Hi,
Our 4 1/2 yr. old great granddaughter has bad asthma, the kind she won't outgrow. She sees a pediatric pulmonologist and since Jan. has had to be on Prednisone 7 times for bad attacks. He's concerned about her being on that drug so often due to the effect of long term treatment. He said it could affect the kidneys, liver, bones and the immune system over a long period. He is going to do a bronchoscopy this week to check her lungs for bacterial infection. Her chest x ray shows a 'little fluid' in one lung. We're quite concerned and wonder if others here have had a similar experience? She uses inhalers and a Nebulizer of course. She's quite active and in good health otherwise. Any comments? thanks. yanksgirl

Could be any number of things they're checking for... Depending upon what they're seeing grow there, if anything is growing, maybe they'll look for other causes -- issue with the cilia in her lungs, immune disorder, interstitial lung disease, cystic fibrosis... Pseudomonas Aerignosa (sp) is a common CF result.

They're probably checking to see if maybe she's culturing something that is causing the issues -- mrsa, staph, mycobaterium, apergillis (sp), molds.... Seeing if she's got reflux that could be causing aspiration into her lungs. Could be too that there's an allergic component somewhere that is triggering here attacks -- find out the cause of that or any inflammation and tre

At least they're being proactive and trying to get to the bottom of all her problems.

Thanks, actually the doctor did mention to her Mom that reflux might be her problem. Thanks for the input. I'll get these thoughts to her Mom too.
yanksgirl