Toddler who possibly has asthma - advice and help desperately needed.

My son is 20 months old. I was home on maternity leave with him until his 1st birthday. During that time he was only ill once with bronchitis when he was 5 months old. It was treated with antibiotics and he was fine after that.

He started nursery a week before his 1st birthday and since then he has been continually ill. He got a cold within the first couple of weeks of being at nursery. He was left with a cough that went on and on. I took him to the docs twice and both times was told it would clear up by itself. That was Sept 2009. At end of Oct 2009 he was ill with a temp and bad cough. I took him to the docs. She sent us straight to the hospital saying he had a severe chest infection. We were at the hospital 12 hours during that time they did a chest x-ray and said he had a chest infection. We were sent home with antibiotics to give to him. 2 weeks later his chest was bad again and he was wheezy. I took him back to the GP and asked if it was possible he might have asthma. She said they wouldn't diagnose him at his age and gave him more antibiotics and 3 day course of steroid tablets. That was November 2009. 3 days before xmas he became ill again with a chesty cough and wheezing. I took him to the GP again. We were sent to the hosp. At the hosp blood tests were taken, we were told he had bacterial pneumonia and he was kept in 2 nights and put on IV antibiotics. He was fine for about 1 month after that. He caught another cold in Jan, but shook it off quickly with no probs. He then caught sickness and diarrhoea bug from nursery but was fine after a couple of days. In Feb he became v ill again with bad cough and wheezing. We took him back to GP who sent us straight to the hospital. He was kept in on oxygen 6 days. The final diagnosis was parainfluenza type 3 infection. But (this is a big but!) he was discharged with inhalers to use! Plus we were put on the list for an appt with the chest specialist at the hosp. He was fine for a couple of weeks during which time we went to Tenerife for 1 wk. He was ab fine. After trip to Tenerife Daniel was back at nursery 1 wk before he went down with a cold. He seemed to shake it off ok. We were using the brown preventer inhaler throughout. He didn't get wheezy. He got yet another cold in April 2010. Again he did not get breathless or wheezy but he had tantrum, started coughin, was sick and went blue. So I called an ambulance. By the time they turned up, he was ok but they took him to hosp to get him checked out. At the hosp his blood tests showed he was suffering an infection, a chest x-ray was carried out. This showed a chest infection! They kept him in 3 nights for IV antibiotics. When he was discharged he had 24 doses of IV antibiotics for 2 more days then he was discharged with a 5 day course of oral antibiotics. The hosp said he could go back to nursery as throughout all this he was fine - playing, eating normally. Within 3 days of returning to nursery he went down with sickness and diarrhoea again!! because he was sick he lost the last 4 doses of his oral antibiotics. Within a wk he was chesty and wheezy again. Back to the docs prescribed 3 day course of steroids and 7 day course of antibiotics. The following wk we went to N Yorkshire. Daniel seemed to recover. We came back from N Yorks on 7 May and on 10th May we saw the chest specialist at the hospital. She basically said their are no underlying probs causing him to keep being ill and that he seems better with the inhalers so to carry on with the inhalers and she gave us an asthma plan for him telling me when to use the blue inhaler. Since then he had cold symptoms, I used the blue inhaler every 4 hours like the asthma plan said. His symptoms seemed to go. So I went back to just using the brown inhaler. Within a couple of days he's got cold symptoms again so yesterday I started using the blue inhaler more frequently with him. It does seem to help but how can he keep having a cold like this? I don't understand how he keeps having cold symptoms. We're not seeing the consultant again until september. I don't know if Daniel needs to see an asthma nurse. Today his dad picked him up from nursery and was told he was a bit sick there and wouldn't eat his lunch. He's also very miserable so obviously ill again. I just don't want to keep ending up at the hospital with him. Also they wont actually say he's got asthma. He doesn't get wheezy or breathless normally only when he picks up any cold or flu type illness. Running about he's fine. Does anybody else share the same problems with their toddler. I don't want to keep taking him docs only to be told his chest is clear. The week before we went to N Yorks I took him docs 3 times. The 3rd time he was wheezy and I honestly thought she would send us to the hosp. I really don't know how I should be dealing with this. Surely I shouldn't be using the blue inhaler on him every day? According to the asthma plan if it needs to be used more than 3-4 times a week he should be seeing an asthma nurse.

I'm really not sure if I'll looking after him properly or managing it properly.

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Hiya Lilacbreeze, firstly big huge hug. Your story is like steam train that just keeps going and going and going. I can't believe what you've been through. I don't know what to suggest, as your son's health sounds quite complicated. The only thing that did strike me is that you keep saying that he's getting a constant cold - my boy was exactly the same. When I asked the asthma nurse if this was what I was to expect for my boy she said absolutely not. She suggested that what he in fact had was rhinitis, not colds. And that the rhinitis was triggering his asthma constantly. When she said it, it was like a huge penny dropped in my head as when he was a little baby he had allergy testing and came up positive to dust mites. She prescribed him an antihistamine and we have never looked back - it has helped him just as much as his steroid has. It might be worth asking if he could be allergic to anything? Does his nursery keep any furry pets?

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Hi Lilacbreeze

Bless him. It sounds very complicated. I can imagine how hard it must be. I've put my mother through it for years. I have asthma and my experience might help you whatever chest problems Daniel has.

I'm no expert but I wanted to tell you how I've managed to control my asthma from a young age. I have suffered with astham since I was 2 - at least that's when I was diagnosed. I took inhalers and medicine daily. I was hosiptalised when I was a young teenager so my mother decided to try a different approach to my treatment as no amount of drugs were helping. She has since become a qualified doctor of homeopathy and I've had shiatsu, accupuncture, reflexology which have all helped to control my condition. Now I'm not saying alternative therapy is the only way to help with asthma or chest conditions but it's worth looking into. In my opinion, anti-biotics and steroids should only be used in the most extreme cases as they can wear down the immune system in the long term.

Your asthma plan is right. If you use the blue inhaler too often you should see a specialist or your GP. I've avoided taking the brown inhalers most of my life as my mother didn't want me to take steroids. When I read about other people on these discussion boards who use the steroids I think she's made the right decision. Steroids help short term but over the long term he could become dependent on them. He should be building up his own 'strength', so to speak, with a little regular exercise and good diet.

The bronchitis he had may have led to recurring chest infections but I would say that using anti-biotics all the time won't help him in the long run. Yes, if he has an infection it does need to be killed off but when he's healthy again try to build up his strength.

I would suggest, to any chronic asthmatics or people with such conditions, avoid any dairy foods, cut down on wheat and bread (wheat was imported here from the US way back when!), cut back on sugar and sugary foods & drinks, avoid processed foods with lots of E numbers or chemicals. I know it sounds challenging and might be slightly more expensive at first but by changing my diet, eating more organic foods and using organic cleaning and washing products (avoid any strong cleaning products, sprays, polish etc) my asthma so much better. I swim and run too but that might not suit you or Daniel.

Another thing that struck me about your story was that he's fine when you go away. I have allergies to dust mites, feathers, dogs, pollen... you get the picture. I have to ensure there are little or no allergens or chemicals in our flat and regularly vacuum the matress, sofa, curtains. I don't have OCD but I'm not far off!! =)

Whatever you decide to do, remember there's always an alternative and sometimes the answer isn't immediately obvious. It could be that he doesn't have asthma. I could be something else. Either way, I think some environmental and nutritional changes are worth a try. Just try cutting out the dairy stuff first. See how he gets on.

Good luck and all the best.

Damian