Pred - is it part of your child's asthma plan?

little nutter's asthma consultant at hospital gave us a supply of pred to use at home for when needed.

we always follow his plan, up his meds at first signs of asthma.

anyway in his plan when despite best efforts we get to asthma attack level and milti dosing is not effective, it says give 1st dose of pred 30mg and seek urgent dr review. Which we do 1st thing in the am when surgery opens so we can take him in. Where he would be perscribed a course of pred due to the flareup. Obv if multi dosing and pred wasn't working we would seek help as it says on the plan. When we have used this approach the pred seems to help when multi dosing alone isn't working. Obv we wouldn't give pred willy nilly, we'd only use it when we gets to the point of if things don't settle soon we will be going to A&E as we do try to keep on top of his asthma, and usually do...

But GP gets a bit off with us saying that we should always just go to A&E if multi dosing doesn't work. So why is this even in his asthma plan then? Anyone else experience this?

[yaf_user681_15459]

Yes, Maddie has Pred as part of her action plan!

If she has an Asthma attack we are to give her pred before taking her to hosp.

Each time though, we have called for help before giving it her or at least asking if its ok!

I agree, Pred is not to be used willy nilly. Its strange having it on the plan though isn't it!

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thanx for ur reply

[angievere]

I always have a stock of preds. and the GP is absolutely fine about me starting son on them if it's out of hours. In fact last time my son was ill and we went to the GP, he asked me if I had started him on preds already! I said 'no' because I wanted to check with a doctor first! It's a tricky one, as usual it seems to vary from doctor to doctor.

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I actually asked whether I could have a course of oral steroids to keep at home and our previoulsy dismissive Nurse practitioner at our GP surgery agreed that we could keep a supply of Prednisolone, especially for when we go abroad to visit my parents. We found out last Christmas that Prednisolone is not always available and other oral steroids were given. When we went to see the Consultant in September he gave specific instructions when I could give them, e.g. when her peak flow is below 100. However, the last time she needed them her peak flow was nowhere near this low so we went to the GP to check before giving them. Although I do not have this in a formal asthma plan, it is ingrained when to give them and when to seek advice before starting them.

[yaf_user681_19380]

pred

we also have pred at home to start if jake needs it.

we have been told by our gp that if he needs his inhaler more often than usual and he is tugging at his throat to start the pred straight away and then contact a dr for help. they say that the first dose would not do any harm. and the medicine would be stopped if not needed.

again it goes back to your gp.

our consultant is happy with this plan.

hope you get it sorted.

jakey's mum

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thanx for all the replies, i guess its a bit like piggy in the middle diff medical proffesionals will tell you diff things.

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in short - yes. My Son has been ill most of his life. He is now 5. We were given pred similary to you from when he was 2, to give 1st dose then see gp. It has been what has stopped him having more hospital stays than necessary many times. I applaud it. It means the health proffessionals know tha tI know my son and his symptoms. We always go to the gp after giving the 1st dose. But if we weren't able to give it I think he would be a lot worse.

Never give it when unneccessary but be thankful you have it.

Helen