My son is 8 in 6 days and is having a really bad episode with his asthma

My son was born with asthma dn it took him spending most of his first 18 months of life in hospital for us to be given a diagnoses of asthma. He is 8 in 6 days time and at the moment we are on our 3rd month of seretide which took us over a year to get as my GP was being very funny about changing and adding another inhaler because he hasn't seen my osn have an asthma attack for quite a while. Well we ar egoing back to the doctors again with a bad episode of the asthma dn I don't know how much my poor boy can take. He is at present taking 400mg Salbutamol, 200mg Becotide and 50mg Sevent which is double his prescibed dose due to the way his asthma has been. I thought he might of been coming down with a virus which is why he is on double doses at the moment but other than complaining about ear-ache last ngiht doesn't have any virus. His asthma has go that bad that I wrote a letter to school this morning informing them that until further notice my son IS NOT to do P.E or any other pysical activity as it is asperating his asthma more and we need ot get it back under control again. The doctors plan was to take the servent away fro mhim thsi month but I am certain this is going ot be a bad idea. He is wakin gin the night and requireing his inhaler in the night, is having to use his blue inhaler 5-7 times dueing the day even if all he is doing is sitting down which is not him at all but that is all he has the energy to do at the moment. I have been battling with my GP since he wa sbaby to get him refered to a respirtapry specialist as I strongly feel this is the best option fo rhim instead of me taking up half an hour every 4 weeks witht he practice nurse and taking up half an hour at least another 1-2 times in those 4 weeks with the doctor because of how buddies asthma is. I have also been trying to get permissiomn to buy a nebuliser instead of me having ot take him to the hospital or doctors at least once a week to be nebulisered. School are being OK with the asthma dn his class teacher is amazing. Everyday she asks how he has been over-ngith and weither there are any changers to the asthma plan for today. Do you think I should findout if I can do a self referal to the respiratory specialist or just continue the battle with the GP. My son is embarred that he asthma to the point where he know has developed a fear of having to ask for his inhalers in school. He is not the only child in his class with asthma but he is the only one who is having ot use his treatment a lot. I personally feel almost 8 years of suffering is long enough and something needs to be done so that he can start having a happy, normal child-hood. He only has 1 firends house I can allow him ot go to and that is only because the parent of the friend used to be a nurse and her daughter who is oin my son's class is also asthmatic so knows what to do and what to look out for.

Thank you for reading and I look forward to getting to know other parents that in the same boat or that have children with asthma

[Hidden]

Hope he still has a happy birthday

I think you definately should ask for a referral. Gp's can be great but they aren't specialists and it sounds like your son needs to be assessed by a specialist. Its good that his school is supportive because so often they aren't.

My little one is 7 and has brittle asthma. It can be a scary and lonely place when your child is struggling to breathe.

Take care of yourself too and fight for that referral.

Margot x.

[Hidden]

hi

I dont know why, they make you wait for years to see a specialist. My son was referred to one while he was in A & E after having an asthma attack, but he had been in hospital many times before with asthma attacks.

It is a strange system. My son was only four month old when he was diagnosed with chronic asthma. And yet I seem to hear all the time that doctors will not say to most parents that their child has asthma until the child is about 18 months old. Crazy!

Anyway hope you get sorted out, and your sons asthma settles down.

Take care

Shelly

[Hidden]

Thank you both for your replies. It really helps know I am not alone. Sometimes I feel like I am a bad mother for having given my son asthma as he inherited from me. And it always seems to be the first born that has cronic asthma. He has a doctors appointment for Friday under the doctors orders as I had an appointment today and found out I have a terrible chest infection and broncilitis and thsi is what the doctor thinks Ryan might have. I am not convinced as yet he has a chest infection as his asthma only seems tohave got worse these past few days again because it is so cold. Today we have had snow. Silly question but how many of you have been told to claim DLA for your child? I was todl to claim DLA by my GP I pu tin the claim and got refused even though Ryan needs a lot of care when in an attack. Apparently he doesn't require more care than a child of the same age who does not have asthma. I protested against the dieccion but still got refused.

[Hidden]

Hi again

If I was you I would put back in for DLA. I was refused at first but kept on trying to get it, because looking after a child with asthma is hard and tiring work.

Get advice from someone like the citizens advice people. They will help you fill in the forms. I joined a local parent carer group, see if there is one in your area, they could help you with all issues of looking after a child with medical problems. Don't be ashamed of asking for help, after struggling for years alone, I found it helped a great deal to talk to other mothers with similar problems.

Because most people do not understand, what we as parents go through each day, to try and keep our asthmatic children, healthy and happy. It is ""hard work""

hope this helps

Shelly

[Hidden]

Thank you so mucj Shell. I am going to be ringing the doctors tomorrow to get Ryan's monthly review brought forward. He has developed the same cough as I have had know for 2 days so it look slike he might also have a chest infection. But if he wake in the morning the way I woke this worning then I am not sending him to school instead I will be taking him to A&E. I am not goin got let him get as bad as I have to the point where th einfection has spread to the bronculs. Will sort out getting another form for DLA it is so hard and expensive. I have had to buy him hypo-allergenic mattress, pillow and quilt cover and to make sure I don't have a problem on wash days I have 3 of them. 1 on the bed, 1 drying and 1 washing. I dry steam clean his bed every Saturday and wash his bed-room down every saturday aswell with warm water, lemon juice and bi-carb soda. I can't even us chemical cleaners in the house and I have just had to spend out almost £300 ponds on a new dyson as the old one blow up and had just ran out on the guarentee. But then it was 10 years old and is used twice a day. Dust is one of both mine and Ryan's triggers but environmental is the worst trigger.

[Hidden]

I am so not happy at the moment. Ryan was at the doctors Friday and he has been put on yet another course of anti-bios but this time instead of the normal child dose of 5mls of 125mg amoxocillin he has been put on 7.5mls 250mg because he has yet another chest infection and the doctor refused to put him on preds as he feels that wont do anything because fo the amount of steriods Ryan already gets throughhis inhalers. He has chnaged hsi inahlers again. He used to be 200mg Salbutamol twice a day, at least 10 mins before PE, Swimming, Dance and Football and as required, and then 10 mins after the twice a day 200mg becotide and 25mg Serevent he is know on 400mg Salbutamol administored same as old dose and then in the morning 400mg becotide, 50mg serevent and at night 200 becotide and 50mg serevent and this si for the next month and on Monday we should get a delivary of a portable neb that we have hired from the hospital and he then wants him to take 1.25ml of salbutamol nebuls 3 times a day until he sees him next. If this works then we will get refered to a specialist finally and will we are waiting fo rthe specialist to send an appointment he is going ot drop the neb but still give him the nebuls to take as and when he needs them in the future. Why can't doctors just decided on a treatment plan and stick to it I don't knoiw I am sick and tired of my son being messed about but I guess doc is only doin gwhat he feels is best for Ryan. The poor lad is only 8 and feels likea grandad already. His words not mine he has to stop and rest half way up the stairs as he can't breathe poor kid has had a horrid half term holiday the only good thing to happen was he was bale to enjoy his birthday and spend sometime with his grandad and grandma before they had to go back home