Hi!

Shantel - posted on 03/11/2009

My son was "officially" diagnosed at 9 months, but has had respiratory problems since he was 6 weeks old.  He had pneumonia at 3 months old.  He also has eczema, allergic rhinitis, and is allergic to penicillin, grass, nuts and eggs.  It has been a chore for us.  We have gone through a variety of medication through the years.  He is currently on Albuterol, Xopenex, Singulair, Zyrtec, Atopiclair, and the occasional oral and topical steriods.  We tried allergy shots a few years ago, but they seems to make his condition worst.  Now, at the age of 5, he is happy and plays soccer and tee-ball, with controlled medication.  Our biggest concern is the ezcema, which we have never been able to control.  We have tried many different creams, Elidel, Elocon, Goat's Milk, Oatmeal.  Does anyone have any other suggestions?  Thanks!

Laurie - posted on 03/10/2009

Hi - I have a question for all of you with asthmatic kids...

How often do your pediatricians require asthma checks? 

Ours is requiring checks every 3 months, even though my 6-yro son is well controlled.  His asthma is excercise/irritant induced.  Typically, if he coughs a croup-like cough once or twice during  the day and we treat at that point with his rescue inhaler, we don't have a problem.  If he's not treated promptly, we'll have a full blown wheezing, stridoring attack in the middle of the night.  On average, my son has an attack once every 3 or 4 months - when seasons change/pollens change.  He takes Singulair at night and his inhaler before physical activity, with his nebulizer and inhaler for symptoms/management of an attack. My pediatrician  even commented on our last check a few weeks ago "you've got this managed, you don't need me" but then finished the visit with "come back in three months" and only gave us two months of refills on his singulair prescription.  I'm seriously considering a change, but would like to know what average is.

Thanks,

Laurie

Lisa - posted on 02/07/2009

Hello, My daughter will be 11 in a couple of months, she was diagnosed at the age of 3,  She has exercise induced asthma and allergy induced asthma. Her allergies are severe and are all enviromental, her worst are cats, dust, dust mites, and pollens. We live in the maritimes in Canada, so the weather is a major factor. Singular really works great for her, also, the flovent and ventalin, she also takes reactin everyday. Now that she is getting older I do find it a bit easier on one end cause she knows her body pretty well, but on the other end, sometimes she refuses to take all her meds. I think she gets feeling good so she thinks she doesnt need the meds as much, then things will go downward. She had her adnoids taken out at age 6 which was a great help (i begged the dr to take out tonsils to but he refused) She just got her tonsils taken out 2 weeks ago, so we are really hoping this will be a change for the better for her! I am hoping she will get over all this as she grows up.

Rebecca - posted on 02/04/2009

Hi, my son is 7 and is also a asthmatic. I myself was a bad asthamatic as a child. My mum nearly lost me twice. Lucky they are a bit more updated with medication these days, and I have not had this kind of scare with my boy. I knew from a baby he had it. The doctors would not say it was, it was always broncitis. He has got better as he has got older, and only seems to get is if he has a cold. But a cold always ends up worse than a normal cold should be. last year he got phenomia. Its so hard to watch them when they are sick. Being I have it myself , its hard when I cant seem to help him, even though I know what it is all about. I also have a 4 yr old daughter that is going the same way. My doctor last year put them both on singulair, and this has helped them alot. Poor things have my genes, what hope did they have!

Christine - posted on 01/28/2009

My son was diagnosed with asthma when he was 4, just before pre-school. He is been on plumicort and zyrtec for his allergies. When we had him tested for allergies and he tested positive for being allergic to dogs,we don't have a dog, and dust that was it. We struggle everytime the seasons change (we live in Upstate NY). Typically in Fall and Spring when things change he flares up. He never tests that he is allergic to outdoor allergens. Yet he has to stay on Zyrtec 365 days a year....except in the winter. Then we can take him off most meds (if we had a major killing frost) and he is in control. Then Spring hits and he flares up again....then summer comes around and he sometimes can be taken off all meds...then Fall hits and he flares up again. It took us a while to track it, he will be 9 in March, at one point he was on 4 different meds to control his asthma. Singular did nothing, we found pulmicort to be the best for him. But now that we see that the seasons trigger him, we know when to stop and start all meds. It is just weird that he never has tested being allergic to outdoor allergens yet the seasons and dogs are what triggers him.



It's also very important that if you children are school age that you communicate with thier schools about their asthma. This is also a major help in tracking their triggers...gym class, recess, art class (the dust, etc). For our son, it's when the heat turns on in school. It took us a few years, but we finally have a grasp on his triggers. I work very closely with our school district on educating parents about managing their children's asthma.



He struggles the most with not being able to go to friend's houses who have dogs. But if he did, within 10 mintues he'd flare up and have to leave and take benadryl, etc. to control the attacks.

Teasha - posted on 01/17/2009

We were offically diagnoses after the thrid trip to the ER when she was nine months. My doctor explained to me that they would keep calling it Sever Bronchospasms until she was 2 only for insurance purposes only. But he told us, for our knowledge that it was asthma.

Cheryl - posted on 01/11/2009

When my son was very little they kept telling me it was bronchiolitis. This went on for a few months until he had such a severe attack and almost died at 9 months. Then they oficially diagnosed him. My girls were officially diagnosed at the same age, even though they dont like to diagnose asthma until around the age of 2 or 3 but since their brother had such a severe case they felt it was necessary. Also, all my kids suffered from chronic ear infections and all had tubes in around 3 months of age. Each had 7 or 8 rounds of ear infections already at 3 months of age, so there was no choice. They would have suffered hearing loss if they hadnt had them put in. They fell out around 2 years for the older two and the youngest still has them. She is 15 months now.

Lili - posted on 01/11/2009

We weren't officially "diagnosed" until our hospitalization when he was 11 months. The doctors always danced around the word when i would bring it up. With the Xopenex we do the inhaler with the chamber because the other just took too long.

I

User - posted on 01/11/2009

Were your children actually labeled asthmatic so young?  My youngest is 19 months and they continue to label it "Severe bronchialitis" and told me they wouldn't label it until he's at least 2, possibly 3.  He's also on massive double ear infection number 7, plus recently developed a bad case of Eczema.  I'm just amazed at how things seem to pile on top of each other.  It's comforting to not only hear others are in the same boat but find a place to actually talk to them.  We're headed to an ENT tomorrow to see if we can at least get his ears taken care of.  He is thankfully still pretty happy, though he often sounds like a coffee percolater when he breathes. . .

Hailey - posted on 01/07/2009

Hi, My daughter is 7 years old now, she has Asthma, eczema, allergy to eggs, and speech problems.  She is on Singular, Qvar, Zyrtec, Xopenes, and Flonase.  I think that's it right now.  Her largest trigger is the weather, we had 3 hospitalizations in 2008, and are praying 2009 will be better.

Lili - posted on 01/04/2009

Thank you Ladies. It is nice to know that I'm not alone!

Cheryl - posted on 01/03/2009

Its funny because I had no idea that it was so common for a baby to have a milk and soy allergy. My youngest daughter was born a month early. She has very bad reflux and was initially on nutramigen. About a month later I noticed bloody stools. So her pediatrician sent us to a GI doc who performed a colonoscopy and determined it was a milk/soy allergy. She was then put on Neocate formula, and for those of you who dont know, Neocate runs 56.00 a can. Needless to say my pockets were hit hard. At 12 months she was clear for regular milk, thank God, and now enjoys all types of foods. She was also diagnosed with asthma around 9 months. She has exzema (sp?) has had RSV three times, croupe four times, and she is only 15 months. My 6 year old is the only one with very mild asthma and allergies. I dont have asthma or any allergies at all but it can be genetic and the doctors think somewhere down the line its in my bloodline. GO FIGURE!!!! lol!

Maria - posted on 01/02/2009

My son is 14 and has not had an asthma attack for 18 months, off medication for around 12 months, we had tried him on everything, finally pulmicort worked for him, sport and swimming worked well for him, keeping fit with his breathing, if he feels the need he will use ventolin before very active exercise. Singlulair did not work for him at all. he also suffered very bad croup from when he was 2 until around 11 years of age, which caused all sorts of problems, he has had numerous chest infections, pluerisy, pnenumonia and also meningitis, however i now have a very healthy child, who is very aware of his own body and breathing and fitness and good food. Hope this helps

Teasha - posted on 01/02/2009

Hello everyone, Thanks for joining. My daughter is 4 and was diagnosed with asthma around 9 months also. She is on Xyzal and Flovent. They help most of the time but the climate we live in is a dead ringer to trigger asthma. Anytime the weather changes the asthma is triggered. But yet again thank you ladies and hopefully we can help each other get through this trying lung disease.

Cristina - posted on 01/02/2009

One of my twin daughters was diagnosed with asthma around 9 months of age. She too was allergic to soy and dairy and also had reflux. Last winter was horrible, she had three back to back pneumonia's which caused her to have respiratory failure. She was on a ventilator for 8 days before she was able to finally breathe on her own. Her main trigger is illness, its very difficult to control. Preventative meds are a savior for her!

Lili - posted on 01/02/2009

Thank you!

Cheryl - posted on 01/02/2009

My son is now 15, but was diagnosed with severe/life threatening asthma at 9 months. He too was on flovent and singulair at a very young age. He is currently on singulair. flonase, symbicort and xolair injections twice a month to help control the asthma. Please let me know if you ever need any advice. I am a Respiratory Therapist and mother of 3 asthmatics ages 15, 6, and 1.