Apoointment with respiratory consultant

[tatty33]

My ds has a terrible 1st winter, he's been in hospital 3 times, including twice in intensive care.

Even though he's only 11 months I think they've diagnosed him with asthma, and we'll find out this Friday at our first out patient appointment.

Please could anyone with similar experiences advise me what I should be asking/ asking for at the appointment with the consultant?

Roll on Spring and the end of the cold season...

Sorry tatty I have no knowledge to speak of but bumping in the hope someone will be along soon.
for you and ds must be terrifying for you both, lets hope a diagnosis and teatment will help, althogh I am that it takes two intensive care addmissions to get a consutant appt.

Thanks for your message, its been a shocker of a time. We did have an appointment after the first episode, but the timing of his illness meant we were back in hospital when the out patient appointment was supposed to happen.

No suggestions of questions to ask i'm afraid, but I really feel for you and your poor little DS.

My DS (13mo) has had bronchiolitus a couple of times, once requiring an ambulance trip - and that was scary - to end up in intensive care must be horribly frightening for you.

The only things I can suggest is to a) google things beforehand (are they sure it is asthma in someone so young?) and b) that you take another adult with you - so one of you can ask questions / listen, and the other take notes. I can never remember what the doc has told me - despite listening very carefully at the time.

In fact, if your DS is anything like mine you probably need to take 2 other people, one to look after DS (!).

Good luck, really hope the doc is helpful.

Again, not much help with ??s but wanted to wish you luck. My dd2 was in HDU with bronchiolitis at 4 weeks, and was as ill as she was because of a floppy larynx - basically meant her airway was far narrower than most. A lot of the LOs I've met with respiratory problems this young have had narrow airways - maybe worth asking about that?

Thinking of you, hope it goes well and that the end of winter means a much happier healthier time for your ds and you.

Hi my ds was seen by a respiratory consultant at five months as he had so many problems.

The key questions are IMO -

what tests are they proposing to do? ph study to test for acid reflux? overnight sleep study to look at his overnight oxygen levels? sweat test for cystic fibrosis? various blood tests for immune deficiency? bronchoscopy? All these were done in my son's case (all without result, which is what you want really, because then you can hope that they might grow out of it)

The other question is: What medication is he on now, what other medication could they try? Does he have a steroid inhaler? If so, which one? In our case, the brown one made no difference whatsoever, whereas the purple one has really really helped.

The other thing is prophylactic antibiotics - ds takes azythromycin three times a week, and that seems to be helpful as well.

Good luck with your appointment, and don't hesitate to ask me any questions you like!

Thanks for all the support. Yes emkana whilst he was an inpatient they did most of the tests you mentioned and thankfully all seemed ok, but will go over results on Friday. The doctors say they can't believe its just bad luck but not sure what it is - not v. reassuring but honest at least. He's on an orange inhaler (flixotide) which does seem to help

What do the antibiotics do?

They are supposed to fight off infections and they also help with wheezing