Asthma?

[kissalot]

Both DDs were diagnosed with asthma at a very young age.

DD1 is 4 now and hasn't used a blue pump since before Xmas though still advised to keep her on preventor pump. DD2 is nearly two and last had asthma attack in April. Doc says both just have mild asthma (though the winter months were a nightmare of constant chest infections especially for DD2).

Is there such a thing as 'winter asthma'? There are a lot of conflicting advice from doctors and was just wondering if anyone had children similiar to mine?

Hi Kiss,

My kids both have mild asthma and are on the brown inhaler which we have been using for about six weeks now and seems to help with the coughs as my kids average 1 cough each a month - winter or summer!!! I think they have dust allergies too so I changed all their bedding to anti-allergenic and also got rid of our little cat!!! We had to go to such extreme measures as we are at our wits end as to what to do with regard to the night time coughs but (touch wood) all seems well at the moment.

They always have runny noses too!!!!

Winters for us are a nightmare but we are hoping that we have learnt to manage it now!!!

Possibly. I think any asthmatic will tell you it's worse in winter but it can depend if other things trigger it. Like miggymum said with her kids they might have dust allergies which I suffer with but it's not enough to set my asthma off. I am also allergic to cats which set it off and also if I run that will set it off. Fog, as strange as it sounds is also a trigger.

Do you have a peak flow meter? It might be worth tracking what their peak flow is during the winter and summer. It might give you a better idea iykwim.

My son suffers with eczema too and thats related to asthma I've been told. We were going to buy a humidifier, are these any good?

A de-humidifier?

My DD (3) gets wheezy (often requiring hospital treatment) whenever she has a cold. Given that the "cold season" is generally the winter, then I can see how you could have "winter asthma", but there would be no guarantees that you couldn't have it at other times.

We hope to reduce DD's brown inhaler next spring, but the only way of knowing if it will work is to try it and see.

Duuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrgggghhh I mean a de-humidifier!!!!

A humidifier is good for croup.

Dd2 has asthma and we always mainly assoicated it with winter because as others have said, she got more colds then and this would bring it on.

However about 3 years ago her asthma got bad during the summer. I noticed that she was struggling for breath when running and that on a really hot day she would need her blue inhaler alot.

Thankfully this winter just gone and this summer she has improved alot and we have had no attacks at all (touches wood).

We have started to give her her brown inhaler every other day and will see how she goes.