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

[fireflyfairy2]

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!!!!!

glad things are improving

i think with lo's the peak flow thing is soooo hit and miss.
keep on writing down what you think and stuff, as well as the good old peak flow readings, it should help in the long run so that you can make up your mind with proper records rather than the poor old memory
good luck

Hi

Hope you've had a better few days and things are still improving.

You may still find its a short term thing, and that your DD may outgrow her symptoms, or it may continue and be confirmed as asthma.

Bronchiolitis can take a long time to recover from too, so it may be that that is still causing residual symptoms and will eventually clear up. My DS (who doesn't have asthma) had it at around 13 months. We had a really bad winter that year - several visits to the children's hospital and one longer admission, resulting in a spell of regular inhalers, but now he's fit and healthy, and no problems at all.

For now, I'd take it one day at a time - if the meds are helping, then keep going, but don't hesitate to get them reviewed to step down or up as needed.

Kat