DS sick every 6 wks? Would you be worried? Can you help?

[Eaney]

My ds is going through a phase of getting sick every six weeks or so. It's usually a bad cold which goes to his chest and then triggers his asthma. Lots of time off school as a result.

I took him to gp again today and expressed my concerns about his lack of resistance but he reassured me that it was normal for an asmathic. Would you be worried and would you ask to see a paed?

How old is he? Has he always been like this?

ds2 (now 6) was always poorly from being a baby. I thought he was doing well if we managed 6 weeks without anything. Doctor kept telling me it's normal etc but i just knew something wasn't right. He would get a very high temperature in the night quite often for no apparent reason.

i asked to be referred when he also got allergies and after a blood test it did show that he had lower than normal levels of antibodies.

He has just been monitored every few months for the last few years and now that he's older he's much bettter.

I hope i haven't worried you telling you this becauase it probably isn't the case for your son. My friends ds gets ill far more than mine now and he's had a blood test that showed up fine.

Hi, Thanks for responding.

He is 5 and has probably always had low resistance. He has several food allergies so maybe there is a connection. The thing is, it's almost always the same - it starts with an incessant cough and if we are lucky it becomes less frequent over about 48hrs if we are not lucky it triggers his asthma and we have a hairy few days listening to his breathing.

Did your doc do anything about the low antibodies?

They said that he had a poor response to the HIB vaccine and pneumecoccal so had to have 4 jabs 6 weeks apart but other than that they just give him blood tests every so often.
TBh they are so vague and confusing that i don't really understand it all.

How often is his asthma medication monitored? Ds1 used to get a lot of colds that went to his chest and then exacerbated his asthma. Once the doctors found the right level of medication for him this all settled down. He still got colds etc but they rarely go to his chest.

my son had the same trouble... cold, cough, bad asthma.. coughing till he was sick... every month this seemed to happen... he used to end up on steroids.. antibiotics, nebulisers and his inhalers... when son was 4 I saw a different doctor who prescribed:
antibiotics over a longer period of time.. maybe 2 weeks I can't remember, he said to make sure to bug/germ was gone.. (we only needed to do this the once)
and a flixotide inhaler that apparently can only be given when they are 4..
He still had his inhalers (though a spacer) even when he was well, and if he came down with a cold I used to 'double up' his inhalers... This really helped for us and he is like a different child now, he very rarely needs his inhalers .. He is 7 and funnily enough he has food allergies too!

Just wondering.....
does your surgery have an asthma nurse?
do you still use the inhalers even when he is well and doesn't need it?
Does he use his spacer?

Hope he grows out of it soon...

Rummum