a bit overwhelmed

a bit overwelmed

gingerpixie 13 Apr 12 9:21pm

Hi . my nearly 5 year old little boy has had mild breathing problems for at least 3 years although no one was saying it was asthma for certain , they said it could be asthma or a dust allergy or hayfever . He was given blue and brown inhalers but it was all very low key and I almost felt as if the inhalers were given to us as a precaution . We occasionally had to use them but I was never sure if I was using them when I should. However we saw the asthma nurse for a yearly check up and have come away with her saying that the symptoms I have described are of poorly managed asthma. We now have to give him brown inhaler twice daily , blue inhaler before excersise and if coughing / wheezing etc and , singulair 4mg to try daily and also a peek low monitor for my son to practise with and to get used to !!!!! I know his asthma is still fairly mild copmared to some asthma but I feel a bit overwelmed by all this new medication and information !!!!!!!!!

Replies to: a bit overwelmed

natbat1 15 Apr 12 10:59am

hello,

welcome to the site.

My daughter is lucky at the moment well controlled.

The is on the brown inhlaer (but hoping to stop that at the moment). She also is on an proflacitc anti bot called aztromycin as she also has broncial hyper reactivity and swelling and damage to her lungs and air way form being ventlated. so she has them to reduce swelling.

she also has singular and blue inhaler when needed.

the singular comes in powder and tablet form. My daugher is only 2 so has it in powder form currently. the powder from is sometime hard to get due to manufactures problems. So if you can get him to the tablets that would be better for you. You can crush them as when martha was in hosptial she had the tablets crushed.

Hope your lo is feeling better soon.

Natasha

mummy 2 martha moo..

gingerpixie 13 Apr 12 10:04pm

Thank you so much for your reply . yeah we have been given a spacer .How old is your little girl ? the nurse did say that the results of the peak flo may not be too acurate at the mo as he`s young and not used to it . he is fairly good with it all tho i have just read that the singulair doesn`t taste too good so i`m not looking forward to giving him that ???????? I will try to find a cope of the book you suggested . Thanks again .

annasee 13 Apr 12 9:52pm

Hi just read your post and wanted to reassure you that the 2 inhalers are the best treatment. The brown one is the ""preventer"" designed to reduce the inflammation to his airways. That one you need to use exactly as described, ie twice a day, whether he has any symptoms or not. It's a long-term therapy. the blue one is the ""reliever"" designed to widen the airways when they have started to close as the result of an attack. It's a sort of emergency treatment, not designed to reduce the likelihood of another attack, just relieve the symptoms of the attack he's having. In the old days, patients were given the reliever to take lots of times a day. Nowdays that's not considered good therapy, (I've only just found out that excessive use of the blue inhaler can lead to ""rebound"" when your airways narrow again - the last thing you want!) which is why you get given the brown inhaler (steroid) to control the condition. You should be using a big spacer for him to take the inhalers through - did you get one given to you? And the peak flow meter is an excellent means of monitoring his lung condition so you can start to take action if it falls below normal level even if he still seems well & is not complaining of symptoms. I'm monitoring my daughter every day at the moment just to establish a base line normal for her, as she is symptom-free currently. It's still alarming to see how much reduced her capacity is from what is ""normal"" for a child without asthma though I really recommend a book I found at our local library ""Living with Asthma"" by Dr Robert Younghusband. Up-to-date, & very comprehensive explanations of everything to do with asthma, including all the drug therapies & why the big inhaler works best. Good luck!