3yr old with asthma

hi, I am new here. Just wondering if anyone had any advice regarding my 3 year old son who has been diagnosed with asthma. He was using pulmicort since last year but this week his asthma has got really bad and now he is on ventolin inhaler. The docs have been quite useless and when I visit they tell me he has a throat infection but why would this set the asthma off. I havent been told how many puffs of ventolin I can give him but for the past 3 days he has had 8 puffs a day and still he has a constant cough which is making him sick. Just hoping someone has any ideas??? Thanks

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Hi CeeCee,

Welcome, and sorry to hear your son's having a rough time. The infection like so many will agree that these are probably the most common trigger this time of the year, so it's difficult for kids as they tend to attract every bug and infection around, so you need to be aware of how your son is and relate to his changing symptoms, this takes time to become familiar with this sometimes subtle change early on. When he's not well with his asthma, the action plan drawn up in consultation with your health care provider will give clear instructions, and usually involves increasing the inhaled steroid dose for a period of time, or maybe go see them for further assessment. you can get one to fill in here tinyurl.com/y89wsb9

Ventolin will do nothing to help clear up the infection, and will only help him breath easier if that is his current symptoms. Dosing should have been explained to you. Best thing is to go back, get your GP to explain how many puffs a day, and don't leave until they've answered your questions in a way that you can understand and are comfortable with in treating your son. Another good point of reference is the nurses here at AUK, the numbers at the top of the screen.

This may also be worth reading at the same time.

tinyurl.com/y8lvxjz

tinyurl.com/y8cebkw

tinyurl.com/ydeechr

Chris