daughter with atypical asthma?

Can anyone relate please? My 16 year old daughter was diagnosed with asthma at 6 months old after a bad case of chicken pox. Her doctor at the time said she may have internal spots and scarring on the lungs (does this sound right?) Her symptoms became worse as she got older, and she has been under consultant care for several years. She is on montelukast, fairly high doses of fluticasone plus seretide, and has 2 to 6 episodes per year where she is treated for a chest infection. Now, her new GP who has a special interest in asthma has said that she may be over medicated and have atypical asthma. She has never had an asthma attack, is not allergic to anything we know of, but her peak flow drops dramatically when she has a cold, and exercise induces tight chestedness/shortness of breath/coughing. She is wheezy and feels she needs ventolin in the morning, before and after exercise, and montelukast revolutionised her life. Her new GP wants my daughter to decrease meds, stop taking ventolin first thing in the morning, and hopes to stop montelukast. I almost feel as though she is not being believed, and since stopping morning ventolin she has felt very wheezy and uncomfortable till the seretide kicks in. The trouble is that when my daughter was examined recently, what she described as wheezing the GP said wasn't at all, and we are both very confused. Could she actually have something else entirely?

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Hi Woppit,

No wonder you're confused! Is your daughter still under a consultant? If so it seems a bit odd for the GP to be doing all this - and as for stopping montelukast, why if it's been so helpful? I feel pretty strongly about this as montelukast made a big difference to my life as well and I know if I stopped taking it I'd slide right back down. Even if she is atypical (like me) this doesn't mean she doesn't need meds, and I can't see what stopping the Ventolin is going to do if she finds it helps - her reaction just suggests if anything that she's not on enough preventer!

Perhaps you could go back to the GP with your daughter and explain that stopping the Ventolin has not helped at all and perhaps they could rethink, but not reduce, the meds? If you get no joy out of this GP I would try another one in the practice, even if this one is the 'asthma' GP. I don't see the 'asthma' one in mine as I prefer the one I do see - he's really good, always listens to me and thinks outside the box, which to me is more important (and actually he has experience of asthma, at least my sort, anyway as he has an interest in sports medicine - is there a dr like that at the practice as they can be good with EIA?)

Sorry for ramble, hope this helps! Also re wheezing - did GP say what it was if not a wheeze? I make strange noises at night which I find hard to describe to drs, but even if she doesn't wheeze at all it doesn't mean no asthma. Did GP listen to her chest or just go on description? Of course, she might not have been wheezing at the time even if s/he did listen.

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If your daughter is still under consultant care stick with them as they are the experts and if she has been fine with what she is on. Nor sure why gp is involved? Stick to what you know for 2 weeks and if she back to normal deck with that and tell your gp of what is happening.

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Also must stress that you do not need to have a wheeze to have asthma it is my pet hate when ignorant gp's say that!! If she has been under consultant care for so long stick with their knowlege and not a new go who is eager to try and make a difference but might actually hinder your daughter