Help with four year old

[Bettynano]

Our son has treatment for asthma, however no tests have been done to confirm diagnosis. His main symptom when bad is a continuous cough, this eventually leads to a wheeze. He's had three courses of oral steroids in the last 5 months. We can't seem to send him to nursery without him ending up very poorly. We are extremely stressed. Does anyone else feel this way?

[Troilus]

Sorry Betty, but I have no experience of childhood asthma but there are many on here who have. Hopefully they will be along soon. If not try a search of the site and see what it throws up.For my twopenn’orth I would suggest you start harassing your GP. I don’t think continually throwing prednisone at it is the answer. Don’t get me wrong, prednisone is marvellous, but it is not without side effects and if your child keeps falling back once the course has finished this would suggest to me that his daily meds need reviewing. Maybe a higher dose of the daily preventer, maybe something extra needs to added in, maybe a referral to the respiratory clinic at your local hospital. Like I say, I don’t know much about childhood asthma.

You could also try ringing the asthma nurses at asthma U.K. before you contact your GP for guidance. You’ll find the number on the left hand side of the page below polls.

[Spikedog66]

Hi. You need to speak to your Gp and ask for hospital appointment for a paediatric consultation. They dont tend to do tests on children they dont comply too stressful for them. They will give you a plan for him. Inhalers steroids and antibiotics if necessary is included in the plan. Please do this it stops hospital admissions. More stress for a child. If he's struggling please take him to A&E call an ambulance Asthma a killer in all ages on the plus side many children grow out of asthma. Please get paediatric doctors advice get an appointment. Insist on this. I do hope you little one gets sorted soon he shouldn't be struggling at 4. xx

[pink123floyd]

Hi betty could there be something in the nursery thats making him ill maybe a bit of dust on toy boxes or perfume a nursery teacher is wearing talk to them and see what his daily routine is while he us there asthma runs rampant through our family history from brothers sisters nephews uncles and now my great grandson so also ask about family history with your doctor and family members.hope he can get some sort of relief as i too suffer bouts of asthma flare up. Take care stay safe.xx

[madamestephens]

I had a slightly similar situation with my son. I agree about phoning the asthma UK nurse and then using notes from that phone call to go back to the GP. That helped us. My son improved once he went onto montelukast.

[Bettynano]

Many thanks to those of you who have replied. He is already on flixotide and montelukast. He's been seen by a consultant, last year. Since then it's mainly just the asthma nurse. I think that's why I'm so exasperated, I feel like what more can be done!? We will be phoning up tomorrow though and persisting a bit. Thanks again.

[ChrissieMons]

It may be that there is something about nursery that he doesn't like. Could he be anxious about separating from you? Is there a child there he doesn't like? I have no idea, of course, but it might be worth while speaking to staff - when your son is not there - to see if he is stressed about it. All asthma is affected by stress and childhood asthma even more so because they can't articulate their worries.

[Lysistrata Administrator Community Ambassador in reply to ChrissieMons]

Not all asthma is affected by stress, and even when it is, it isn't necessarily in the same way for everyone! I had childhood asthma (admittedly when I was slightly older than Bettynano's son) and it didn't trigger me then, nor does it now (actually if anything I find my lungs are better when I'm stressed!). Asthma is often very individual in terms of triggers and what helps, and that extends to stressful situations.

I don't deny stress can be a trigger for some asthmatics, and obviously I don't know the poster or her son - though I read the 'stressed' comment as understandably relating to being the parent of a sick child! However, it could equally be something in the environment at the nursery as others have said, or even the journey there (I find as an adult that sometimes triggers don't always have immediate effect).

I would definitely agree with calling the helpline Bettynano as it very much sounds like he isn't controlled and they need to change something. The AUK nurses are lovely and can advise further.

[peege]

I really feel for you & reading your post reminds me of the stress & sleepless night with my son many moons ago & more recently my granddaughter. Something is triggering this for him. The smallest exertion set my son off, also g'daughter - and me when young, used to cough & cough & cough - son's nights were horrendous, I used to hold him in a sitting position all night when bad.

There could be any number of things at nursery.....damp &/mould, dust, cleaning chemicals/sprays, traffic fumes on nearby street.

It's a bit of a minefield finding the triggers and a massive learning curve dealing with a child with asthma. I'm out of date on advice so I'd definitely call the helpline, I've heard that they're brilliant - 0300 222 5800 office hours.

My granddaughter was prescribed a brown preventer inhaler and a blue rescue inhaler at 3 or 4 which helped so much. Since babyhood GPs refused to diagnose her asthma but were happy enough to prescibe asthma medication. Any GP should be able to tell asthma cough from just hearing it grrrr, makes me so cross. Good luck

NB "FLIXOTIDE puffers contain a medicine called fluticasone propionate. This medicine belongs to a group of medicines known as corticosteroids, frequently called 'steroids'. They are not 'anabolic steroids' which are the steroids sometimes misused by athletes."

I wouldn't worry about your son being prescribed steroids. They'll be small amounts and are vital for getting inflammation in airways down and open enough to breath.

I'd have thought he needs a rescue inhaler (a fast acting one), flixotide is a longer acting preventer

[Bettynano in reply to peege]

Hi, many thanks for your reply. He does have ventolin, and at times it's worked, I think when there's too much inflammation the ventolin doesn't really help. I think the main reason he gets bad is when he's got a cold. It only has to be a bit of one, no temperature or anything but massively triggers his asthma. It's exactly the same with the couch, as you describe, holding him at night! It sounds like you've experienced very similar. I also think the cough is distinctive and I usually know when he's getting a flare up. We just hope it improves!

[Bettynano in reply to Bettynano]

Couch was meant to be "cough"!

[peege in reply to Bettynano]

Yes, slightest sore throat & out comes my antiseptic throat spray because it'll always travel down the tubes & become a bacterial infection (no matter that it might have been a virus to begin with). It's still the same for we 3 generations. Something I learnt via my small granddaughter's saga which I think very useful is the use of the Peak Flow Meter. Knowing your child's normal measurement & taking it regularly, when it drops from the normal its a good sign that an infection might be brewing.

Do you use a spacer for your child? Very important plus using one we get 50% more of the medication than not using one. Daisy was taught to always use the ventolin 1st to open up the airways before using the preventer