Hi. Has anyone any advice or had similar problem. Long story short my 7yr old daughter is pretty much using her blue inhaler after lunch & afternoon break. She seems to be having at least 4 puffs a day at school. Her asthma nurse did put her on montelukast to see if that helped & am due to go back in a couple of weeks (she is away until then) but today got pulled aside by her teacher who said he thinks it's a habit now as doesn't actually show any signs of distress when saying she needs it.
I'm at a loss as to what to do. No amount of me talking to her about it is making a difference. The school policy is that they must always let a child have their pump if asked regardless if they seem to need it or not (which I understand and agree with) & im not with her at school to say no. Her teacher and teaching assistant themselves don't seem to be that knowledgeable when it comes to asthma as it was me who had to initially go to them about how many times she was having it & now it has snowballed into pretty much every day. I know it's not good for her to be taking it so much when not truly needed.
Just wanted to add she never needed it once during the recent half term. Any help really appreciated
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Flowergirl78
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Difficult! I am no expert at this, but I would get her properly assessed. It sounds as if you are already doing that. A person, a teacher, looking at her from the outside, won’t necessarily know how she feels on the inside, ie is she feeling a sense of tightening, but not yet in distress? But as said to someone else on here, salbutamol inhalers used more than three times per week suggests something else needed. It sounds as if you are doing the right thing, getting her assessed. Could someone talk to her how she feels when she asks for her inhaler?
I think it is very easy to take the blue inhaler as a kind of panacea. If you are tired/fed up/less than 100% you think the salbutamol will cure it - and to a certain extent, it does help, but long term, it doesn't. She is perhaps psychologially dependent, not on the drug itself, but on the habit, as her teacher says.
You will need to have a very positive talk to her about how well she is really and anything that is bothering her as some children overuse the inhaler as an attention seeking device. If you think she won't listen to you, have a chat to your asthma nurse or the GP, or even an adult you know who has asthma and understands what is going on here if you think they might be able to help her lessen her dependence on it. I don't know anything about you and your daughter, of course, but I do know I was wedded to mine as a child.
Good luck
Hi Flowergirl78
I asked the nurse team here at Asthma UK your query and Mickey says to reassure you that it is best to air on the side of caution and let your daughter have her reliever when she needs they are small doses and have an asthma review with her asthma nurses to work out what’s what it maybe there is a trigger at school or it could be she is stressed at school. Obviously if she is needing it 4 times a day, that is a red flag.
Do come back to us again when things are clearer and you can give the nurse team a call on 0300 222 5800 (M-F, 9-5) There are some links that might be useful: bit.ly/2tapmCV
You say your daughter does not require anything like the dosage while at home than she does at school. This rather indicates the problem may not be strictly asthma related. Perhaps the cause of your daughter’s overuse of her inhaler could reflect problems for example being bullied or constantly teased, or even used as a deterrent to bullying. Although bullying is stressful and could cause asthma flare-up’s. It may even be as simple as attention seeking.
Try having a quiet chat (last thing at night when she’s in bed and feeling safe is a good time) and gently approach the reason of the excessive inhaler use. Checking with the school to see if they have a bullying problem, or if she’s struggling with certain lessons would be worthwhile.
Getting her to ‘open up’ may not be easy, but what you have said does rather point to an underlying emotional problem. Best of luck.
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