3 year old undiagnosed

[Oliversmummy]

Hi everyone,

I am new here and was just looking for a little bit of advice for my son. Two weeks ago he woke up with a runny/blocked nose and a cough. 24 hours later he was admitted to hospital with what they are calling a wheezing episode as he is not diagnosed with asthma although he has been on a blue inhaler for the last 6 months. He had to be put on nebs and steroids and would hold his oxygen levels while sleeping. The hospital told us it would happen again.

He has been all blocked up with running nose and coughing just like before since last night and I am wondering if anyone else would say this is a sign of an attack coming on. I have asthma my self but have only ever once had an attack come out of no where so not really sure what the signs would be for them.

Any advice would be greatly received as he is so little and I just wanna keep a close eye on him

Thanks

Becky

[Minushabens]

Hi Becky

Colds & runny noses are a very common trigger for asthma but not particularly a symptom as such. Many of us find that when we get a cold it "gets on our chest" so I'd say 100% yes, keep a close eye on him, but the medication he is on may now stop that chain of events this time around. It can be incredibly difficult to tell what is just a normal childhood cough & what is something slightly more problematic but hopefully if you have a good relationship with a nurse/GP or other health bod they can help you to build up the experience you need to know what to do & when.

Obviously though if you become alarmed at his condition call for help straight away, including 999 if necessary. My experience of managing a very poorly toddler (now 21!) was that they were generally happy to err on the side of caution if we said we were worried.

I'm sure he will be up & about & keeping you on your toes before long

[Oliversmummy in reply to Minushabens]

Thank you so much for you reply. It's really interesting and really helped! Will Def be keeping a close eye on him for the min. He got a temp and things this time as well so will be keeping him close

[Minushabens in reply to Oliversmummy]

Good luck & let us know how it goes.

I was a badly asthmatic tot in my time & brought up my own little wheezer, as did a lot of others on here so even if we can't make him better we know what you're going through!

[Happychicken]

Hi Oliversmummy,

I have a daughter who was 3 in December.... She has recently been diagnosed with asthma.

Every time she has a cold it goes to her chest.... Sometimes she is worse than other times.

I usually monitor her symptoms closely each time and up the blue inhaler to 2-4 puffs every couple of hours.

If she is feverish, really wheezy and coughing a lot and the meds aren't working well then I go to the GP who will always see her same day in the morning.

If you have any concerns or just want to get him checked then just ring the GP. As he has been to hospital before then he will be a priority.

My daughter is now on the brown inhaler twice a day and the exacerbations are few and far between now.

It maybe worth going to the asthma nurse until you are really happy that you know the signs/symptoms and his management plan to make you more in control,

Regards,

HC

PS...make sure you have a thermometer and a peadeatric SATs monitor to check oxygen levels(if these are low then a+e is advised as first place of call)