frustrated mother of toddler - Asthma Message Board

mommyhelp · 02-08-2004, 06:45 PM

I have done everything like they doctors, specialist, etc. and it still seems like he needs to use pred. med. he is 2 1/2 and regularly used pulmicort, zyrtex, singulair, and when bad xopenex., then after another day or two we always seem to have to go to pred. med. It seems like it is the only thing, that will allow him and us to sleep, My heart hurts when I hear him coughing all night. he was tested for allergies and everything came back negative.
I still did get rid of the dog, to see if any improvements, as of yet, nothing. in fact tonight we had to give him pred. it seems like once a month for four days he needs it.... Any suggestions, I am willing to look at any ideas.

PinkBanana · 02-08-2004, 07:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mommyhelp

I have done everything like they doctors, specialist, etc. and it still seems like he needs to use pred. med. he is 2 1/2 and regularly used pulmicort, zyrtex, singulair, and when bad xopenex., then after another day or two we always seem to have to go to pred. med. It seems like it is the only thing, that will allow him and us to sleep, My heart hurts when I hear him coughing all night. he was tested for allergies and everything came back negative.
I still did get rid of the dog, to see if any improvements, as of yet, nothing. in fact tonight we had to give him pred. it seems like once a month for four days he needs it.... Any suggestions, I am willing to look at any ideas.

they say that most of the time when asthma develops at such a young age, they will outgrow it for good..if thats any comfort to you. At 2 1/2, their lungs are still growing, they may just take a while to catch up with the rest of the body.
I find it hard to believe there are no allergies..I am full believer that allergy is ALWAYS the cause of such things. But that's just me. If it's not allergies, then that would explain why none of the meds are working. Have you considered CF??

dolphins · 02-08-2004, 08:16 PM

How did you think your son would go using a spacer with mask? I ask b/c I know in America you have Flovent (Flixotide where I am from) and Flovent is a stronger inhaled steroid than Pulmicort.

Ask your Dr about it and tell him/her your concerns. It must be very frustrating and I hope you are able to find the right combo of meds for your son soon.

Take care, dolphins.

Danitom · 02-09-2004, 07:36 AM

I would not be so quick to think your son doesn't have allergies. My daughter has a chronic cough and went to a pulmonologist who did allergy testing and they came back negative. After another year of problems we went to an allergy/asthma specialist who did some allergy testing......25 pricks and my daughter was allergic to 13...... so it is my experience that maybe it is possible to get a bad batch of antigens for the allergy test?? or for some reason it is not always accurate??

Mommyof4 · 02-09-2004, 08:14 AM

My 4 year old is on all of the same meds save for the oral steroid. We wont do the oral prednisone anymore. Steroids are hard on your immune system. When the immune system is down, you catch everything there is to catch. Too many steroids can actually make your child sicker. Oral steroids have also been linked to growth retardation in children so our Allergist recommended we go off of them for good.

So your child is getting a double dose of steroids with the Pulmocort and the Orapred. When we did that system, we found out that we were only maintaning. That is no way to live.

Now we have a plan, I would really recommend getting an Asthma plan through your Dr, and it has helped so much. We do Singulair and Zyrtec every night regardless of symptoms. We do Pulmicort twice a day regardless of symptoms. If there are symptoms, which a runny nose is a symptom in this house, we start the Xopenex. We do Xopenex every 4 hours as needed. If the Xopenex does not last the full 4 hours, we go to every 2 hours. If we have to do it beyond every 2 hours, she goes to the ER. We also look for signs like retractions and respiration count.

My daughter tested negative for all allergies but gets sick with any weather change. I am keeping an open mind to getting her tested again as young children are notorious for testing negative for allergies they actually have. We also have pillow and mattress protectors as I think a huge problem with my daughter is dust mites. I dont use feather dusters for the house, wash the curtains often and the sheets and bedding twice a week. We are also considering wood flooring. I also dont allow stuffed animals in bed.

I would seriously talk to the Dr about finding out your sons zones and stopping that oral steroid. HTH and Good luck