Asthma

My son is on an asthma plan which is basically use 4 puff of ventolin when he starts wheezing. Most of the time we've never had any trouble but this winter has been just awful.

No amount of honey, warm drinks has helped the night time cough - I've booked another appointment with the paediatrican tomorrow.

I'm looking for any advice from other mothers who have children with asthma and the cough that flares up at night. Propping his pillow up hasn't worked, and eucalyptus oil in hot water in his room has helped a little. Its so scary :(

It sounds like he could use a preventer as well as the ventolin.

Maybe there could be something in his bedding which sets him off too. Just a thought.

My DD is an asthmatic and I took her to our GP today because she's been couphing for 3 days now and she's got a chest infection. GP said I could give her ventolin every 2hrs and her preventor twice daily. I find a vapouriser helps a little but it is very scary. Wishing you all the best.

Regards,
Dianne

My DD has recently been put on ventolin as a preventative but the doctor said that asthma doesn't get diagnosed generally until after the age of 2. My DD is 16 months. She had bronciolitis last winter and again this winter, although seems to have gotten over it quicker this winter, probably because she's older. She only needs to have the ventolin when she's got a cough though.

Yeah my son is 6yo - he was diagnosed 3 years ago but this has been the worst winter ever :( I have the flixotide and he was on that preventer with his previous paediatrician (he passed away which is why I'm seeing this new guy) but this doc didn't. Thanks for the well wishes.

I've only just washed his bedding two days ago - he has a stuffed giraffe (which is old as old not to mention anorexic) that he loves to keep with him at night, I'll give that a good soak in hot water.

start the preventer up again.

THat's what I would do.

Do you have a nebuliser? if not hire or invest in one, they work much better than puffers and are especially good for nights.

I grew up with severe asthma, I was in hospital at least monthly and no day would pass without me using my puffer or neb 10 times... so I know what it's like :(

No advice, just wanted to say I hear ya! I had DS at the children's hospital on Friday after a dose of croup, which turned into a terrible cough and an all day, all night wheeze. He has also been put onto ventolin- although the Dr called it a 'viral induced wheeze' as like someone else said, they generally won't diagnose asthma under 2. He seems to be on the mend (touch wood) and has only needed ventolin once today and I will give him some more before bed, because that is when coughing is worse.

I changed his bedding, put vicks on his feet and chest and probably fed him close to two litres of warm soup, hot chocolate, and honey and water. He got a good sleep last night, thank goodness - my appointment is in a little while. I'm going to speak to him about putting him on the preventer. I'm so sick of all these drugs for this little boy, I'm too afraid to think of what sort of impact it will have on his health down the track.

I don't have a nebuliser but I'm going to speak to the doctor about that - I'll be going to Singapore (its a full day stopover) and then to Turkey in two weeks, so I'm more than a little concerned about asthma, swine flu and humidity.

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I'm looking for any advice from other mothers who have children with asthma and the cough that flares up at night. Propping his pillow up hasn't worked, and eucalyptus oil in hot water in his room has helped a little. Its so scary :(

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Yes, it can be quite scary. Some of the posters here have touched on some good points RE starting up some kind of preventer. I think that would be a good idea.

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My DD has recently been put on ventolin as a preventative but the doctor said that asthma doesn't get diagnosed generally until after the age of 2.

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This is true, we don't diagnose asthma until after 2, for reasons I go into further below. One point, though - ventolin should not be used regularly as a preventer. It should be used as a reliever during an acute attack only. If you are needing to use ventolin regularly because of asthma symptoms, then your asthma management plan needs to be changed and a preventer added. Regular use of ventolin can relieve acute symptoms, but there is research that suggests that it also predisposes the airways to hypersensitivity - so the more you use it to relieve asthma, the more likely you are to have attacks.

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Do you have a nebuliser? if not hire or invest in one, they work much better than puffers and are especially good for nights.

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I respectfully disagree with the above. Nebulisers have gone out of fashion because they are noisy, expensive, and have been shown to be no more effective than a puffer as long as the puffer is used correctly. This means using a spacer and learning the proper technique to give puffers. Your doctor or nurse can teach that to you.

A lot of problems with asthma come down to ineffective techniques when using puffers, which means that children don't receive their full dose of medication.

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He has also been put onto ventolin- although the Dr called it a 'viral induced wheeze' as like someone else said, they generally won't diagnose asthma under 2.

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This is the crux of the problem with diagnosing asthma under the age of 2. Under-2-year-olds have a high airway sensitivity to viral infection - this means they tend to have a much more signficant reaction in their airways than older children or adults. This, combined with their anatomically narrower airways, means that they will often have asthma symptoms associated with coughs and colds. "True" asthma - a hypersensitivity of the airways in response to infection or inflammtion - can only be diagnosed after the age of 2, when this viral-induced hypersensitivity starts to wear off in children, but remains present in children who have asthma. The difficult thing is that lots of children by this stage are already being treated with asthma medications, so the parents - and many health professionals - simply consider them "asthmatic". Asthma is what we call a spectrum disorder - it's something that most people have some degree of, but we only really need to treat in severe cases, and it can wax and wane throughout life. I was considered athmatic as a child, and even had a management plan with preventers, etc., but as an adult, I have never had an attack.

Anyway, consider adding the preventer, and if it any comfort, it may cease to be such a problem as your DS gets older.

Hi Michael, thanks so much for your reply, I appreciate it.

Well as for an update, the doctor put him on the preventer - I don't know *what* is in this drug but it has seriously given my DS some rest for the coughing which had made him tired, I can't believe how quick it has worked too. Just the one puff.....

I also asked him about the nebuliser, he said the same thing as you - there is no need for it if you're using the spacer correctly. He also suggested getting some face masks when we travel soon and making sure I have the medication with me in our carry-on luggage.

my older does has asthma she only had it for about 6 months so its all new too me she on 2 puffers and the machine at nights she just turn 7yrs i have to keep a eye on her cause her lungs not very strong at the moment and if she gets croup they put her in hosptail all the time i hate kids when they get sick

I know how scary it is. I wasn't too worried at first but he had this wheezy cough, and when that happened, even my daughter looked at him and said, that's a bad cough you've got.

well living my WHOLE life with ashtma my respiratory specialist called the docs who say nebulisers don't work a pack of idiots ;)

As someone who has used a spacer and a neb my WHOLE life, the neb works better here and noone can fault my spacer use :)

Even thinking about it, I don't see how 4 puffs through a spacer, when your chest is so tight you CANT get air to the bottom is supposed to be better than 5 minutes prolonged dose which by half way through your chest has opened up substancially and the medication can make it's way to the bottom of the lungs.

I got my neb for $100 so they aren't that expensive if you look around. The spacer cost me $25 and god knows how many times I've lost it.

DH has a nebuliser and uses it when he is really bad and DD also. Just last week they both had a chest infection and our GP put DH straight onto the nebuliser for 10 min. DH would be lost without it.

Regards,
Dianne