My 2yo dd has asthma?!

[jillybeans]

At the end of June my normally healthy (rarely sick) 2yo developed a nasty cough (while the rest of us got a mild cold) that turned croupy, and led to pneumonia. I initially took her in because I noticed mild wheezing for about a week. The doc suspected asthma, we left, and two days later she got a LOT worse with the coughing. She couldn't sleep, would struggle to breathe after a coughing fit. The x rayed her and she had fairly severe pneumonia. Her O2 sats were hovering around 90, and yet she was perfectly happy. Smily, energetic, etc. They didn't admit her, just put her on amoxycillin (which i was VERY hesitant about--but you know how scary breathing stuff can get) A few days later she got a high fever. We took her back in, the new xrays showed the pneumonia had gotten worse. They admitted her overnight and treated with more aggressive abx. We started nebulizing her regularly. She slowly got better, although the wheezing persisted. We saw a pulmonologist late July, before we flew to Alaska for a 2 week vacation (where we are now) and he said she sounded clear, and the wheezing would persist for a while. We stopped nebulizing her, put her on an inhaler instead. (also getting flovent)

Fast-forward to last tuesday night (day three of our trip) and she develops a rapidly rising 103.2 fever out of the blue. Like within an hour. And a few minutes later it rose more. I gave her tylenol and took her to the ER (more remote here, didn't want to chance it) They xrayed her and she has pneumonia AGAIN! TWICE in a month! The doc said it's unusual for a kid her age to get pneumonia at all, let alone twice in a month. He said she has asthma! I don't know what to think! And I'm very concerned about the rapidly approaching cold season...will we run into this every cold? This last pneumonia was brought on by a runny nose. That's it!

We don't vax, hate using meds, and this is all so scary! She's had more meds in a month than all my kids combined in their whole lives! (minus the preemie) I suppose she's more at risk for pertussis now, but what do I do to help her with this? This is so much worse than general immune support. Lips turning blue is NOT ok!

Help??

[LoisLane]

Huge hugs to you. Breathing issues are so scary.

I'd strongly recommend seeing a pediatrician or lung specialist when you get home to talk more about it and come up with an asthma action plan. There are also natural things you can do to help her (my DS has done with with cutting out dairy, CLO, Mag/Cal, probiotics, and bone broth), but there are also times you need, truly need, the nasty steroids and medicines. I talked to an adult friend with asthma about what it feels like... and her description made me realize just what a horrible feeling that chest tightening is, how scary it is to not be able to get a deep breath.

My son's asthma was/is triggered by viruses. For a few years, it seemed that every little cold would land us in emerg. But it's gotten better over the years... and we never worried about cold weather, exercise, etc.

I think there are a lot of threads about childhood asthma that might be worth reading when you have more time. IN the meantime, know you aren't alone -- and hang in there. It *does* get a bit easier.

[Crafty]

there are also times you need, truly need, the nasty steroids and medicines.

This. Breathing is NOT optional. My son has asthma, which I kind of suspected, but the diagnosis was made official when he came down with bronchitis three times in two years. His is only really set off by getting sick, but every little cold, I need to watch him like a hawk because he gets congested, he gets a terrible cough (he's vaxed, but I live in extreme fear of what pertussis would do to him if a mere cold is enough to send us to the doctor for a breathing treatment), and he gasps and wheezes and can't breathe. It IS scary, but the best you can do is read up on it, make sure everyone washes their hands frequently, esp. during cold and flu season, and know the signs of when things are getting dangerous (crap, I can't remember what it's called right now, but when your dd is struggling to breathe and it looks like her chest is sucking in? Yeah, that's bad bad bad).

Best wishes to you, and I hope this is something your dd outgrows as she ages (there's always hope, right?).

[JessicaS]

I would try and get an appointment with a pulmonologist.

I hope you find out what is going on.

[jillybeans]

thanks all. Abi-we HAVE seen the pulmonologist at the children's hospital. She sounded clear then and because it was the first time anything had happened, he said to just proceed as recommended by our pediatrician. I'm anxious to see what she says when we get back from vacation. (appt next friday)

Pertussis scares me to death now. We live in typically high-pertussis outbreak area, and I'm nervous what it could do to her. But I'm also not wanting to vax....This isn't easy anymore!