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

Obviously I didn't proof read before I posted, but you get the gist!!

Loads of kids get asthma, one of mine has it.

It's good he's getting care, it's very likely that with this he'll be absolutely fine (and healthier than he was before you knew), it's also very common to grow out of it with age.

I mean this nicely but calling yourself an 'asthma mummy' makes it sound vastly more worrying than it is (many kids with asthma have had multiple hospitalisations by this age, so he's not at the severe end) and also makes it about you instead of him - which it isn't.

Sounds like you've got good care, watching for triggers and following the regimen well are sensible. Many children with asthma get on well with swimming, easier to tolerate than outdoors and good for lung capacity.

As much as asthma is a serious thing, for most people it is easily managed and not really something to be sad about. I am quite badly asthmatic but it is well managed with a brown inhaler, one puff in the morning, one puff at night and I almost never need my blue inhaler now it's under control. Just go and see your gp.

Second all the people that say get out of London. That's probably why your child has developed asthma in the first place. My asthma was its worst when I lived close to the North Circular. We moved to a small town in Kent five years ago and I haven't really needed my inhalers at all.

Please don't worry. 2 of my dc have asthma and so do I. It's a lot easier to manage when you have a proper plan in place and a steroid inhaler.

Both of mine had asthma and did gold Duke of Edinburgh and played team and club sports at school and university. One of them played brass instruments for years.

Gideon Lack is fantastic if he is still seeing patients

Conversely we are far better in London than out of it. We lived rurally for a few years and all of our asthma got massively worse!

I just ran 6km this morning, Dp (him and dd have the worse asthma) is being managed perfectly well on the pink inhaler.

It isn't as big a life sentence as it sounds and with the right meds, his shortness of breath should improve massively.

Definitely get his allergies sorted first (any of the good asthma doctors in London will test anyway).

Asthma is a very serious condition but one that can be easily managed as others have said. Some of the best practitioners are asthma nurses in GP practices - see if you have one.

Your DC will probably need a preventer inhaler alongside a rescue inhaler.

In the meantime, get a peak flow test (cheap from Amazon etc) and keep a daily record. This will be useful for your initial appointment and seeing how your DC is responding to medication.

www.asthma.org.uk/ is a great resource.

Book an appointment with the Asthma Nurse at your GP, they go through a routine of diagnosis - taking peak flows then amending the inhalers until you reach a "normal".

I wasn't diagnosed until my 40's but had what I now know to be asthma from childhood.

In our area no Dr/Nurse will use a peak flow in an under 16. And no way would they be referred to a specialist or be allergy tested it referred to a specialist without hospital admissions or allergic reactions.

Neither DS has ever seen a specialist for their asthma as it's been managed perfectly fine by GP or more importantly the asthma nurse

Asthma is a very serious illness if uncontrolled but for most DC it is easily manageable and they really get used to managing largely themselves. Don't be sad, it wouldn't be good for your child to pick up that they are unlucky or a special case in some way.
See your GP re management, they are likely to have an asthma nurse attached to the practice who will support your DC getting used to peak flow meter, inhalers and spacer .
In children it is very common that hey will have a range of triggers eg exercise, house dust mite, pets,hay fever, respiratory infections etc. A lot can't be easily avoided although obviously if you realise they are allergic to cats , say, don't get one.You can take all the normal damp dusting, no carpets, no feather pillow precautions against house dust mite but you won't be likely to completely avoid them and beyond a certain point searching for triggers doesn't get one very far. After all, it is important that your child gets lots of exercise so you won't be avoiding that trigger, in fact you will be embracing it.Your child will be aware of the concept of asthma already as there are always a few in the class needing easy access to their reliever inhalers so I am sure they will take it in their stride.

I have asthma, as does my DD and two of my nieces/nephews, and my sister. It's not the end of the world and your child may grow out of it. Mine hasn't but that's fine, she knows to take her inhaler and it's not uncommon. Our asthma nurse's child has it, she was very reassuring.

THANK YOU so much for all of your responses. I cant tell you how much this has made me feel better reading all your responses. It does make me realise it doesnt have to be the end of the world. i just need to get on top of it for him with the correct meds, triggers etc. Thank you again

Well managed asthma isn't noticeable at all. You don't even need the blue salbutamol inhaler, although it should always be handy.

I went for a period of 17 years without needing salbutamol at all. I thought maybe I'd recovered completely from asthma and mistakenly reduced my preventative meds. I'm definitely asthmatic still.

Well controlled asthma isn't a life limiting factor. Once you get this managed properly things will be fine. Inhalers and solutions are so much more advanced now that long term lung damage is completely preventable.

A very late add on, but just to say it wasn't until Covid that many people who knew me well even knew I had asthma because it is that well managed. They only knew about it through Covid because the mask wearing (I was exempt, but wore one anyway) triggered (easily manged) attacks.

Another one along to say that managed asthma isn't anything to worry about. I have had it all my life and have competed at rowing, half marathons and I still cycle regularly. Plus look at well-known asthmatic sports people: Bradley Wiggins (ahem!), Paula Radcliffe, David Beckham ...