3 year old in hospital for 1st time

Hi

I'm new to this site and have just spent an hour reading some of the posts. I suffer with mild asthma but the query is related to my 3 year old son. A brief history..

I took him to my GP about 8 months ago with cold like symptoms and wheeziness - listened to chest and said it was viral and gave antibiotics.

In November he was wheezy again - cold related - was given 2 nebulisers and an inhaler and antibiotics - this was at a NHS walkin centre - doctor was concerned at breathing rate and rung A&E who said don't bring him in, try the inhalers first....which seemed to have sorted it.

He's had never ending coughs and colds over last year and half.

Last week noticed he had a slight runny nose and very slight cough - so cautious me gave him some calpol before bedtime.

By midday the next day he was very wheezy and breathing rapidly - i rushed him to A&E - they took him straight in and gave him a nebuliser, a couple of hours later a second nebuliser - his oxygen level was about 86-88 - they then gave him some oxygen - sats were 89-90 - they then decided he would have to stay in over night - they gave him another nebuliser, prednisilone and 10 puffs of salbutamol and more oxygen. About 4 hours later they gave the last nebuliser which seemed to settle him and we were discharged later that day.

I spoke to 3 different doctors who said they could not diagnose Asthma because of his age, they took his history into account and noted that i suffer with Asthma. They said they need to see if he has repeated episodes and what time of year it occurs. I did tell them that 4 days earlier he became wheezy after outdoor play at nursery but seemed okay for a few days after.

Is this Asthma???

He completed a 3 day course of steriods.

After being discharged he was told to take 10 puff salbutamol for 2 days, 8 puffs for next 2 days - 4-6 puffs for the next two days and they 2 puffs as and when required. We are on 4 puffs every 4 hours at present.

He still has a cough and his discharge plan said if cough persists continue with 2 puffs......but for how long, i have no idea??

Also he has become very hyper....the one time i need him to relax and chill out he's got energy like superman....is this the salbutamol?

As he has not been diagnosed with Asthma, does he need to see the regular Asthma nurse at my surgery??

This is all new to me so any advise would be greatly appreciated.

Thankyou and apologies if i've gone into too much detail,

Thanks Again x

[angievere]

I'm sorry to hear you and your son have been through such an ordeal. It's not surprising he is hyper with all the drugs he has taken, that is quite common so dont worry about it.

It is also common for doctors to be reluctant to diagnose asthma in young children, but given that the walk in centre and hospital treated him with asthma drugs and that there is a family history of asthma, it might be safe to assume that he did indeed have a couple of asthma episodes!!

Have you a follow up appointment with your GP? If not, make an appointment and discuss your concerns with GP and also ask what is the way forward, for example, should he be on a preventer inhaler? Also ask about regular appointments with the asthma nurse.

Good luck and I hope things improve. Feel free to private message me.

[Hidden]

sounds very similar to our experience, I would make a follow up appointment with GP.

we were in the same situation with little nutter, had just got the GP to assess him for asthma and had been given a blue inhaler for him when he became ill, took him to GP who said it was croup not asthma but said we had to go to A&E with him, armed with a letter stating that he was suffering from croup. A&E said it was deff asthma and admitted him, he was 3 at the time. When discharged we were given a preventer inhaler (brown) as well as the blue releiver and an asthma plan to follow. A course of pred and a packet of emergency pred to use if he became ill again. Also were instructed to book a follow up appointmet with GP and were referred to asthma clinic at the hospital.

Hope your son feels better soon.

I am pleased to say little nutter's asthma has improved since being put on a preventer, and with the astrhma plan it makes it a bit easyer to know when to give meds and how much, e.g at any early signs of a cold etc.

[Hidden]

I am quite new to this forum too, my son is 2 years old and has had a few hospital admissions. One thing I have learnt is keep on top of the inhalers night and day if necessary. If oxygen levels are low (which often means faster breathing) then his body is working really hard to get enough oxygen around his body. A cold is often a trigger, for Oscar it starts with a clear runny nose then coughing - I start giving his blue inhalers at this point.

Hope this helps

Good luck

Victoria