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Original poster

6yr old dd has a cough.. doc give her inhalers AGAIN: Come & talk asthma to me!

52 replies

fireflyfairy2 · 05/11/2007 18:24

I am fuming

DD was up all last night with a cough. She was with the c/minder today who told me she coughed all day & to get her a cough medicine. I called in to the chemist at 3.30 & she asked me if dd was asthmatic. I said as far as I was concerned, no, she wasn't asthmatic but she had been prescribed inhalers when she was 3 as they said she had asthma as she coughed at night.

[coincidence that this was around the same time that the clinic was getting a grant if they had a certain amount of people attending the asthma clinic??]

Anyway she got the inhalers for a few weeks at that time & the cough sibsided.

She is a very active little girl. She plays camogie, she goes on her trampoline, she rides her bike etc... all without any shortness of breath!!

So today when the chemist refused me the cough medicine she advised me to get dd's peak flow checked with the nurse. So after going to see the treatment room nurse [who had no idea what her actual peak flow should be] I was referred to the practice nurse... who checked peak flow.. said it was 105 but she thought dd just had a bad technique.....then proceeded to prescribe fuckin inhalers!!

2 inhalers... Beclometasone Dipropionate & Bricanyl... she said to give the BD twice a day morning & night & the Bricanyl when she was struggling for breath!!

What they wouldn't listen to was... she is never short of breath!!!!!!!!!!!!

She said I had to keep testing her peak flow for a month & keep a record of it whilst giving her the DP.

She give me no indication of what it should be, what we need to be working towards or anything else..

IMO & I am no medical professional, my dd does not have asthma.. she has a cough.. all I wanted was a cough bottle I feel so useless...

I sat in the clinic from 3.30 until 5.45 with 2 very sleepy & crabit kids

Does anyone have any idea what her peak flow should be.. what a peak flow of 105 means? [even though the nurse reckons dd's technique is pants so this could contribute to the 105 peak flow

HElp!!!!!

OP posts:
Original poster
fireflyfairy2 · 05/11/2007 19:18

Tentative bump..

OP posts:
cktwo · 05/11/2007 20:14

Can you get to see the GP about this rather than the nurse?

Beenleigh · 05/11/2007 20:17

You need gigglewitch, she is fab at this sort of thing, she's normally on later so keep bumping. Sorry not much help here. Good luck

Original poster
fireflyfairy2 · 05/11/2007 20:18

The GP just refers me back to the asthma nurse.

It was the GP who give her the inhalers the first time when she was 3 & today was the first time she had ever been reviewed!

I don't know whether to put steroids she may not need into her body for a month just incase, or not to give her them as a matter of principle.

It's my dd's health that is my main concern, not whether the nurse/GP is right or wrong, I just don't think dd has asthma & I don't want her getting dependant on the BD inhaler.

OP posts:
Original poster
fireflyfairy2 · 05/11/2007 20:19

Thanks Beenligh & cktwo.

OP posts:
tissy · 05/11/2007 20:22

try this to calculate what peak flow should be.

It only seems to work if height is greater than 3'5", though

tissy · 05/11/2007 20:24

or this

cktwo · 05/11/2007 20:26

I do find it a bit odd that they've prescribed inhalers with the only symptoms being a cough, but a cough is a sign of asthma. My hayfever-related asthma is mainly coughing.

I'm aware of Beclometasone Dipropionate but I don't know Bricanyl. Is it a reliever like Salbutamol?

tissy · 05/11/2007 20:28

if this is a short term cough, then she probably isn't asthmatic (but in some children with small airways, a little bit of mucus e.g. when child has a cold can narrow airways enough to cause a wheeze or a cough).

Dd used to be asthmatic- most of the time she was absolutely fine, but she has been hospitalised three times when she had a cold, and couldn't cope with the blockage in her airways.

Luckily she seems to have outgrown this, but still wheezes if she goes anywhere near a cat.

tissy · 05/11/2007 20:29

bricanyl is a reliever.

DettaJnr · 05/11/2007 20:30

How bloody annoying!!!

When DS was about 2 my gp put him on a Bricanyl inhaler (had to buy spacer 34 euros etc) as he had a night time cough and he thought he may have heard a bit of a wheeze (his words). DS turned into a demon child and we had an awful time trying to get him to take it. In the end I took him off it and also took him off dairy and switched to goats. Within two days the cough went.

My sister (not medical) said that I should rub his chest with eucalyptus oil mixed with a carrier oil every night. This worked wonders and I do this every time he has a cold and also for DD1 and DD2.

Can't remember what peak flow should be but I'm sure someone on here will know.

Original poster
fireflyfairy2 · 05/11/2007 20:30

Thanks Tizzy. According to that first one, she is in the cautionary zone. She is 3ft 10".

OP posts:
Original poster
fireflyfairy2 · 05/11/2007 20:33

Thanks everyone else who posted whilst I was reading Tissy's link!

DettaJnr, dd doesn't take much dairy. She has toast for brekkie, no milk. The only dairy she does take is a yoghurt every day.

The bricanyl is a reliever, as Tissy says

OP posts:
spottyshoes · 05/11/2007 20:35

Can I jump on your bandwagon fff2? For the past two years, everytime SS has had a cough/chest infection type thing the gp has prescribed an inhaler which in my opinion is f***g riddiculous!!!!!!! He does not wheeze, get short of breath etc, plays massive amounts of football/running games with no problems. He has had 2 lots of inhalers prescribed 4 times (a brown and a blue), as they were given by 3 different drs I thought maybe it was justified. Then one day I went along with a chest infection and guess what i was given...... I just looked at the woman 'gone out'! I certainly do NOT have asthma!

VERY interesting to hear about the funding re asthma patients, wonder if that happened in a lot of areas?.......

Chamomile · 05/11/2007 20:38

My Ds (7) is having an inhaler at the moment for a viral cough and wheeze. I dont think he has asthma but once every 18 months or so he needs an inhaler for a few days when he is chesty. He has no breathlessness or wheeze in between. If your DD has been distressed by a cough overnight she might well benefit from a bricanyl inhaler which works by opening up the airways.IME most cough medicines are slightly soothing placebos and don't do a great deal.I'd give the inhalers a try for they might help .I hope she has a better night tonight. Have you been given a follow up appointment?

Original poster
fireflyfairy2 · 05/11/2007 20:47

It's worth asking SS. I only know that as my SIL is a nurse at another practice.

Chamomile, she said to keep giving dd the brown inhaler for a month & keep a record of her peak flow & they will send me out an appointment in a months time.

She told me not to give her the bricanyl unless she was really struggling for breath..which has never happened yet!

Saying that.. I give her the BD before bed & I haven't heard her coughing yet.. but we don't have the heating on in her bedroom either.

This morning I give her honey to coat her throat as I thought she had a tickly throat causing the coughing.

Am in a bit of dilemma re: school tomorrow though, if she goes she will be coughing all over the place, annoying the rest of the pupils... but imo she doesn't need to saty of because of a cough... and she has been off for half term, tomorrow is her first day back!!

OP posts:
Original poster
fireflyfairy2 · 05/11/2007 22:00

Just bumping incase giiglewitch is about tonight

OP posts:
orangehead · 05/11/2007 22:21

My son was given inhaler for an evenig cough at bout two years ago, I was a bit surprised because he never wheezed but gave it him and he did stop coughing. He then be alright for a while and then the night cough would start again and the inhaler would stop it straight away. This carried on for a while till 6 months ago when he got very bad pnuemonia (he had no cough, no trouble breathing just temp and stomach pains)and was in hospital for a week which has had a bad effect on his asthma and now regularly has attacks, when he has attacks you cant hear him wheeze unless you listen very carefully with your ear against his chest he just non stop coughing. His attacks are not triggered by running around, unless his asthma is playing up a bit than running around will make it worse. It seems more triggered by colds and I think a allergy but not sure what to. He is 5 and his normal peak flow when well is about 150, but from what Ive been told I think peak flow is different for different people and you need to do it reg to work out your norm. Is the inhalers helping you daughters cough?

DettaJnr · 05/11/2007 22:22

Garlic and honey are really good for upper resipiratory infections. Natures antibiotics. I don't know if your LO will be compliant, but this is what i do for myself.

Crush a large clove of garlic mix with active honey (Manuka) and swallow. The honey masks the taste of the garlic. I find it good. Green grapes are also good for the chest. Otherwise you could make your own garlic bread.

HTH

orangehead · 05/11/2007 22:24

Also my son very active and does gymnastics which doesnt set it off, asthma can have other triggers like colds and allergies. Physical activty is just one and this doesnt affect everyone with asthma

gigglewitch · 05/11/2007 22:30

oh my word i am no expert!!!

keep it simple - rule one : mum usually knows best
two :if they squeak low down in their chest it might be asthma
three : if they are coughing ... they have a cough??? sorry i'm with you on this one, child with cough does not equal asthma (ohh but i think i wish it did...)

am all embarrassed now at u lookin for me

gigglewitch · 05/11/2007 22:41

is www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~aair/asthma_PEFCH.htm any use?

cktwo · 06/11/2007 08:49

In small children the airways can narrow as a result of a virus/cold. The brown inhaler is prescribed in these circumstances to support and protect the lungs when the virus causes them to inflame and narrow. The blue inhaler would be prescibed in these circumstances to open up the airways when the virus has inflamed them.
By having the inhalers prescibed in these circumstances it does not mean your child has asthma, just asthma-like symptoms brought on by the virus.

Many people descibe my daughter as having asthma but she doesn't. She has, however been on the inhalers for just over a year and its helped so much. Last year we had 5 admissions to hospital with breathing problem brought on by a simple cold. This week was the first time we have had to go to A&E with her.

Magicmayhem · 06/11/2007 09:43

maybe this link will help

Piratechnic · 06/11/2007 09:49

hiya

exact same problemo here.

dd5, coughed from aged 1-2 1/2 every night. Was prescribed inhalers. TBh they didn't make alot of difference.

My dd never wheezes either, but when she gets a cold or cough she has it really bad, so gp said to keep up the inhalers, esp the preventer, as she has prob got narrower pipes etc.

My dd regularly gets croup too if there is a particularly bad virus going round. The inhalers don't help with the croup bit, and she has had to have steroids by way of tabs dissolved in water to kick the non stop barking cough.

I am now determined to keep her on the inhalers, even if she isn't 'atypically' a short of breath asthmatic.

I always forget when she sems perfectly well.