My 7.5yr old girl... could anyone give there situation of being diagnosed with Asthma or the like? I’ll try to give a brief description but it could always include longer deets! It It seems like every winter we have been at doctors. Yes yes I know common. And it seems as though it maybe gets fobbed off as a winter thing, but I'm concerned there may be more to it , as after 'winter' rolls round u think gosh is that little niggle I see happening more often? If that makes sense!! Last winter resulted in a triple 0 call and it is not my first rodeo of medical stuff, it was scary, woke in night gasping for air, ect ect. Anyway, Follow up with GP was basically she’s too old for croup? Keep prednisone on hand and call ambulance if it happens again. GP have always questioned asthma and always been given different opinion. So now,, it’s now and she has been getting a slight cough again, and saying her throat hurts but it doesn’t hurt, at times - I get it could be viral. So I just had to wake her now and move her to her bed and she started coughing. She does sometimes have a slight cough when running ect. My point it seems like a pattern of coughing/breathing at times. What is your experience with asthma ect??
9 Replies
My husband has been a severe asthmatic from a young age, younger then your daughter. He coughs, wheezes, gets a tight chest. It's actually very scary.
I'd be looking for a new doctor to be honest.
However, if you truly believe she is experiencing asthma you could always buy a puffer and a spacer and see if that helps, however def find a doctor who will listen to you
Viral induced asthma? That’s what my nephew has.
I suffered childhood asthma - allergies were a big trigger for me and cold air.
Then any cold or flu always resulted in a chest infection.
I would try to reduce environmental triggers as much as possible. Then follow up with the GP! Keep pushing. It’s a crippling not feeling like she can breath.
When she has these attacks - get her to concentrate on her out breath try to get her to make it longer than her in breath.
Also a good sign to see if your child is having trouble breathing is to watch their necks.. if there sinking in dramatically on an In breath it’s a def sign they are struggling.
Also of course listening for a wheeze.
Good luck mumma x
Yep sounds same. Could be asthma triggered by weather change, exercise or slight illness. But when you went to hospital at midnight what happened? Because the first thing they do is put the oxygen thing on her finger and its always desperately low. Im no doctor but if its not then it may not be asthma. Also with asthma, if untreated the cough continues and it escalates to an attack where she actually can't breathe. She needs ventolin and if its gone too far then thats where the prednisone comes in. If you see it escalating ( sitting still as cant breathe when moves, says words I cant breathe, cries/panics wont be alone, chest and neck are moving in a lot for each breath) I would definitely whiz her straight to Emergency - they need to see her during the episode to be able to diagnose it. I have a friend who tries desperately to keep her child out of hospital, she sees it as bad if he needs to go (as well as painful for her), but its actually worse to suffer through and not have them seen at that time - thats when the doctors need to see them to see whats going on.
Has anyone prescribed a preventer yet?
When we were in the first stages of getting my son a diagnosis, we were given a trial prescription of flixotide junior, our doctor had us come in weekly for a check up and to check his peak flow, oxygen levels etc and it was determined that the preventer was helping and necessary so he stayed on it. We then got an asthma action plan in place.
Now he's on a preventer (flixotide) he only needs his Ventolin if he's sick. Our Dr said that asthma that's under control should only require the use of Ventolin sporadically/if at all.
It did take a few doctors to get to this stage though. I had one Dr just arbitrarily throw Ventolin at us and send us on our way, another insisted it was recurring bronchitis...
I'd recommend seeing a new GP, one who specialises in children's health would be ideal.
My son has ashtma. And an inhaler. Its worse at times, fine at others... we dont really know exactly what triggers it. Sometimes excersise does, other times not. And some cold nights or early morning breeze. And definitely foggy days because moisture in the air.
We just invested in a dehumidifier for his bedroom at night. And especially in the early mornings, this has made a big difference.
Could be GERD. I have this. I thought I was going mental and ended up in emergency a few times but I was fine once there. You choke on your own stomach juices and your airways narrow which makes you wake up with a croup sounding cough. Even sucking air in makes a horrible noise, it sounds like whooping cough.
See a different doctor. My son has seasonal asthma only happens in winter. This winter compared to the last has been so much better now he uses a preventer puffer. Last year I took him to the doctor because of a persistent cough and he said he has asthma the year before that he was sent home from daycare because the owner said he had a asthma cough took him to the doctor the doctor said no so I think in hindsight the own of the Center was right it’s worth getting a second opinion
I’ve had one child with croup and another with asthma.
Croup was triggered by the change in air temp for my child (even in summer from day to night if outside). It would always then emerge at night around 2am with a tell tale croup cough that we had to use steam to help. In the end I just used a steamer every night. The cough would then hang around for days. A few times bad enough we had medicine but mostly not. This lasted until puberty, probably because was very small and only grew at puberty and now as an adult hasn’t had it again and no signs of asthma.
Asthma they can get the cough from physical exercise, hot to cold weather, cold to hot weather, with a virus or bacterial infection, if stressed. Dust, laughing too much etc. The short dry cough every now and then. Sometimes we also got croup with asthma. Asthma puffer is required, sometimes a steroid. If young maybe even a nebulizer. I found putting magnesium in the nebulizer very beneficial too. Also the steamer works at night. Some people cold dry air works better.
With Asthma watch the breathing if it’s the dreaded 2am wake up. The difference With asthma is they can’t get the breath in because they can’t get all the air out so you can see the base of neck top of chest really pulling in trying to get air. Croup didn’t do this.
Get a new doctor as mine at the time could easily tell the difference between the two.