My 4 year old seems to get really "grunty" sounding, like she breathes in just fine but make lots of loud "ahhhhh" sounds breathing out and the Dr. says its asthma. Apparently she does sound wheezy when they listen to her chest, but I didn't hear any wheezyness (unless I'm just not used to listening to it?)We have the puffers etc and have been referred to an asthma specialist which is 2 weeks away yet (for both girls). BUT I have sooo many questions... Is what I just discribed what you would say is the beginning of asthma? Just "her" way of being asthmatic? Any insight in this would be greatly appreciated.

ALSO, my 9 year old has asthma. Also didn't hear much wheezing either. What alerted me was that she couldn't put two words together without her running out of breath and she was breathing VERY shallow and fast. This episode seemed to come literally out of no where other then that she did have a bad cold and had been coughing up muscusy stuff. So we now have her on the puffers but this cold that she has just does NOT want to go away. She does still cough alot. Now she says her chest and back hurts when she breathes. I'm having a hard time determining if this is "just" muscle pain from all the coughing or something that should be looked into? She doesn't have a fever. She has plenty of energy to play, etc, Her coughing is not getting worse. She is not coughing "stuff" up as much as before. She is able to sleep without being woken up from her coughing during the nighttime.

I have had asthma since birth now 57 yrs. old. Everything said sounds exactly like asthma. There is always a possibility of a form of contamination in the air where you live and they a sensitive to it where as you are not. You do need to check this out as planned . It is the best thing to do!!!!

Everything you have described does sound like Asthma to me. For me when I am having an attack I feel as if I can breath in fine but have problems breathing out. Sometimes you cannot hear the weezing but the doctor can with his/her equipment. I would bet if you had them breathe in and then blow out (from deep in their lungs) really hard you would hear a weeze.
What people do not realize is that Asthma causes you to have a lower immune system and it takes so much longer to get over a cold or sinus infection etc. Having asthma also makes you so tired because you are not getting in enough oxygen to function fully. When i have a cold it almost always causes my Asthma to flare up and it does hurt in my back (where the lungs are).
Hopefully the doc will be able to get them both on some prevenative medications that will help get them under control.

best wishes,
Amanda

Sorry it took me a while to get back here (flu x 6 people in our household! -- says it all, hey?). I really appreciate the responses. I am relieved to hear that this does all fit with asthma. We did see the asthma specialist since I wrote this but they were so busy asking the questions that I forgot what I was going to ask them (hate when that happens).

It turns out the my oldest DD did have a chest infection (therefore the sore chest and back).

We are going to have an allergy test for her at the end of the month as well.

My hubby's brother just did an air quality test for our house. (he does this at his work and insisted we get this done) We will get these results some time this week.

I find it VERY interesting that you mentioned the lowered immune system. That is SOOO true especially for our oldest DD. We always say the she "gets sick the most and stays sick the longest". It's like you just gave me the missing puzzle piece! YES. It totally makes sense now.

Hi,

So how did the air quality test go?

Let us know!

This is slightly off topic,consider buying air filter for your household. If you own a house get an electrostatic unit for your furnace,or a stand alone airfilter with ionizer.
Consider the asthma and also the flu season that comes every year,and then the other thought is all the smoke etc while cooking in the kitchen. A small investment in making breathing easier for everyone while reducing unplesant odors in your home.Price range is about $30-$150 for portable,For furnace unknown?

Consider an air filter for furnace[if you own your house]or portable unit regardless of the air quality test results. Asthma,flu season,cooking odors ,smoke form kitchen etc. either the electrostatic or portable with ionizer will cut down germs in the air and keep dust and smoke etc down to breathable levels.portable models are about $30-150.
Sorry had problem with posting,website had a problem! :confused: :confused:

Do your daughters eat/drink a lot of dairy products?