Devastated Asthma Mummy

[Frenchmummy27]

Hi all,
Hoping for some words of wisdom. It is looking likely my child who is 6 years old has asthma. Basically, has always had a nighttime cough on and off but put it down to the after-effects of a cold or a cold coming on. Then after staying at grandparents home he would come back wheezing. We went to see a specialist who said it was an allergy to dust mites but wasnt asthma in their opinion. Since that diagnosis a few months ago after taking part in running at school the teachers questioned if I had checked him after for asthma as he was breathing so hard. We then went on holiday to asia where the air quality was pretty bad and they couldnt walk more than 5 steps without sitting down and we rushed them to a local doctor who had to give a nebuliser and said was definitely asthma and in their opinion my child would need to take inhalers daily for the rest of their life. Since coming back from holiday I feel so sad about it all. The thought of him having to use meds for the rest of his life sounds terrible. Everytime he coughs and I hear a wheeze I am giving him the blue inhaler while we wait to see the doctor and even this makes me anxious.
Does anyone have any recommendations on London asthma doctors for children? What tests did you child go through to confirm asthma and are their different types eg just allergic to something or do people just have asthma that is triggered by multiple things?

Thank you

Hello! I don’t have much experience for most of your questions but I just wanted to say don’t be sad if he has asthma. I had childhood asthma and it really hasn’t impacted my quality of life at all! Hopefully theirs is mild too. Mine was definitely triggered by things - exercise or laughing too much, dust, cigarette smoke, cat hair. My asthma only bothered me until my late teens and I don’t have an inhaler anymore x

Normally they just diagnose on basis of symptoms. Once he has a preventer inhaler you should find he doesn't need the blue one at all.

Unless he's seriously ill or has other manifestations of sorry it's unlikely they would allergy test him, this time of year is likely to be pollen related

Please don’t get unduly stressed about this. It’s important that, if he needs to, he takes his preventative inhaler as prescribed. And once that has been stabilised, for the main part, you won’t notice the asthma.
I am almost 60; had asthma forever; am extremely fit; walk, run, climb hills, cycle, have 2 Labradors… you get the idea.
The only thing I have not done, on Drs advice, was visit Lima or Nepal. High altitudes can be tricky.
Hope it goes well for him.

Dh has had asthma most of his life. It doesn't affect him at all. He uses two inhalers but rarely needs the blue one. What you are seeing now is your son without treatment, once he is on the right regime this will have much less impact.

My DD is now 31 and has been asthmatic since she was tiny, she has moderate to severe asthma but it has never held her back, she is a competitive swimmer and was a decent triathlete as a teen. She has scaled most of the high peaks in the UK and is extremely fit.

It shouldn’t hold him back but as a mum of a child with asthma I’d move out of London unless you’re in an abnormally low emission zone- it’ll make a huge difference.

First of all : Calm down. Asthma should be taken seriously, but it’s very controllable with the right medication and, when properly controlled, asthmatics can and do live completely normal lives. I’m asthmatic and my asthma is well controlled. Many professional athletes have asthma, including Stuart Broad, Paula Radcliffe & Seb Coe.

First job : See your GP, get some tests done, get a peak flow meter (a simple plastic device which measures how hard you can exhale) and a ‘reliever’ inhaler. These are the blue ones. They contain salbutamol, a bronchodilator. This means it relaxes the lungs and allows the person to breathe easily. They are highly effective.

Next job : Figure out what his ‘triggers’ are, and try to avoid them. For example, mine include horses & oils seed rape pollen, so I do my best to avoid these things.

Then, talk to the GP about a ‘preventer’ inhaler. These should be taken every day. They contain a very small dose of steroid which goes directly into the lungs and over time stops them over-reacting to triggers.

Robert Wilson at the Brompton Hospital is excellent! He’s like the head of asthma uk or something. He can older do a full allergy profile etc x

P.s. I’ve had asthma since I was 10 and it hasn’t held me back. Sometimes I need to use it, most of the time I don’t, but always make sure it’s in my bag! Really not a big deal!! Xxx

And I run 6k most days

My DD has asthma that presents itself in the form of a cough and she gets breathless when active. She's 6 and we got referred to the hospital this year as she had five chest infections last year which can be common in asthmatics. She's been on allergy medicine since she was four, and steroid and blue Inhaler. At the hospital they did an x-ray and could see thickening which indicated asthma (DH took her, can't remember it the thickening was on her lungs or airway) she'd had an allergy blood test which only tested for allergies to cats, dogs and rabbits, so not extensive. Doctor wasn't happy about this and she has been booked in for skin prick allergy testing next month. She was also given a stronger inhaler, massive improvement since the change in inhaler, no longer coughing at night, not as breathless when exercising and we've not had a chest infection in ages, even with her catching covid a few weeks back.

My son has asthma diagnosed as early as 1 year old. He is now 26 and manages his condition really well. My brother had asthma as a child 50 odd years ago, there were no inhalers then, every time he had a flare up, he had to go to hospital. When he was around 10 years old our doctor asked if he could go on a trial for the first ever spin cap inhalers, these changed his life, he could go to school, ride a bike, go out with friends, we were so grateful for this leap in medication, it not only improved his life, but also ours, seeing him struggling to breathe day in, day out.

As soon as your son starts managing his asthma, he will do well. My advice is to get spare inhalers to give to school nurse, have a spare in your car and for you to carry one until he is old enough to carry one himself. I still ask my son when he goes out, do you have your inhaler. A
In all his school years, I think I only had to go to school a couple of times, because he had lost or ran out.

Oh I'm sorry you are so worried but try not to be. Like the pp said you are seeing them now without the proper treatment in place. Just to try and reassure you I had childhood asthma from about 6 and I think i stopped needing inhalers at 20ish. Didn't really affect me too much especially when I learnt what tended to trigger it off (chlorine, heavy exercise, smoke). Other than hayfever and ocassionally shortness of breath if I'm somewhere very smoky I'm all fine and have been for years.

Oh I feel for you - I understand why you’re worried. DH had very severe childhood asthma (had to be resuscitated by his mum on one occasion) but that presented very early (I.e. as an infant) and was accompanied by some severe and obvious allergies AND now he is an adult his asthma hardly troubles him at all. He runs regularly and the only one of his allergies that has stuck around is the nut one.

So that’s just to show that experience as a child and an adult can be quite different.

We’re going through the same thing as you with our 4 year old who can’t be officially diagnosed yet as they don’t diagnose before 5 but is being treated as though he has asthma. He’s been hospitalised once when he had a respiratory virus but that was before asthma was suspected. Now he has a preventative inhaler and a treatment inhaler but is only bothered by it when he’s ill with something else. He doesn’t seem to get more than the average number of colds/chest infections and he’s incredibly active - never stops running!

It stresses me out too, especially with DH’s history, but so far it’s been fine overall.

@LairyMcClairy

It shouldn’t hold him back but as a mum of a child with asthma I’d move out of London unless you’re in an abnormally low emission zone- it’ll make a huge difference.

I'd second this.

I developed asthma aged 30 when I lived in Twickenham, under the flight path for Heathrow.

Now in a suburb with little road pollution and I hardly ever need inhalers.

Forgot to say DS also has an egg allergy and obviously allergies and asthma do go hand in hand often but he’s almost grown out of it already. I would recommend allergy testing if you think there’s a definite specific reaction to something. Asthma triggers as a bit different and can vary and change as I understand it whereas an allergy is an antibody reaction to a particular thing.

My DH was regularly on nebulisers and inhalers as a kid. He's never needed them as an adult, so there are many ways this could pan out, there are plenty of solutions. Hope you get your child sorted with the right relief soon.

I’m 30 and have had asthma since I was tiny. Mine is moderate to severe and mainly triggered by allergies, weather or illness. It really doesn’t have a big impact on my life, I take various inhalers and it keeps it under control for the most part.

Another one promoting moving out of London. We went from several medications and hospital admissions to a very occasional blue puff by moving from London to a seaside location. It's been a real transformation plus all the other benefits of living by the sea.

Mine was diagnosed by doing peak flows for a week and writing down the results, then taking the steroid inhaler twice a day while continuing the peak flows for two weeks.
The results were obvious. He has asthma. He has always been a sporty person, and asthma doesn’t stop him doing anything.
Being a teen now it’s a pain to get him to take his inhaler. I know when he hasn’t because he starts coughing.

Please dont panic. As pps have said.
Getting a good idea of the triggers us essential, (& the appropriate diagnostic & basic treatment/inhalers.)
Mine were, dust from blankets as a child, (I got a duvet when they were only frequent in Austria)
Dust from carpets/ curtains, (in my brother's house they took up all the carpets, & have wood flooring)
Feather pillows
& cats ( although the Harley Street doctor said dogs,🙄 so we always had a cat
Hay fever, Hay, Spring in general.
I had a puffer, which I used when necessary.
It never stopped me travelling, or playing sport (county level, 1st teams etc)
But a simple damp hike up the Sx Downs, or lake district was miserable.
Around age of 28 I moved to work in the Alps & discovered I no longer needed Ventolin. I've never lived in the UK permanently since, my Asthma is non existent now, no longer own an inhaler. ( & have 2 big dogs, but no carpets)

I get that you’re worried but the first step is to calm yourself down! All getting an official diagnosis means is it can be managed, but he’s had the symptoms all his life so nothing will really change. I had symptoms on and off for years, officially diagnosed at 19(!) after a particularly bad chest infection. It’s now beautifully controlled with inhalers.

Also, you don’t need an ‘asthma doctor’; it’s such a common ailment that any GP or respiratory nurse will be able to manage your DS quite easily. He might even grow out of it, a lot of people do.

Try not to panic. Asthma is no problem when it's managed.

My son had childhood asthma, diagnosed as a toddler. He has no symptoms now and doesn't have any medication. Hes 23. I was diagnosed at 21, am 50 now, have the blue and brown inhalers, have an asthma review with the nurse every year and it rarely bothers me - only if the pollen count is very high or if a cat gets within 100ft of me!

Seriously, like anything, it becomes a way of life and is easily managed. Ask for an appointment with the asthma nurse at your GP surgery. They're specialists.

Hiya, I don't have advice with regards to a doctor in London, but try not to worry and be sad about it. I've had asthma all my life if the meds/inhalers are taken correctly its manageable and I still did everything a child without asthma done. Alot of children also grow out of asthma. My triggers tend to be summer time or when they are cutting the fields. Also animals anything furry really - it obviously differs depending on the person.. my daughters also just been diagnosed. Anti allergy tablets really help her along with her inhalers.

Don't panic, it'll rub off on your child. I used to cough into my pillow and hold my breath at in bed as a child because my mum would over react horribly.
I have trigger seasons, usually spring and late summer, which will perhaps be similar to your. Give you child antihistamines during these seasons and make sure they have an inhaler handy. For the vast majority of asthmatics this will be all you need to do, under doctors advice off course.

If I'm in heavy traffic areas then its worse, so relocate to a greener area where air is cleaner.
Keep a diary of where your child was, what was happening, what your child had eaten to learn their triggers. Some foods were also triggers for me.