Hi there,
I wasn't sure where to post this. We have two boys, both with pretty significant respiratory troubles. Our older son was born at 26 weeks and has chronic lung disease (along with several other health and developmental issues). He gets pneumonia with pretty much every minor cold, has twice daily nebulizer treatments and often needs several more throughout the day with any infections, etc. I feel like I should know what I am doing by now, and I was actually feeling pretty confident until recently so I guess I don't (or at least I feel like I don't). We had our older son tested for allergies and they all came back clean so I haven't had to take any extra precautions in that area with him. However, our younger son has been getting major respiratory distress symptoms with pretty much every cold so far as well. He was born at almost 39 weeks, so no prematurity issues involved. Our ped wants to start him on twice daily steroid nebulizer treatments in a couple of days after his current course of oral prednisone is finished to try and keep him more stable. (I hate the oral prednisone so I'm hoping to somehow cut back on his exacerbations.) I am going to also request allergy testing since there is a definite history of allergies and asthma on my side of the family, but we don't yet know what he is or isn't allergic to. Also, everyone on my side who has asthma actually acquired it later in life (middle to high school age) rather than having it as a toddler or young child, and everyone has had fairly mild symptoms with no hospitalizations or need for steroids or anything other than occasional inhalers. He does also have reflux and is very dairy intolerant, but those seem to be under control as far as I can tell. Since we removed the dairy he hasn't seemed to need his reflux medication. However, he has always been a terrible sleeper and still wakes several times a night to nurse (usually every 1-2 hours), so maybe I am wrong as far as his reflux control. (He doesn't arch like he used to or show much for signs of discomfort anyway.) I have read that reflux can aggravate asthma symptoms as well so I guess I will ask about this at our next appointment. Overall, I'm just feeling a little overwhelmed by all of this I guess. Our ped is very friendly but not so AP oriented, very pro-vax (I hate the flu shot and I know they are going to be pushing that for him ... ), etc. I don't want to put our son at unnecessary risk for infections this winter so I would like to do whatever I can at home to help him. Of course I have been doing the typical cleaning and such to keep our older son as healthy as possible, but now I feel like it's probably not enough. We do have three cats (our older son tested negative for cat allergy and we have had them since before he was born) so that's a constant battle to keep up with cat hair of course. I have dust and mold allergies so I try to keep that under control but it does get away from me at times (the dust anyway - the mold I let DH deal with since it makes me very sick, but that's not generally a problem unless we get water somewhere in the house and have to open a wall for repairs.)
Any suggestions on cleaning techniques to help cut back on his symptoms? Any particular cleaning products that you would recommend using or avoiding? We live in an older house so there is probably tons of junk built up throughout the walls and pipes. We did have a new furnace put in last winter and also a hospital grade filter due to our older son's lung disease so that should be ok, other than replacing it on schedule. Any other suggestions? Any tips or advice in general?
Thanks so much in advance. Sorry to ramble so much.
I wasn't sure where to post this. We have two boys, both with pretty significant respiratory troubles. Our older son was born at 26 weeks and has chronic lung disease (along with several other health and developmental issues). He gets pneumonia with pretty much every minor cold, has twice daily nebulizer treatments and often needs several more throughout the day with any infections, etc. I feel like I should know what I am doing by now, and I was actually feeling pretty confident until recently so I guess I don't (or at least I feel like I don't). We had our older son tested for allergies and they all came back clean so I haven't had to take any extra precautions in that area with him. However, our younger son has been getting major respiratory distress symptoms with pretty much every cold so far as well. He was born at almost 39 weeks, so no prematurity issues involved. Our ped wants to start him on twice daily steroid nebulizer treatments in a couple of days after his current course of oral prednisone is finished to try and keep him more stable. (I hate the oral prednisone so I'm hoping to somehow cut back on his exacerbations.) I am going to also request allergy testing since there is a definite history of allergies and asthma on my side of the family, but we don't yet know what he is or isn't allergic to. Also, everyone on my side who has asthma actually acquired it later in life (middle to high school age) rather than having it as a toddler or young child, and everyone has had fairly mild symptoms with no hospitalizations or need for steroids or anything other than occasional inhalers. He does also have reflux and is very dairy intolerant, but those seem to be under control as far as I can tell. Since we removed the dairy he hasn't seemed to need his reflux medication. However, he has always been a terrible sleeper and still wakes several times a night to nurse (usually every 1-2 hours), so maybe I am wrong as far as his reflux control. (He doesn't arch like he used to or show much for signs of discomfort anyway.) I have read that reflux can aggravate asthma symptoms as well so I guess I will ask about this at our next appointment. Overall, I'm just feeling a little overwhelmed by all of this I guess. Our ped is very friendly but not so AP oriented, very pro-vax (I hate the flu shot and I know they are going to be pushing that for him ... ), etc. I don't want to put our son at unnecessary risk for infections this winter so I would like to do whatever I can at home to help him. Of course I have been doing the typical cleaning and such to keep our older son as healthy as possible, but now I feel like it's probably not enough. We do have three cats (our older son tested negative for cat allergy and we have had them since before he was born) so that's a constant battle to keep up with cat hair of course. I have dust and mold allergies so I try to keep that under control but it does get away from me at times (the dust anyway - the mold I let DH deal with since it makes me very sick, but that's not generally a problem unless we get water somewhere in the house and have to open a wall for repairs.)
Any suggestions on cleaning techniques to help cut back on his symptoms? Any particular cleaning products that you would recommend using or avoiding? We live in an older house so there is probably tons of junk built up throughout the walls and pipes. We did have a new furnace put in last winter and also a hospital grade filter due to our older son's lung disease so that should be ok, other than replacing it on schedule. Any other suggestions? Any tips or advice in general?
Thanks so much in advance. Sorry to ramble so much.
