullied into doing 'something' but nothing helped. Apart from the chest problem his development is totally normal and he's even a bit big for his age.

6 weeks ago we ended up in hospital with him because he got pneumonia. I was very scared as he's gone completely blue but he pulled through and was sent home after 3 nights. However, since coming home he hasn't shifted it and is still wheezing constantly - even at rest. He's had 3 more courses of a/b's but nothing is helping. The doctors say he's just picking up colds but he can't breathe properly!

Any experince of anything like this would be helpful to me. I'm worried he might have pneumonia again and don't want to feel like I could have prevented it by being more pro-active now.

My brother was constantly chesty and wheezy from a very young age too. When he was older (about 2) the dr said he had asthma. Could it be this?

Poor ds (and you) - it's really frightening to see someone struggling to breathe. And it's so tiring too.

Has he been checked for asthma??

DD2 got SO chesty for about a month - May to mid-June, then it went away like that. I had a gut feeling it was weather related, as I am very sensitive to pollens and have had troubled sinuses (just like my dad) most of my life.

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Rickman - that would be really helpful, thanks.

The doctors say he's too young to make a diagnosis of asthma though I, my brother and my mum all have it to varying degrees. To me it sounds wrong for asthma if that makes sense - there's a definite sound in my mind that's asthmatic. But maybe that's just my experience and I suppose there's a possibility it could be.

The worst part is listening to him, I think it bothers us more than it bothers him if that makes sense!

oops - thanks rickman, will have a look.

DD has suffered with sever chest infections since we moved to our new house, we live opposite a field of rapeseed.
The doc said to do some things to ehr room as he suspected a dust mite allergy, out went the toys, we stripped her room bare, washed all ehr bedding put on allergy covers
And bang, still a little phlegmy but not chesty
This may be a coincidence, dd was so bad she ahs needed inhalers, she also had pneumonia at xmas, recurrent tonsillitis and lots of bronchitis attacks.
I hope you find some answers I know how terrfying it si when they struggle for breath, I used to be asthmatic myself...

Sounds like asthma to me. Neither my ds or dd make classic asthma wheezing. Does he have more energy than puff? If so I would suggest asthma. Try pushing for a blue inhaler and see if it makes any difference or push for a referral to a chest specialist. My ds is 20 months and because of family history and what happened last week(massive breathing problems out of the blue) they have diagnosed asthma and he is a changed child. They initially thought he had pneumonia but the x-ray showed a classic asthmatic chest ie hyper expanded lungs that were not working efficiently. Also ds has twigged himself that he is very badly affected by grass and is happy to play on the patio but will not go on the grass at all. He also displays lots of hayfevery symptoms too- runny eyes, over production of mucous etc so sometimes it is difficult to tell what is what- but if in doubt he gets some blue inhaler!

HTH-sorry about the rambling post- we have been through hell and high water with dd and ds. DD nearly died from mis-diagnosed asthma so push your doctors.

Thanks Piffle. That's my next step really - ridding dustmites from his room and as much of the house as possible. We recently moved too but since he was chesty before I don't know how much that's affected him. We renovated out old place ourselves and I actually feel like it's less dusty here but we next to a field of allotments and closer to woods and the country etc so maybe.

Had a scan of that leaflet rickman, sounds rare but worth checking for, sorry your DD has it. Is she ok now or did it continue to be a problem for her?

Not rambling at all Pudmoq! Honestly all ideas welcome. Reason I started this thread today was because DS kept waking last night, coughing, then moaning/crying and sounded really really sad and fed up.

Do you manage to get your 20 month old to use the inhaler? If so how? When DS was in hospital he refused the oxygen mask and became hysterical if he saw it. He's usually really laid back so an odd reaction for him.

Well- he has learnt he feels much better if he has the medication. Pinned down to start with - now he accepts it- helped by his big sister. He is very proud of his inhaler- uses a spacer device. Everytime he uses it well he gets a new sticker for it. Also we made a big fuss when he came home from hospital, of him showing his big sister how good he was at his puffs! Now he justs sits still and I just help him hold it. He shook the inhaler for every second puff- he was on a high dose regime which we have now weaned off, as well as 5 days of steroids. When he had his review with the GP- as soon as he saw the stethoscope he lifted up his t-shirt- aaw bless!!!

In answer to your question- perseverence I suppose.

dd hated the ventolin spacer at first, now at 3.5 she welcomes it as she knows it brings immedaite relief
FWIw my dd is not asthmatic but when their chest produce phlegm it is very hard for them to get it upwards, so the bronchii narrow trying to force the phlegm out, hence the breathing difficulties
This was vaguely what the doc told us, dd only has the inhaler when she is really bad at night

liquidclocks my DD[6mths] is like this. She has been in hospital a couple of times on oxygen and steroids to help. They have said she has a weak chest and low immune system but they did give her a inhaler to help open her airways. She has been like this from about 3wks old and is permanantely wheezy and chesty. She is currently on another course of antibiotics which seem to be helping but if anything like normal she will finish the course and within 3 days be wheezing again.

Thanks all. The doctor mentioned an inhaler last time we saw her but I felt DS was too young to teach how to use it and it would cause more upset than relief! Maybe I should give it a go since you've seen results from it.

I feel a bit more 'armed' at least now when I take him back

Hi Liquidclocks,

I agree with most people here, that it might be worth trying inhalers. It is amazing how adaptable children are, my ds1 had inhalers from 13 months, and now my twins have been started on inhalers at 20 months. they love having the ventolin as they have seen my oldest one and think it is a real treat.

Rickman, I don't know if we have spoken before, as I did post asking if anyone else had experience of having a child with low iga levels. The other thing that my son has been diagnosed with, and I agree that liquidclocks should ask for her son to be tested too.

Sometimes people get frightened by inhalers, but if that's what your child needs it's best to just grapple with it. Sometimes people say "oh it's sad that they all have to have inhalers", but I say "it's sad that they need them". There seems to be a real anti medication bias with a lot of people.
Obviously I would prefer them not to be on medication, but I just want them as well as possible.

Sorry for ranting a bit, really hope your ds gets better soon, whatever you decide to do.

My ds' only symptoms (at 9 months+)were apparent recurrent chest infections and a really awful night time cough, never had classic wheezy episodes as such. Due to our family history of asthma I managed to brow beat the GP into trying an inhaled steroid (becotide). He improved loads on that but a few months later deteriorated again so they added in a tablet montelukast. This completely transformed him and really stabilised his condition. ds is now nearly 5 and we have had him off all meds for a few months now and he is doing great.
Hope you get your lo sorted but certainly sounds like asthma to me.

Thanks overrun, you're right, there is a whole bias against medication but thankfully that's not the issue. I thinkI've been moreconcerned about the distress to DS in making him use an inhaler but it seems from the posts here that it's not that uncommon for a child of his age to learn how to use one.

I will definitely pursue the 'is it asthma?' route and have him tested for the iga thing. Good to know (not good they're ill!) that we'renot alone in this though and are right to seek further reasons for his continued poor health.

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