Asthma and allergy advice for 9 year old

[rarawinsome]

Hi.

Sorry if my post is too long.

Background: My son is 9 years old and I am worried about his asthma and asthma management. He is also allergic to tree nuts and year around hay fever. My husband and only the males in his family have hayfever but not asthma. My son takes citirizine everyday throughout the year to manage his hayfever. I am not sure what are his specific environment triggers as it doesnt seem associated with just pollens.

My son was found to be allergic with nuts since he was a year old and got first asthma attack 6 months later.

Treatment: My son was diagnosed with cold induced asthma as he normally doesnt experience any asthma symptoms during his normal day and play, however when he gets cold virus, he gets a bad asthma which gets out of control and his state deteriotes quickly. Blue inhalers dont help his symptoms at all, even 10 at a time wouldnt make any difference. Within a day he will end up with hospital and given prednasalon and sometimes magnesium and admission for 2-3 days. He started with 50mg brown inhaler which was eventually increased to 200mg dose eventually. Nothing really prevented much and he will get bad attack 2-3 times a year. He also started montelukast 5mg at the age of 4 years and it helped in prevention for 2 3 years. But then we moved and his doctors asked to stop montelukast and given brown inhaler once etc etc. My son sometimes gets asthma due to some other unknown triggers which i want to get advice from you. I try to change his bedsheets and pillow covers regularly.

Also my husband over the period of years figured out that only thing that helps him immediately during his asthma attack is prednasalon. So he has stopped given him all medicines except citrizine and only gives him blue inhalers and prednasalon the day he gets his asthma attack and tightness and i must say it helps.

I am worried as a mother due to side effects of prednasalon as he has to use them 3 4 times (maximum 3 days per episode) a year during his attack and I think is it better to give him brown inhalers instead? or maybe both ?

His asthma dont respond to normal blue inhalers and i think slightly to brown !!

he is not.having any hospital admissions due to asthma but is it fine to control it with steriods everytime if they are effective !!

[ChrissieMons]

Personally, I should prefer not to control things just with oral steroids. They have long term implications for someone so young. However, you really need to see a consultant to get the best advice for this. Asthma is an immensely variable condition and a GP cannot be expected to know all there is to know about it, so a specialist is your best bet.

[rarawinsome in reply to ChrissieMons]

He is been discharged from the pediatrian clinic 2 3 years ago. Since then we are controlling/managing everything on our own.

[strongmouse]

As your son has known allergies I wonder if it is possible to ask your GP to refer him to a Peadiatrician with experience of allergies. It can make a big difference knowing what his allergens are as this can help in managing his condition. For instance if it is dust mites then there is more that can be done to minimise his exposure to them, but if it isn't dust mites then there is no point trying to do this!

Allergy UK have a helpline and it might be useful to contact them or Action Against Allergy to see if they can help you to unpick possible triggers. If your son has an allergy to something he is regular contact with then a cold virus could trigger a worsening of his symptoms and thus his need for prednisolone especially if the ventolin isn't helping.

I would suggest this is well worth investigating further. Alternatively you could ask to be referred to an Asthma Specialist. Maybe speaking to the nurses on the Asthma UK helpline.

Many years ago I developed allergies then later in 2001 I was diagnosed with hayfever mainly due to pollen allergies, but two years later I developed asthma which has various triggers including allergens, bonfires and BBQs, air pollution, fragrances so it can be difficult but very helpful working out possible causes and aggravating factors. Keeping under control does help my overall health.

[rarawinsome in reply to strongmouse]

Thanks. He had his allergy tests when he was young. I will have a look at it. I dont think it was this elaborate though... i will have a look at the result and perhaps share it here as well

[rarawinsome in reply to strongmouse]

GP clearly cant see his asthma/wheezing so A&E is the option. However I think i need more knowledge on the topic of allergents as It becomes v difficult specially if I am travelling with mt son...

[strongmouse in reply to rarawinsome]

There is a very good book called "The Allergy Bible" co written by Prof Jonathan Brostoff and Linda Gamlin. He is an expert on allergies. Allergy UK have some useful information and a helpline