Cough variant asthma

[Bananamilkshakeonmycereal]

Nearly 3 year old has (I suspect) cough variant asthma.

Is there anything more we can do at night to help him? He has a reliever inhaler, a diffuser with Olbas oil, and I dust his room regularly. Would a thicker pillow at his age be a good idea? His toddler pillow is so thin and I feel like it would help to have his head more elevated.

Any experiences and ideas?

Has he got a preventer inhaler? Have you tried anti histamine?

We don't have a steroid inhaler, only a reliever on repeat prescription.

I didn't know about trying antihistamine. Would this be something he would take every day?

I'm an adult with cough variant asthma - diagnosed in my 20s but it was then obvious I'd had it as a child. Back then it wasn't really known about and my parents just shouted 'stop coughing' at me - they now feel v guilty.

For me a daily anti histamine (year round) makes a lot of difference.

The Olbas oil is unfortunately a bad idea. The issue is with the tiny air passages deep inside the lungs, not clearing out a snotty nose. And asthmatics are often allergic to fragrance inc essential oils.

GP will prob not want to diagnose asthma until he is older but basically if he doesn't settle, you need to keep going back to the GP.

Have you considered an air purifier, any pets (usually a trigger). What is the pillow made of and how old is it? I’d be leery of diffusers and any candles. No perfumes either.
if you would like to raise the head of the bed, lift the bed legs with books or lumber.

A preventer inhaler was the game changer for my DD, she was given one at 2.

I'd go back to the GP and push for one.

Oh my god that's awful that they shouted at you to stop coughing 😔

We've become quite reliant on the diffuser with Olbas as he gets post nasal drip which triggers coughing. It helps him so much. Often the second the diffuser stops, he's coughing again.

But he's not currently snotty and is still coughing so will maybe try tomorrow night with just a few puffs of inhaler but no diffuser. I'll talk to GP about antihistamine too.

Yes I would push for a preventer - you don't fuck around with asthma.

I haven't used them for a while so my info may be well out of date, but the Asthma UK website certainly used to be very good and they had a great helpline too that I find very useful. I'd check them out.

Don't dust his room, wet wipe. Hoover frequently. New pillow a good idea. Don't dry his bedding outdoors. Anti histamine helps me.

I'm having a bad summer. Had COVID last month, a cold this month. Two dogs and a cat don't help. They bring pollen in.

I was looking at air purifiers recently.

My 5 year old has this. We found switching to a hypoallergenic pillow, washing powder change to fairy, regular hoovering (daily) of his bed, mattress and room and regular dusting has helped. We give him Antihistamines before bed for when he's still bad along with his inhaler.

A robot vacuum cleaner and a handheld one make light work of the increased hoovering requirements!

We have a cat who never goes in his room. When he catches a virus he will cough all the time and need his inhaler but he is currently post virus and absolutely fine during the day. No signs of a cough in the daytime but then it kicks off at night which I know does happen with cough variant asthma. Good point about the pillow it's nearly a year old now although has been washed a few times.

I also have cough variant asthma diagnosed in my 20s as it wasn’t known when i was a child. My brother and father have classic asthma and wheeze when they have an attack.

i agree with the previous poster about the oils they make cough worse. I take a daily antihistamine all year round but with a young child you should check with doctor. try to work out triggers eg. pollen? Dust? Pets? Cold weather? Hot weather? And then adapt as necessary.

Suggest you elevate the head of the bed rather than a thicker pillow and check for anti allergy bedding - i get in best with wool.

Also can recommend a nebuliser to clear sinuses.

Oh and we never use scented candles or any perfumed type things as I hate them. Pure beeswax unscented candles in winter but that's it.

We only use Olbas oil in his diffuser as it has always helped him sleep.

As an asthmatic with cough variant, and former advanced nurse practitioner, I have found that some GPs have not updated basic asthma training and also follow outdated guidelines/protocols. An asthma specialist nurse (available at most GP practices) might be more helpful.

Sorry yes that's what I mean by dusting. With a damp cloth.

Will look at air purifiers

Thanks, how did you get a preventer at 2? We've been told he is too young and not yet having issues often enough for a steroid inhaler. He has been in A&E a few times now struggling to breathe and low oxygen when he gets a virus. It hits him badly. When he's well he's fine but it takes an age for him to recover from a viral cough

We have reliever inhaler on prescription and a wheeze plan.

Thanks, we do use fairy and hoover and dust regularly. I'll look into the pillow

Thanks I'll enquire about this

DS has cough variant asthma, was diagnosed finialy at 3 after six months of nightntime coughing (he's 13 now). He has a preventative inhaler and antihistamines as well as montelukast (it's an anti allergy drug).

I argued back and forwarded with the GP until I found one who finialy said children this young should always been seen by a pediatrician because they can't diagnosis asthma easily at this age. They also (again after us arguing with them) allergy tested DS, he's definitely allergic to house dust mite. Has some pollen allergy but we didn't pin that one down. The antihistamines really helped.

Please do ask for a referral. For children this young it's really outside the GP'S traning to be able to diagnosis and get them on the medication to control the symptoms correctly. DS medication couldn't be prescribed by a GP and every time I went to the pharmacy they questioned that it had been prescribed by a specialist.

We had allergy skin prick testing at our local NHS hospital after seeing the respiratory consultant and that showed what he was reacting to. Combined preventative and reliever inhaler plus anti histamine has completely stopped the cough which at night had been absolutely awful and often rubbish in the day as well. I’d ask for a referral.

This is so confusing to me as a few people have said this

But we have found the Olbas invaluable. He gets post nasal drip which sets off coughing. When he's bunged up he starts to cough the second the diffuser switches off. We recently bought one that can run for 12 hours because of this.

At the moment he's not bunged up so maybe it's only useful sometimes

Thanks for all this information. I had no idea

As for DS room and bedding, he has no carpets in his bedroom, no curtains and limited soft toys. His bedding is all anti-allagy and is washed at 60c and tumble dried. He has a hepa air filter in his room also, but he hasn't need that as much since he's got older.

Maybe the olbus defuse is helping when he has a cold. DS suffers badly when he gets colds (oddly enough not with covid) and things like olbus oil help with that.

You have reminded me that I used a lot of Vicks as a child!

If he has a lot of post nasal drip even when he doesn't have a cold, then do you think he has hayfever? It's hard when they are little and can't tell you, or even just think it's normal.

It was about 8 years ago now, but through persistence basically. She was vomiting from coughing almost every night and had been doing since being a few months old. I just kept going back to the GP. We were told that they could diagnose from 2 onwards, and were given the preventer in a sort of 'we can't really tell yet but let's see how it goes' sort of way. And then it made such a difference that it confirmed it.

I will say though that when something 'gets on her chest' eg a virus, hayfever or even just doing PE outside on a cold day, she does need extra help on top of her inhalers. Olbas oil works for her too, so I put that in a steam diffuser in her room, and antihistamines also help. Sometimes people can react better to different antihistamines, so it's worth trying a few.

I also second the PP who mentioned seeing the asthma nurse.

He really needs a preventer inhaler. My DD was given one at 3 and it made a huge difference.