I am a drained mother!

Just need to post to be with others who care for children with asthma.

Today I am exhausted by the disapointments of upping daily medications, putting her back on pred again and again and again, not knowing what the night will bring, hating, just hating the fact that she's so often ill, wondering whether tomorrow's phone call to the asthma nurse will lead to hours in hosp to see consultant and the continuous about the side effects of all these drugs.

I just want it to stop.

Sorry to moan. Not feeling very strong today and keep crying!

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Ali, moan away its OK. I have told this story before but I will repeat it, from the age of abour 18 months until puberty my eldest son Michael had dreadful asthma just walking from the front door 3 years to the car on winter mornings was enough to set him off. We had oxygen at home nebs, and he was knocking back slo-phylin capsules from 18 months. He was maintenance pred and we were constantly upping the dose. I remember carrying him into the hospital after nebbing all the way in (portable nebs 18 years ago where not small and I could not carry him and the neb) and making it to the lift when he went floppy in my arms, luckily there was a Dr in the lift he overrode the control and ran with me to the ward where he had open admission. I cried because I could not see how he would ever improve or have a life.

My eldest son is now a strapping 6 footer once he came off the steriods he started to grow again, he is looking at buying his own house and he has looked after me during attacks including being the one to go to hospital with me. He still has asthma he is hopelessly non-compliant prefering to use ventolin rather than remember to take his preventer, I guess at some point he will grow up and take his preventer. He still uses the occasional neb as one thing I have learned since I got bad is there is a certain amount of brittleness he can go off really badly really quickly thankfully one neb and he normally OK and yes they are on his repeat presription and his asthma is reviewed annually. He has recently stolen one of my omrons as it is much smaller than the hosptital compresser he was given.

Never give up hope, not all children out grow their asthma I guess we were lucky but his consultant once said he has the most severe asthma he had ever seen and he was the 1st child to have a statement for his asthma - so he could have his neb at school!

Bex

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Yes, it's devastating. I'm sitting up now, at half past midnight, with my son who won't stop coughing, can't stop coughing, and coughs until he retches. This is his asthmatic symptom and he's now eleven but has had it with viruses since he was one. It's devastating and heartbreaking. Nothing seems to work and we had two years off recently, thought he'd grown out of it, but then it started again worse than ever.