My son age 5 has just been diagnosed with Asthma, So I thought I would try to find more information about the condition, as I have previously only associated asthma with the ""gasping for air"" type of symptoms. I really didn't know that there was any other sort.. However my son has had a severe night time cough and fairly constant daytime coughing & wheezing for a number of weeks now, which today was diagnosed as Asthma, I have lots of questions about what to expect, and whether the condition stays the same (his asthma has been triggered by viral infection) or will other things trigger it off now it has come out?
I was so surprised that I left the surgery somewhat stunned without asking any questions and now I have a million things going round in my head !
Hi da ar sa and welcome to the boards - this site is a massive web of infomation and there is always someone on hand to help out or just to listen and sympathise when things are getting a bit on top of you.
It must have a been a bit of a shock finding out about his Asthma like that - my son is now 12 but was diagnosed at 2. It took a while to sink in that Jay had Asthma as like you although he always coughed (especially at night) I didn't really think much of it. One evening he just couldn't stop coughing and was becoming quite distressed trying to catch his breath. I called the out of hours doctor who told me after listening to him couch over the phone that he had croup and to put him in a steamy room and go to GP in the morning. This just made things much worse (as we now know Jay is affected by steamy/hot/humid air) so I jumped in the car and took him to a&e. I was really shocked when they gave him nebs and oxygen.
Many children only have problems with their Asthma during viral infections or chest infections and are completely well inbetween. You may find he is ok once he gets over his virus. If he still has problems it might be worth keeping a diary of anything that you think may have triggered the episode. It could be exercise induced or through laughing too much, maybe an allergy to certain foods or contact with pets. You will soon learn to pick up when he is feeling a bit low and at 5 he may well tell you he is feeling out of breath or his chest 'hurts'.
If you are at all worried about him or things don't settle you should go back to your Gp and let them know, there are lots of different medications that control Asthma and sometimes it takes a bit of jiggling and tweaking to find the one(s) that work best.
I hope you and your little one get this sorted out quickly and that this episode is short lived.
WELCOME
Hi Da ra sa
Welcome to the boards.
My son is 3 1/2 - he was diagnosed with asthma at about 2 1/2 - he also had night-time cough. He's never gasped for air and rarely wheezes so like you we were really shocked when he was given nebs and oxygen. His asthma only seems to be a problem when he has a virus or infection or and in summer as he seems to have hayfever (but now he's on antihistamines hopefully he'll be ok this summer).
It's taken time for us to all get to grips with his symptoms and we're not experts but this winter has been far easier than last winter. I found that getting as much info as possilbe helped. I ordered leaflets and booklets off of this site - i found that they were really easy to understand and helped me to explain Ollie's asthma to others - as you say most people associated asthma with gasping for breath so found it very difficult to believe that he was ill when he showed very few symptoms.
I also spoke to the asthma nurse on this site - they've been really good - they chat until you are happy - are very good at answering all your questions. So i'd definatley give them a ring - especially to chat about all the questions that you left the surgery having not asked - haven't we all done that!!! - also to help know what questions to ask when you go back.
Now that we're better at noticing the symptoms and seem to have his medications sorted it's getting easier. Ollie rarely has a night-time cough and only really has symptoms when he has a virus - so hopefully there's light at the end of the tunnel.
I hope that things get sorted with your son soon.
take care.
claire
Thanks for your welcome,
after 6 uses of his inhalor his cough has ""gone"", he is, for the first time in weeks, sleeping peacefully!
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