asthma?

[RyvreWillow]

My son, Ryvre, has been having this recurring bronchial infection (three
times in two months), and it usually takes a couple of days to get
really bad, but he woke up with a fever Monday morning, and by the
time i got back from running errands, he was gasping for breath.

His doc takes walk-ins, so i brought him right in, where he got two
shots (an antibiotic and a steroid), chest x-rays, and a breathing
treatment. He was already exhausted when i decided he needed to go,
but 2 1/2 hours in the doctor's office, getting poked and prodded
totally wore him down.

He has a nebulizer now, two allergy meds, an antibiotic, and a
steroid. Ugh, it just about makes me crazy just trying to remember
when to give him everything.

Tomorrow morning he has his second follow-up appointment, when
they'll actually have the x-ray results, and possibly tell me if he
has asthma for sure, or if this is just temporary. Of course, being
so young (he's only 3) no one wants to actually say he has asthma,
but with the family history of it, i'm bracing myself for years of
trouble *sigh*

Does anyone else have a kid with allergy-induced (or any other kind of)asthma? Can you give me some tips?

[Elisha]

Our 5 year old son was diagnosed with "restrictive airway disease" when he was under 2. They said he would most likely have asthma, but they wouldn't diagnose it until he was older. He doesn't have any breathing problems anymore. Although he gets croup almost every winter, we've been able to watch for the signs and apply home treatments.
I have asthma and our 3 year old has tons of allergies, so it's likely to happen in our family, but our oldest seems to have weathered that storm ok...so far.
I am able--as an adult--to control my asthma by treating my allergies. I take allergy medication daily. (I've tried to wean myself off of it, but my asthma gets really bad.) I don't know how much more difficult that would be in a child--I was on asthma medicines my entire childhood--but I am sure treating the allergies would help with the asthma symptoms.
HTH.

[TwinMom]

I know this is an old post, but I was wondering what the doctors said about the OP's son. The reason I found this post is because I was looking for what to do to help my son (just turned 4) who keeps having bronchial infections and now has croup. We keep having to go to the ER for breathing treatments, but I'm calling my doctor today to find out how to get a nebulizer. He's never had a problem like this until earlier this year. We don't have any asthma in the family. He only has breathing problems when he's got a cold or some other upper respiratory type of virus. I'm so worried about him and don't know what to do!

[RyvreWillow]

*hugs* it's so scary not knowing why your kiddo is sick

Ryvre's problem seems to be allergies; if we can keep those under control, he has little or no trouble breathing. When he starts having symptoms (itchy eyes always give it away with him), i give him his once-a-day allergy meds, and if i keep him on that for awhile, he has no other problems. Once, about a month ago, his allergies came on so suddenly again that i had to give him an albuterol treatment with the nebulizer, and a dose of prednisone, but after that he was fine His doc said to try that first whenever he had an "episode" and if it didn't help, to bring him in, or to the ER. Thank goodness, so far at least, the meds we have on hand have done the trick.

i don't see why the doc wouldn't give you a prescription for a nebulizer, especially since you keep going to the ER! In fact, i'm pretty shocked HE hasn't suggested it yet. Alot of insurance companies won't cover it (ours didn't) but they do cover the medicine (expalin that one?), and you might be able to get the machine through an organization if you need help that way (we did). You might have to ask; the doc has to do the paperwork, so maybe he just didn't want to suggest it--i would think it's a ton easier for everyone (especially for your little one!) than ER visits though!

[WC_hapamama]

Originally Posted by RyvreWillow

i don't see why the doc wouldn't give you a prescription for a nebulizer, especially since you keep going to the ER! In fact, i'm pretty shocked HE hasn't suggested it yet. Alot of insurance companies won't cover it (ours didn't) but they do cover the medicine (expalin that one?), and you might be able to get the machine through an organization if you need help that way (we did). You might have to ask; the doc has to do the paperwork, so maybe he just didn't want to suggest it--i would think it's a ton easier for everyone (especially for your little one!) than ER visits though!

Nebulizers usually aren't covered under the pharmacy portion of an insurance policy. Nebulizers, as well as spacers for metered dose inhalers, fall under the durable medical equipment category.

If your insurance covers stuff like crutches and wheelchairs, they should cover respiratory equipment too.

When my dd needed a nebulizer, our pediatrican handed us a brand new one, and had us fill out paperwork to get the insurance to cover it.

[RyvreWillow]

i always wondered about that! Thanks for explaining.

[wendy1221]

Yay! more melaleuca spam! don't you love it?