Asthma or Reactive Airway Disease wisdom?

[mamaspice]

We just got back from the ER... For the second time my dd got a mild-seeming cold that turned into breathing difficulties overnight... Wheezing, lethargy, low oxygen saturation, etc. She got some steroids and is feeling better, but I want to prevent this from happening regularly. Obviously we will be following up with her doc but I was curious if anyone else had experience with this? What helps you keep it under control? Thanks!

[MDever]

Do you have a nebulizer at home? There have been times where we had 3 kids on 4 treatments per day during illness. I do want to commend you on seeing signs of distress because so many people miss that.

[mamaspice]

Originally Posted by MDever Do you have a nebulizer at home? There have been times where we had 3 kids on 4 treatments per day during illness. I do want to commend you on seeing signs of distress because so many people miss that.

Yes, they sent us home with one after our visit last month but we only had a few packs of albuterol. We used it this am when we first noticed the wheezing and she wasn't improving so we went in. This time we asked for a refillable prescription so we will have it on hand.

I waited too long last time and just assumed it was a bad chest cold and she would get over it. This time we knew what to look for because we had been through it once. But it seems to come on so fast and hard and then is hard to get her back to breathing well again.

Thanks for your comments!

[MDever]

How old is she now? We try to really weigh the risk/benefit of having our children on long term medication but they are all very prone to allergies and their quality of life is impacted if they are not getting medicine. If you LO has an environmental or food allergy it can make them more prone to breathing issues.

[luvsviola]

DS is on pulmicort. He does it twice a day when he has a cold/is having issues, and once a day the rest of the time. It really helped him, but when he gets a cold, it hits him much harder than a normal kid. Colds have him on albuterol a couple times a day.

Colds plus asthma equal miserable kiddo.

The benefit of pulmicort is that it works differently than many other steroids. It tends to stay mostly in the lungs, and is less absorbed by the body than many other asthma steroids. Our pulminologist uses it for little kids because you get a lot less of the side effects.

[mamaspice]

Originally Posted by MDever How old is she now? We try to really weigh the risk/benefit of having our children on long term medication but they are all very prone to allergies and their quality of life is impacted if they are not getting medicine. If you LO has an environmental or food allergy it can make them more prone to breathing issues.

16 months. She has some food allergies and we are waiting on testing for those. Just seems to be a sensitive kiddo. Are yours on oral meds or just the nebulizer?

[mamaspice]

Originally Posted by luvsviola DS is on pulmicort. He does it twice a day when he has a cold/is having issues, and once a day the rest of the time. It really helped him, but when he gets a cold, it hits him much harder than a normal kid. Colds have him on albuterol a couple times a day. Colds plus asthma equal miserable kiddo. The benefit of pulmicort is that it works differently than many other steroids. It tends to stay mostly in the lungs, and is less absorbed by the body than many other asthma steroids. Our pulminologist uses it for little kids because you get a lot less of the side effects.

Good to know, thanks! I will keep this in mind if we need to do regular medication at some point.

[Suzi]

Make sure you get all the med out of he neb. Use a mask so she breathes in more of it. If you do need pulmicort and albuterol use the albuterol first.

If it persists spend $50 and get a pulse oximeter to check her o2 on her toe or finger.

My sons ended up being reflux related. After 1.5 years of hospitalizations, pneumonia, oxygen therapy, any thousands in meds the kiddo needed a little Pepcid and he got all better. No breathing problems for 6 years now

[milosmama]

We use the nebulizer w/ albuterol at almost any sign of chest congestion/cold. I have found that I need to be pro-active w/ my son when he has a cold. Any wheezing at all and we are on 2 treatments a day. We also use budesonide once a day in conjunction w/ the albuterol. It is supposed to help maintain overall lung health and encourage healthy lungs to manage asthma. My son is also on singulair daily to deal w/ minor allergies and asthma. I tend to be a minimilistic mom when it comes to medicine, but after a few colds ending up in neumonia and bacterial infections, I don't mess around!

[LittleThingsMama638]

Ds gets like this with colds. When I notice it isn't a typical cold cough I put him on two albuterol treatments a day until he is noticeably better. Usually if we can get him on the treatments early we only need a couple days of it.