School

[Emily-G]

Hi

My wee boy is 7 and he is struggling with hay fever and asthma most days at the moment. In the last fortnight he has been sent home from school 4 times due to his asthma flaring up. His teacher and Headteacher are lovely and really look after him. My husband is worried about how much time he is missing.

Does anyone have any advice to make this time of year easier for him? Any thoughts about how much time off is ok for asthma?

Thanks in advance

Emily

[Minushabens]

Hi Emily

Obviously you want to minimise the time off he has from school so the priority really is to try & find a treatment regime that works for him. You don't say what medication he is currently on but as a general (and this is absolutely general as every asthmatic is different), he ought to have a 'preventer' inhaler (often brown) taken once or twice a day, a reliever (often blue) to ease symptoms as they develop & possibly other medication, including antihistamines by the sound of it.

It's also important to be 100% sure that you & he know exactly how to take it. I see many children in primary schools taking inhalers entirely the wrong way so whilst I'm not making any presumptions, make sure you are totally certain that every dose of every medicine is being taken correctly.

If you have all that covered then I think the next step would be to book a session with the asthma nurse at your surgery (assuming there is one!). S/he can try different medication & different strategies for managing his health.

I hope that helps a bit & that he soon gets back to good health.

[ChrissieMons]

Obviously all the medical advice you have received here and from your GP and asthma nurse is relevant, but I wonder if there is anything troubling your boy to make him want to avoid school. I think you have to keep an open mind about the school - there may be nothing wrong, but he may be being bullied or under pressure for some reason. Children will usually deny there is anything wrong, so you have to talk to the class teacher, to other parents - may be their child has said something - and get a feel for how things are. Is he more likely to confide in, say a grandparent or auntie? Head teachers are keen to help children and may be able to fix it once they know what it is.

Best of luck.