too many asthma meds

[sweet tea]

I'm looking for any advice about natural alternative to asthma control. My 5yo ds is currently on:
Advair twice daily (highest dose)
Singular
Prevacid
rainbow light kids vitamins
when he gets a cold, cough, wheezing or runny nose (which happens about once a week)we add nebulizers of
Pulmicort (highest dose)
Xopenex
and duo-nebs (Ipratropium/Albuterol)
and sometimes we need the oral steroid prednesone (last year he needed 10 courses- which is way too much, its a horrible drug, but it works)

he has his rescue inhaler and an epi-pen for severe breathing difficulty that doesn't respond to breathing treatments- we live in a rural area and sometimes the ambulance is too slow.
He has had eartubes placed for chronic ear infections. And has trouble with eczema & sinus infections.
This year is so far better than last year and i know the drugs are making a huge difference (he couldn't breathe without them) I'm very worried about him being so dependent on so many steriods & meds everyday. He has been allergy tested and surprisingly is not allergic to anything at all. We don't have pets and use all natural household products (laundry soap. cleaning stuff, shampoos) and live in a newer home.

Does anyone else have a severely asthmatic kid? Any other options for asthma control out there?

My ped just says we can talk about taking him off a few meds for the summer when he is usually better. Which is fine, but I would like to try to learn about some more natural therapies...different vitamins maybe? idk. thanks. I don't post often, but I really need help with this, and there are so many knowledgeable mamas here.

[sbgrace]

Something is going on with him I think either immune system--see if he has signs of that:
http://www.info4pi.org/aboutPI/index...FTOKEN=8939896

Or perhaps a pulmonary issue (has he seen pediatric pulmonology?).

I think the only way to deal with this is to get to the bottom of the underlying issues.

Breathing is of course paramount. There is no natural alternative to rescue inhalers and steroids and the like. However, identifying and reducing triggers (protecting from illness triggers or reducing allergen exposure, etc.) can help reduce reliance. So you push them to figure out that underlying factor.

He needs a major workup to figure out why he needed steroids 10 times despite all those maintenance meds, gets ill once a week, has chronic ear and sinus infections etc. My first (and red light, emergency, push aggressively for him) stop would be immunology.

[californiajenn]

Did you have him tested for both IgE and IgG allergies. Most peds only run IgE which is only for anaphylactic allergies. IgG is for sensitivities that look just like allergies.

I used to be on Advair and I hated the side effects. Turns out I have a casein issue and am low in magnesium, as a lot of asthmatic tend to be. I would highly, highly recommend taking him of dairy for a least a month and retrialing. This would include even trace dairy.

Is he on Prevacid b/c of reflux or b/c the Advair tears up his throat? If it's reflux, he likely has low stomach acid and would benefit from zinc and fermented foods.

Run a search in the Allergy sub-forum on asthma and you'll finds lots of info.

[34me]

My ds also tested negative to all allergans at 5 years old. When he was retested at 7 he had a few a d now at 13 tests positive to almost all environmental allergans in our area. He was one sickish little guy. However as he has gotten older his asthma is under so much better control. We have been able to drop a lot of his meds and he hasn't used a nebulizer in 2 years.

[Nosy]

Wow, I would definitely look into a book called The 4 As: Autism, ADHD, Allergies & Asthma (Kenneth Bock). My library has it, there are all kinds of natural things you can do. There's also a book called Reversing Asthma that has some great ideas (and suggestions for blood work to ask for the next time you're at the doctor to figure out what's going on). My library has both otf those. I'd probably start by going gluten & casein free to see what that does. My 6 year old had chronic asthma, and what has helped the most is Brainchild Intestimend but I think there are other things that have helped others more (like magnesium, probiotics, etc).

[californiajenn]

Originally Posted by Nosy

Wow, I would definitely look into a book called The 4 As: Autism, ADHD, Allergies & Asthma (Kenneth Bock).

Highly agree!

[sweet tea]

thanks so much for your responses, looks like i have a lot to research this week! i'm excited to think there are other options out there for him. thanks again!