My son is 6. Suffered with asthma since 10 months. Many admissions to hospital, luckily only once needed iv salbutamol.
He is starting to get anxious. A small attack yesterday turned into big thing with panic attack, ambulance called etc.
He is too used to going to hospital and now panics if he thinks he is not there when he thinks he should be....
it is difficult to separate the panic from the asthma.
Any advice please x
Hi Lizzie,
I totally get how your son feels, i have had asthma for 10 years and feel extremely anxious if i do not have my asthma medication on me at all times, it is defiantly a psychological rather than physical issue. Because your son has asthma, does he have inhalers handy? If so sit down and either verbally or through play explain to him that if he has symptoms of asthma that his medication is there to help him and that if he gets severe asthma symptoms that he may need to go to hospital. If your son has an asthma nurse, she could maybe help explain things, if not there are resources on here to make an asthma plan for your son, hope this is help, best of luck xxx
Thanks for reply, we have an Action plan.
We always carry medi bag as allergies too xx
We are under respiratory op at hospital at mo, don't see our asthma nurse as she was not saying same things as our consultants.
I was thinking of finding some breathing exercises.
Breathing exercises are a good plan!
Sadly doctors and nurses dont always work together which is a shame, all i can say is just reassure as much as your can, show him the action plan and explain what it means, best of luck xxxx
Poor little guy, its so hard for them at that age. You can ask the respiratory physician about perhaps seeing a mental health nurse who deals with anxiety to try and help him understand that not every exacerbation means hospital. I went through CBT for my asthma and anxiety and found it really helped.
Hi bless he is only 6! I can quite understand him having panic attacks when he can't breathe as we adults do as well. How about using a comforting ritual with him when he is starting to panic? Ask the nurse/doctor how best to help him. There must be stuff online such as saying count to 10 etc. and so on to help him calm down a bit. x
Worth asking your consultant about having physio for it. It's not for everyone but worked a treat for me. They just go through breathing exercises to keep your mind off things and how to deal with having an attack and not panic. Because he is quite young they might not do that but there's loads of resources online to help kids
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