Desperate Dad after advice for two year old with terrible night-time coughing...

Hello

My two and a half year old daughter was diagnosed with asthma last September after two winters of terrible night-time coughing. Anyway glad we now know what is what, but it would be great if anyone could share their experiences, or offer any advice...

It seems that if my daughter doesn't have a cold/virus, she doesn't have asthma. Colds etc seem to be the only obvious trigger. When she does have a cold she suffers with night-time coughing which when bad can cause terrible coughing attacks where she gets very upset, struggles for breath, and coughs/vomits mucus. If we can get the blue inhaler in quickly this can be prevented.

Since last September she has picked up one cold after another, all causing night-time issues for around two weeks at a time. We have only had ten days in Feb when she was symptom free and everyone slept well.

Currently our daughter is on four puffs of Clenil twice a day, which when she is symptom free drops down to two puffs. She was given a short course of Prednisolone a few weeks back which was amazing. It really helped fast...

Does anyone else have children with similar asthma symptoms?

We are most unsure about when we should go back to the GP each time. Our asthma plan says to go whenever symptoms are not under control, but this is every time she picks up a runny nose... Should we be going to the GP for every single cold that causes her to start coughing at night?

At what stage do you go back to the GP?

It seems we are always having to make a 'lesser of two evils' choice. Is the coughing serious enough to outweigh the negative feeling of being prescribed stronger steroids...

What are your experiences of Prednisolone with young children? Should we be worried about taking it too often?

Sorry for the essay but I hope you stayed with it as it will be so helpful to hear your experiences and advice.

Thanks

Rich

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Hi Rich

If your Daughter is still coughing at night it could mean her asthma is uncontrolled therefore it would be wise to see the gp again soon as poss to ask about the next step to take.My Son has the same type of asthma with severe coughing at night, when he was a baby it was with mucus and he would be sick. After the age of about 3 the mucus and sickness went and just get the cough now. The gp may up the preventer inhaler to help stop attacks, please dont worry if the doses seem high, it better to have more inhaled steroid than oral if possible.My Son was on unlicensed doses since he was 18 months old and it saved his life. He has also been on massive doses of oral steroids too. He is now 10 and has severe and difficult asthma which has been a challenge.He is tall for his age and is a happy and sports mad boy. Colds seem to be a trigger for my Son too also emotions.We take my Son away for a week in the Autumn for some sunshine somewhere hot. It's the second time we have done it and will again. This has been the second winter ever we have got through without many attacks, and no hospital visits and only one lot of oral steroids!! That is amazing for my Son as he is usually seriously ill from Oct-March.

Good luck and hope thing get better for you soon

Kate

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Hi Rich

My son has had asthma from an early age too, all the symptoms that you have just described, he is now 7, was about 3 when the doctors reluctantly gave him the normal blue inhailer, and still to this day it does very little, he has also had the brown inhailer since he was about 4 or 5, again very little difference. I used to think that the colds were the trigger, but it seems that no-one else gets these 'colds' and that it is just the asthma when it is really bad. He coughs in the day and all night long, such a strain on their little chests. I have been back to the doctors and nurses on a regular basis, and just yesturday when they diagnosed and ear infection (nothing to do with the asthma) and he was constantly coughing while the doctor examined him, again he said nothing to worry about as it was just his asthma cough. So basically I am saying that from my experiance they will do nothing and I can't seem to get any help from anyone. The worst time it really affects me (yes me!) is when we are out in public and you get comments like 'you should get some medicine for that cough'! So basically, I can't help solve your question but thought I would say that you are not alone in this problem. Hope your daughter doesn't suffer like my son when she is 7, as apparently some children grow out of asthma when they get older. Good luck!

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Just an idea

Hi Rich,

I feel your pain! I've been kept up for years. I agree maybe you should go back to the docs, more steroids aren't ideal but neither is staying up all night coughing!

You might have heard this before, but just to add might be worth looking for other triggers around your house which might set it off. For example: make sure they haven't got a feather duvet/pillow, if their room is quite damp you might want to get a de-humidifier, if it's cold warm it up a little more. Maybe even washing tablets which have a fragrance and stuff. Keep away any animals and flowers and of course dust is a killer!

Things like that help me, sorry if it sounds obvious.

Rach

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I too feel your pain!! We have just gotten our little lad under control after months of cold after cold. Nigt times were sleepless, daytime symptoms not too bad - quite similar to your girl but not a cough (more over breathing, noisy breathing, tummy muscles going etc).

However, these ""colds"" did indeed turn out to be chronic rhinitis. How stupid did I feel??! the resp nurse put him on citirizine (he can't tolerate montelucast) and he's just fab now. I have a different boy. And we're all sleeping too. We know that our lad is allergic to house dust mites, dander, feathers etc, so it might be worth mentioning to your specialist/GP/nurse, because it could indeed be something in the bed exacerbating her at the worst time of day for asthma anyway - night.

Good luck, truly hope you can get her sorted

Lx

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Hey There

My daughter has the exact ame symptoms and was diagnosed last year as asthmatic.

It took two years of constant night time coughing and vomitting before we got the dianosis which was horrendous, but we got there in the end.

Unfortunately my daughter seems to be getting worse and we havent got it under control at all...

As my daughters so poorly with her asthma right now, i wouldnt like to say too much as im not the best person to help, but i read your post and felt for you... i just wanted to say your not alone, and its nice for me to read your post and see that im not alone either as i have felt very alone with this issue for years now...

Also, i just take my daughter up to the GP when i really feel its out of control.. It's worth going if you feel the need to is there... So, dont worry about going to your GP... If you feel it may be useful or is required, just take her along

Best of Luck

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Ask for singulair (monteluskat)

Your little one has all the same symptoms as mine and several other children in his school. All my kids have been put on singulair (monteluskat) for night time cough and it is fantastic. I am not saying that all the symptoms have completely disappeared but most of the time they are cough free at night time. I have told others at school and they have had the same results as me. Worth a try. Every bit helps. He still gets constant colds and coughs but at least he gets a nights sleep. Also try to steam her. I put a kettle in the room with the lid off until the room fills with steam then take it out. Be careful because the kettle wont switch off with the lid off !! My asthma nurse told me to also put some Karvol in the bath as the vapours and the steam together help and they did. I put some in boiling water in the sink as well and let the steam go round the bathroom while the child was in the bath. Desperate times you will try anything.

Best of luck

Kelly

Kelly

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Thank you everyone who has taken their time to offer advice and share their story. I really appreciate it. It is so helpful and supportive.

Things have been pretty bad since my post but hopefully we are just turning a corner I think... Touch wood. Wow it is amazing how often I have started saying things like - fingers crossed, and touch wood since my daughters asthma has been bad.

We have been back to the GP twice since my post and we have basically been told that we only need to take Beth to see him after she has actually had an asthma attack, or she is repeatedly waking herself up coughing. He said if it is just coughing and she is not waking herself up too much, just stick it out with existing blue/brown inhalers.

Definitely going to discuss Singulair with GP as after reading up it sounds an ideal treatment, but then I wonder why the GP hasn't suggested it already. I am going to mention it though as if it does what it says, it would be very helpful I think.

It would be amazing if this is the last cold of the winter. Fingers crossed!

Thanks again everyone!