Potentional Asthma/Ventolin Trial Started 13 1/2 month old
DD has had this persistent cough, residual from 3 bouts of croup and 2 bouts of bronchiolitis, we saw two different Dr's last week to make sure that it was nothing contagious, or either of the above again.
Yesterday I received a call from Daycare, they told me that DD woke up Wheezing and had coughing fits, where she stopped breathing and when she restarted she struggled to get going again, and became quite distressed. They calmed her down and said I didn't need to pick her up it was just a courtasy call.
So I called the Dr's and got her in 1 hour later. Picked her up, got into the Dr's and broke down in tears - had a bit of a bad day, was very tired from our trip and just completely over DD not having a break, it is just not fair.
The Dr looked at her full history (Mild Lung Disease at birth due to prematurity, croup, brochiolitis, two requiring hospital visits), listened to her chest and her nasty sounding cough watched her breathing, she was labouring and had a significant wheeze. He discussed asthma, and said that she was a high risk of getting it due to her list of respiratory infections over the past couple of months. There are two treatment options ventolin and/or oxygen.
We are now starting a trial starting with Ventolin. It is a 50:50 chance that this will work or not, as she may not have developed the muscles enough for ventolin to actually relax the airways and open them up.
She is starting on 4 puffs, four times a day, and overnight if required. We are doing this for a week and then reviewing how she has/has not recovered.
I am hopeful that the ventolin works as I am not sure what would happen if we had to look at introducing oxygen to aid the recovery. I know she is working hard with her breathing and it hurts to see her struggle again, I wish it wasn't so hard sometimes.
I guess we just want some answers and for DD to be able to enjoy life and spend time with her friends without being constantly sick and having to miss out.
Hope this next week flies by with some good news at the end
Has anyone else trialed ventolin this early, what happened and what was the next step? We are hoping that it does the job and then we can reduce the dosages.
TIA for any information/experience anyone can give us.
Big hugs to you hun, I know how worrying it is for you and how distressing it is for your DD. My DD is an asthmatic but never started on ventolin until she was 3. She also had bronchiolitis at 6wks, 3mths & 6mths and was hospitalized each time. I really hope the ventolin works for her and eases her troubles with breathing. Wishing you all the best.
My DD also has a history of respiratory distress and infections and has been trialed twice on ventolin, my DD is constantly stopping breathing in her sleep and waking up gasping and screaming, having coughing fits then screaming in distress, bringing up her milk due to coughing/phlem just sitting and irritating her, it just doesn't seem to stop.
The ventolin did seem to help, it helped her keep her milk down and helped with the coughing, I think in our situation it goes a bit deeper though, we are actually off to see her respiratory specialist today at the childrens, I am hoping to get some answers.
I know this isn't of much assistance to you. Just wanted to offer a as I know how hard it can be.
Thankyou diannescruffy, for you and your little girl, that ouwld have been very stressful especially when she was so little, ours started when DD wad 8 months old.
DD, thank you for your post, I understand the breahting probs and the screaming that follows and how distressed they get. Is she still of ventolin? Did it reduce the wheezing/coughing much?
I hope your appointment at the children's goes well today and that you get some answers.
DD1 had reoccuring bouts of brochiolitis, I spent many night ssitting up with her so she could breath and to keep her calm. At 12 months she had two lots of redipred before finally going onto ventolin probably about 13 months too.
She was on 2 puffs twice a day for three months and had also treatment dose if she had an attack. We worked out that her teething was a trigger, something outside would trigger an attack later that night. She was lactose intolerant and having too much dairy also seemed to have an effect on her breathing.
After about 6 months she went onto one puff twice a day for a month after a bout of bronchiolitis and now she rarely needs it.
She has only one molar yet to come through and can have dairy foods too so I will wait and see what happens in spring to see if playing outside still sets off an attack.
Good luck Beema, will keeps my fingers crossed for you that it works.
I personally could not hear the wheezing but the doctors could so I cannot comment on that .
However it definatly did help with her coughing, she seems to be worse when she is asleep and was having coughing fits constantly waking her up in distress, now she may have a cough here and there but usually not enough to wake her anymore.
I am down to just 2 pumps before bed at night as I think she is finally over this chest infection.
She still seems that she is shallow breathing and stopping her breathing which seems unrelated to the need of ventolin, I am going to request a sleep study to determine what is happening with this side of things.
Both DS1 (6) and DS2 (nearly 4) have asthma. DS2 was diagnosed at 13 months, he has had four doses of steroids so far this year. He was on ventolin from 13 months, fairly regularly. Fortunately the doctors and I have been able to identify what sets off his asthma (illness, certain pollens, hayfever etc). He is fairly easy to manage now that we have identified what the general causes are. He was a full termer, but has had 4 bouts of croup in his little life! He doesn't have an audible wheeze when he has asthma.
DS1 gets asthma associated with chest infections and bronchiolitis - he was also 6w prem, had pneumonia at 8 months and was hospitalised. He regularly gets bronchiolitis, and has an audible wheeze associated with asthma.
So each child is different - I'm also an asthmatic, so know how to administer the medication and what to look out for.
Now just to convince XH that he should abide by the doctor's recommendations and give ventolin when the doctor prescribes it - not just when XH thinks he might need it... Why would you follow a doctor's orders when you used to be a nurse??!?!?!?
Potentional Asthma/Ventolin Trial Started 13 1/2 month old
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