My son just turned 3, and after more than a year of battling various "illnesses" and doctors, we're finally able to get him in to see an allergist. As an infant, he had eczema, which didn't surprise me much as I have it myself (along with asthma and allergies). At 17 months old, he was hospitalized with RSV (or bronchiolitis or pneumonia depending on which doctor was talking to you), and about a month later, developed a night-time cough. We spent six weeks going back and forth to the pediatrician before finally getting a referral to a pulmonologist. The pulmonologist officially diagnosed our son with RAD (reactive airway disorder), though treated it as asthma, treating it with Pulmicort, albuterol, and even prednisone on several occasions throughout last year. We struggled to identify our son's asthma "triggers", and insisted we get him tested for allergies last fall (our pediatrician insisted a child his age--around two at this time--couldn't have environmental allergies). He had the RAST testing, which showed nothing but a very mild allergy to cats and dogs. Yet he seemed to have these "allergic" reactions every couple of months, starting with a runny nose and excessive sneezing, and the post-nasal drip that ultimately led to a cough, which ultimately led to asthma issues. By winter, we were dismayed at the lack of improvement in our son and the number of illnesses he seemed to have, so got a referral to a different pulmonologist. Turns out he was on the wrong dosage of medication (was only getting half of what a child his age/size should've been getting), so we changed medications, and saw immediate results in terms of asthma control. We've still had several instances of the allergy-like symptoms, though, and were finally able to talk our pediatrician into giving us a referral to a pediatric allergist. Even if he doesn't have actual "allergies", there's something that irritates him (happens often on windy days or high pollution days) and causes allergy-like symptoms. The bottom line is that we need to figure out what's causing it, and then how to fight it. I'm curious if anyone else has had similar concerns with something(s) causing allergy-like symptoms in their child?
Jennifer, mom to one special little boy
Ironic that I ran across
Ironic that I ran across this, as I'm struggling now with my daughter and something causing her some similar problems. on 8/27 I had her at the doctors office as she had developed this barky and loose sounding chest cough, although that was really the only symptom. The doctor diagnosed it as an upper respritory virus and just gave an RX for some cough syrup with codeine. 3 weeks later she was still hacking and more so at night so I brought her back to the doctors who advised it sounded like asthma, as her the brunt of her coughing was at night, it was waking her up, she'd vomitted from the force of the coughing and there were no other symptoms contributing. The doctor gave us a nebulizer and an RX for Albuteral and advised to use every 4-6 hours or PRN. I make sure she gets a breathing treatment each night prior to going to bed and that has helped wonders through out the night with illeviating the persistent cough and keeping her/me up. She still has cough and I notice it acts up when she runs around and gets winded and also at night, but not nearly as bad. The nebulizer in my opinion is working and doing it's job for the most part. I think probably she should be on something else for maintenance such as Claratin, Zyrtec, or something along those lines, because there is obviously something causing irritating her enough to make her cough, but what is unknown. She does see an allergist as she's tested positive to a few food allergies in the past. She was tested for environmental allergies as well at one time, i.e. grasses, dust, mold, dander, pollen, etc. and did test positive to a few of those, but not an extreme positive to the point of having to be treated with allergy shots or anything like that. They did recommend some nasal spray at one time, but trying to give a 4 year old nasal spray isn't the easiest thing in the world so we pretty much did away with that.
I worry though that it could be something more serious, as I've always known asthma to be symptomatic of those who had problems breathing, chest tightness, wheezing and symptoms along those lines, and her only symptom seems to be a lone cough. However, from some things I've read on line and researched, that can be the only symptom of asthma and is common with being the only symptom with children who develop asthma. So at this point I'm torn between trusting the doctor and continuing with the nebulizer treatments or going further and getting a pulmonolgist referral to seek their opinion. I guess I might feel a little better if a chest x-ray was done, although the doctor always has said her lungs sound clear and there are no rattles or anything.
A nagging cough, primarily
A nagging cough, primarily at night, is typically our son's only "symptom" of asthma; he seldom has the wheezing/difficulty breathing that most people associate with asthma. I highly recommend seeing a pulmonologist to confirm an asthma diagnosis. We have an "asthma action plan", which has really helped us out. Our son gets two puffs of Flovent twice/day and one Singulair pill daily (we used to use a nebulizer and still have it just in case, but now administer his meds using a chamber; much faster!) for PM. If his asthma rears it's ugly head, we give him 3-4 puffs of albuterol every 4 hours as needed. If that doesn't work (including having to give him more puffs in less than 3 hours), we give him an oral dose of prednisone once/day for 3-5 days. Obviously our last step is a visit to the ER. We've had really great success with the Flovent since starting it in January! We've only had to use the albuterol a handful of times, and the prednisone only once (as opposed to 6 times within 8 months last year).
Jennifer, mom to one special little boy
So, I logged in for the
So, I logged in for the first time to see if other parents were experiencing what my husband and I are going through with our six year old daughter. This is our story to be brief, she got RSV when she almost 2. Her pediatrician referred us to a pulmunoligist, they did tests and discovered she had some allergens, started her on pulmicort and albueterol. She continued to have a very bad hacking cough that varied at all times of the day but never seemed to go away. Well- to fast forward here we are 4 years later and she is six with the same "hacking" cough that sounds as if it hurts. We call it a smokers cough. It sounds really nasty and has never completely went away. They have done chest x-rays, mri's. They have had her on a regular cycle of medicines in which my husband and I are completely fed up with. She has her Allergist, Pulmunologist, Ped. All of the medicines they give her is crazy. Albuetorol, Pulmincort, Rhinocort(nasal), Singulair, Advair and a prescribed cough medicine, not too include the prednisone and series of antibiotics they have put her on. She is allergic to dust mites, which we have virtually removed all of the carpet in our house and put down wood flooring, removed all of her stuff animals and have hepa filters. Still she has her hacking cough that she has maintained throughout the past 4 years. We have pretty much given up with the docs, what else is there after getting various opinions and seeing specialists. We are sure that having her on these meds for asthma and allergies will have some adverse long term effects. Any suggestions from anyone?
Just an FYI ladies.
Just an FYI ladies. Household cleaning products that are full of chemicals can attribute to the problems your children are having. Not only do I have a central vac in my home but I use chemical free cleaning produts that are safer for me and my daughter. Since I have switched to these safer products I have noticed a difference in me and my daughters health. My daughter used to make a weird noise while she was sleeping her breathing sounded funny. My father would always ask if she had asthma doc said too early to tell but since I have been using these products my daughter has not sounded like that while she was sleeping. There are so many chemicals in so many products in our homes its unreal.
Amber
I agree that we have to
I agree that we have to watch for the chemicals in our environment.
I like maleluca (www.maleluca.com) and trader joe's for great, reasonably priced chemical free home cleaning products.
How do you know if your
How do you know if your child has allergies? My son has a nagging cough but it comes and goes. Should I have him allergy tested?
I have a 12-year-old son and
I have a 12-year-old son and a 9-year-old daughter who both were diagnosed with Reactive Airway Disease.
To be honest and blunt, I truly believe that the cause is the Arizona air. Call me crazy but both my kids started their symptoms at the age of 5 and they are 3 years apart.
They have gone through the gammit of medications out there and every November (this year October) through April they are on breathing treatments and missing weeks of school at a time.
They both have a pediatrician, an allergist, and a pulmonologist that they see regularly. What pisses me off is when I ask for alternatives (I'm working on degrees in Biology and Chemistry) the doctors get annoyed that I ask too many questions or they say they don't know. Yes, I've changed doctors several times because of this. Medication is the only answer for them.
A few weeks ago we had a camping trip planned and my son was wheezing so I was hesitant about going. I had read about asthmatics moving to different climates and elevations so I crossed my fingers, said a little prayer, took the svn machine and went camping with my kids. We went up past Payson and I could not believe the difference it made. He didn't wheeze once and was mountain biking, hiking, and running around with our dogs. Three days of this. Then, we came back home and not more than an hour later he needed a breathing treatment.
I called his pulmonologist and told him what I had done. He had the nerve to get (inappropriate term) at me and started to lecture me when I interupted him and told him the huge difference it made. He said "Oh, well, it was probably just the season." Huh????
If my kids get better they lose a patient and money. Right now I am going to call the allergist and if he doesn't help me figure out why my son did such a turn-around in a higher elevation then I will find a doctor who will.
My 2 cents.
Marisa