New to forum and confused over what to do with my little man !

Hi

I'm really glad I've found this forum. My little boy will be 5 at the beginning of February and suffers with asthma, He was first diagnosed at age 2 following what we now believe was an asthma attack. He was a wheezy baby and suffered from around 7 mths old and in particular with the night time cough.

He is currently on Clenil having one puff morning and one puff at night, when he becomes unwell or his asthma symptoms start we increase to 2 morning and 2 night.

So recently since perhaps September when he started school he seems to have long periods of having a cough, he is not wheezy but its as though he needs to take a huge breath in and then this follows with 1-2 coughs. People have said this is habitual and not necessarily asthma as he is not wheezing. However this lasts for maybe a week or so and then we have a few days maybe couple of weeks with no coughing and then it all starts again. Its hard for him to describe how he feels at 4 but he asks for his inhaler sometimes and you can see the worry on his face as though its hard to breathe but again no wheeze noise and the GP also says his chest sounds are good.

Is this normal, is this asthma or a habitual cough ????

We have asthma reviews where he is weighed and ,measured and for the first time recently did a peak flow but we don't have any and have never had any pediatric appointments.

We went to the doctors last night and he couldn't say whether he thought these periods of coughing were an exacerbation of asthma symptoms or just a cough but went on to prescribe seretide saying that he wasn't bothered that he wasn't 5 yet as he is almost there! Hubby is concerened saying there must be a reason its not supposed to be given and wants to look into it more.

Currently he is coughing in his sleep and has so far had 5 puff of ventolin since 3pm, it never really seems to make a great deal of difference these days when he is like this. For the most part he is ok in himself but does get upset from time to time

[Thomass_mum]

My son is 2yrs 10mths and he has been on seretide for almost 3 months now I think it's made quite a difference for him. He was prescribed it by his consultant but I know its not licenced for children under 4 but I trust his decision will be what is best for my sons continuing care. If you are not happy with things could you not ask to be referred to a specialist?

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My little boy is 4 and is on seretide it's made a massive difference to his every day life he had a flare up this last week or so due to a cold. His asthma was completely out of control on clenil. He has been on the seretide since may i I would highly recommend using it! My little boy can now run around and play at school outside with his friends where previously he needed to be brought inside early because he needed ventolin x

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i often find i need to take deep breaths pften followed by sighing. thos is due to a feeling of tight chest or that my lungs wont expand and fill to the.proper extent. for some it.may include excessive yawning. this is known as air hunger and is a sign of difficulty breathing. for me it is hardly ever accompanoed by wheezing or coughing although these may appear later as things get worse. as such these types of symptoms are very dofficult for docs to confirm as asthma attacks.

hope this bit of info helps

wishing you and son all the best

Rose

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Thanks for your replies.

Thank you to Rose as well as explaining what it feels like, I do feel when he does the huge breath in and then coughs its as though he is trying to do a bigger breath that he feel tight and un-comfy, when he is like this we adjust his inhalers, its just that this is becoming far more frequent than it ever used to be and I just feel concerned that he shouldn't be like this so often.

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My son has been on Seretide since April, and has only just turned 4. It took a while to build up in his system so he still had a couple of asthma attacks in the first couple of months, following his 6-8 week cycle. The first one he was hospitalised for again for 3 days with news and oxygen but the second time we managed to keep him at home and control it with his emergency preds, which was a real relief for us, although I had a hospital bag packed just in case! That was back in July and, fingers crossed, he has had nothing since then!

He usually gets asthma attacks each and every time he catches a cold so I was dreading the winter season, but he has had two colds since September and apart from nursery giving him a few extra doses of ventolin on occasion, he has had no sign of any asthma symptoms with either of them!! I still can't quite get my head round it and am always 'waiting' for it to happen, but so far it hasn't and we must put it down to the Seretide. He no longer takes Montelukast due to side effects but it seems that he doesn't need it!

I would therefore definitely see if your son could try Seretide, although Leo only got it after being referred to his consultant. We also have open access to the children's ward and have emergency preds at home, which saves so much time and hassle when things do flare up.

The only downside (not sure if that's the right word as I don't want to sound negative) is that now Leo's asthma seems so well under control it makes me wonder what the next step should be. Should he stay on the Seretide or should he come down a stage? He is small for his age (wearing age 2-3 clothes at 4 yrs old), and I worry about the side effects of the steroids but the consultant says he will catch up when he gets older and his height and weight are monitored.

Our GP has suggested taking him off Seretide and putting him back on Clenil but to be honest his track record with Leo's asthma hasn't been great and I know you are not meant to stop Seretide just like that so I think I will just wait until we next see his consultant to ask what to do next.

Good luck with your situation, sorry to waffle and I hope some of this has been useful!

Bet wishes,

Rebecca