New To Asthma Query

[yorkiegal]

Hi
DD who is 10yrs has had a dry cough mainly at night.So well we were at the Gp for an ingrowing toenail totaly unrelated i asked about the cough.The Gp listened to her chest no infection and mentioned asthma,she has been struggling with her swimming recently not been swimming as energetically (sorry about the spelling).Anyway she got her to blow into a peakflow and then prescibed her an inhaler to use twice daily and as needed when exercising.We made an appointment to see the nurse next week.
What i wanted to know was the Gp was a bit vague.Is tis a permanent thing ie will we have to use an inhaler all the time or is it just to clear the cough up.
Does anybody have any experience of this.
And what do the numbers on the peakfow mean how far should she have got.
Thankyou for any advice.
xxxx

Gps are often vague on this, its really hard for them to know how it will go. Peakflow varies according to age and size. Asthma nurses are great - dds has been invaluable, she really knows what she is talking about.

Our asthma nurse is like gold! She is very thorough when DS2 has his six-monthly checks, and answer all his questions in a manner in which he is able to fully understand.

She told us that his asthma was a chronic condition, ie: he has it for life. However, he does control it well with his inhalers and it rarely troubles him too much.

Peak flow does vary from person to person. Your nurse will tell you the expected range for your DD when you go and see her.

Good luck yorkieagal - I hope your DDs asthma doesn't prove to be too much of a burden.

Hi YG

YOu need to see the asthma nurse - doctors don't really seem to know the ins and outs of it, IMO. I don't know what the normal peak flow for a 10 year old would be - mine is normally 430 but goes down to 320 if I'm having problems. It depends what sets the asthma off, whether or not dd will need to keep taking it. It sounds like she will need to keep taking a preventer, but needs to work with the asthma nurse to find the best one for her - my asthma is pretty unstable and I had to try a variety of treatments before finding one that worked for me (am on tablets, symbicort, ventolin, nasal spray and antihistamine tablets ). I feel fab on this combination. Provided she gets on the right treatment, she will hopefully hardly notice that she has asthma, though it'll be good practice to keep a ventolin around her. Just make sure that you get an appointment with the asthma nurse as soon as you can - ours is usually booked up for weeks ahead. Also look at www.asthma.org.uk/ - it is really helpful. Best of luck!

Hi
And thankyou for the replies we are going wednesday to see the nurse.
Will have a look at the link thanks.