advice needed for my 15month old please

Hi All,

My just turned 15 month old was admitted in to hospital 2.5months ago, and had to have Nebulisers,and two overnight stay, we were sent home on the 2nd day with ventolin...since then he has had two courses of 10mg soluble prednisolone because he was finding it hard to breath at rest and the ventolin wasn’t doing much, at the moment he has ventolin every day, he also has a persistent cough, which is worse at night, to the point that he vomits :(.

.A t the moment i am being told that he is to young to diagnose and that this could be childhood wheezing (he is my 3rd child, my other two have never suffered with any thing) he has also has eczema, which I have. But neither myself of my husband have asthma, but there are some cases on both sides of the family.

Before he got admitted to hospital, i had been to the doctors a few times, because i was worried about his breathing, but they always sent me home saying he sounds clear,. I have noticed that if he has a crying fit, or runs around etc, his breathing becomes very heavy and he sounds breathless and there is a bit of wheezing (this is when i have to give him his ventolin)..but its got worse and much more noticeable since he got admitted.

i spoke to a doctor on the phone today asking for some advice on the coughing, and he is reviewing Phoenix on Wednesday.

What is worry me at the moment is the night time coughing fits, i am so scared he is going to choke on his vomit...i have brought a humidifier and an air purifier, and i have elevated on side of his cot so he isn’t laying flat. at the moment he has a constant runny nose which i guess is abit like having post-nasal drip

is there anything else i should be doing, or can do to help him???

i know most of you would have read posts like mine a hundred times, but i don’t have any one else to ask, so thank you in advance for your reply’s.

[angievere]

I do feel for you as I have been through the same with my now teenage son. Doctors seem reluctant to diagnose asthma in young children, although in our case I kept telling them that my son had asthma because I was a lifelong asthmatic myself (and asthma on my husband's side too). If they have given your son Ventolin and steroids they are treating it as asthma, so that speaks for itself.

My son didnt vomit with coughing so I'm afraid I dont have experience of that. But he used to vomit a lot with bad reflux and I was always up and down with him at night anyway - so I was always with him when he was sick. What about a baby monitor in his and your room so you can hear him if he's coughing a lot and sick? I would certainly tell your GP about this when you next see him.

Re. the constant runny nose. This could be rhinitis/hayfever, it often links in with asthma and excema. Me and my son are on antihistamines for this. Again, tell your GP about it. Offer your son plenty of water as breathing through the mouth and coughing can make one thirsty. My son has a bottle of water by his bed at night because he often wakes up thirsty, especially when not well.

I hope things improve for you both. Feel free to send me a private message.

[Hidden]

my boy was 8 months wen it started hes almost 3 now he wasvery much the same and unfortunatly still is now, they eventually diognosed him b4 christmas, they seen the full exstent ov how bad he can get, doc tod me his chest isso bad its guna take effort trying to get it to sum kind ov norm, u r doing gr8 by the sounds of it, it do get very worryin in the evenin my boy starts as soon as he gets tired last night was a bad night again, but he got stuborn also and had to force him to take his pumps he coughs so much that wen hes sick i always grab him finking hes guna choke, i cant give u advise as im pretty much in the same boat but just wanted to sy hope things gets easier for u very swn and wishin for ur likkle soldier to av the best of health as poss,

p.s me and my partner dnt have asthma either x

[Hidden]

Hi,

I really feel for you. I too have been through the same thing from when Max was 10 months old. A dehumidifier is a good idea. We got one and I think anything you can do to reduce symptoms is a good thing.

I think you need to keep knocking at the doctors door. I have been to see mine so many times and eventually I asked to be referred (infact the appt is today and I'm feeling v nervous). I was told you CAN'T diagnose asthma in children under 4/5 and the doctor seemed to expect me to wait 2/3 years. I was also told that his symptoms are being managed. Thats when I really lost my temper as coughing to the point of vomiting is not managing the symptoms.

Sounds like you are doing all the things you can for your little one. My advice would be go back to your doctors and request a referral. When I eventually did ask, the doctor told me it was my right and referred Max straight away. I have also started to keep a diary of symptoms, what the weather is like,what he eats in a day and how he is at night.

Sory I can't be of more help apart from to sympathise so much with you and I hope you get somewhere with your doctor.

Take care x

[Hidden]

I feel for you. My DS is 15 months and has had constant chest problems since he was 8 weeks old. 5 admissions and a HDU stay later he is finally getting somewhere - but still a long way to go in his case!

He was diagnosed asthmatic at 12 months but that is very rare. However, that doesn't mean they can't treat him as asthmatic. (DS has been treated as asthmatic since he was 6 months old)

I would push for a preventer inhaler (normally brown) for him. DS was given the brown inhaler at 12 months (he had been on a different one before then) and that made so much difference to him - he can now play without getting breathless most of the time and his night cough is much better than it was. He still needs ventolin at night but we are now down to 2 - 4 puffs a day rather than 4 hourly!

[yaf_user681_15459]

My daughter, Maddie was diagnosed just under a year. She was first blue lighted to hospital aged 7 months, given brown inhaler on her next admission aged 11 months and it's continued since then. She is now two and a half, on countless meds and has just had a bronchoscopy along with other tests. We were told they don't like to diagnose Asthma under the age of 2 unless in exceptional circumstances and when other causes have been ruled out.

Like the others have said, I would ask the doctor for a referral to a consultant. Also, could you in the man time, ask to see an asthma nurse at your surgery if ther is one?

I really think a review of your little mans medication is quite important as it's evident by what you say, that it clearly isn't controlling his symptoms, poor chap.

Maddie used to vomit ALOT! She would cough most nights and would repeatedly vomit night after night. It's exhausting for you.

I would ask the gp for an anti histamine to try at night in case he is allergic to his environment. Wet dust his room, get rid of soft toys and try anti allergy bedding. All these things may help.

As far as the vomiting, we learnt to recognise Maddies cough and when it would progress to being sick. On these occasions, we'd get her up out of her cot, give her 10 puffs (which was stated in her action plan) and then give her a while for it to work, while keeping her sat up, either on our bed, or taken downstairs on the sofa. It's not ideal as we had to get her up, but to be honest it mostly worked and stopped it escalating. It also saved the disruption of clearing up vomit in the small hours!

Let us know how you got on today with the doctor.

Take care,

Emily. X

[Hidden]

Thanks for your message's

Took Phoenix to the doctors this morning and he witnessed phoenix having a coughing fit just from walking around the waiting room, so he has referd us He also has given me antihistamine to give him at night.

Thinking back, he had signs of hay fever last summer, watery eyes, runny nose, red blotches on his face. I get hives if I sit in the sun and my husband suffers from hay fever.

So wonder if it's that rather then asthma, will they test him for allergies?

My older children, have never been ill or in hospital I took it all for granted, I feel like the doctors look at me as if I am one of them mothers that over react ifykwim.

His chest is clear - I though if you had asthma they always hear something???

Danielle x

[Hidden]

I feel for you my son is 26 months old he has had wheezing since he was 3 months and was in hospital at 3 months old and on a nebulizer and has been going on ever since i keep taking him back to the doctors when he gets the same symptons and some doctors say his chest is clear then a few days later he is on nebulizer and steriods. He has been on a brown inhaler and blue inhaler since his fist admission. But cause this wasnt helping really then they put him on something called montekulast which has helped alot and hasnt had alot of episopes i would suggest that to your doctors. he was diagnosed with asthma just after his 2nd birthday. my doctors dont help or give me advise at all. They say to me the only thing I can do to help him is change all my carpets to wooden or laminate floor which is a problem with me as on a low income and they cant help me with that.