Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Soo... completely off-topic - Asthma resources?

Nighttime coughing can also be dustmite allergy. Just throwing that one out there.

One way to check is to:

a) put inexpensive encasements on mattress and pillows,
b) wash bedding in HOT water (and dry on the highest heat setting permissible),
c) stuffed/soft toys-- wash in a pillowcase, then stick them in a freezer for a few days, and this will both remove dustmite poo (the allergen) and kill the critters themselves.

If that helps significantly... then dustmite allergy is pretty likely. We wash bedding pretty frequently (at least weekly is advised for dustmite allergy).

What you describe sounds a bit like my older son's pattern, though you're describing only one repetition. He was diagnosed at 6 mos, though, yours is 6 yrs?

We had excellent results with a massive dose of beclomethasone maintained for a full year, and an allergy med. We avoided singulair b/c of serious side effects. He is now on a normal dose of bec, and the allergy med, and was able to be off bec out of asthma season.

The main thing I notice about your story is that it sounds like getting Complete control is a problem. You might need to overcall the meds for a while to truly end the current exacerbation, and then be able to go years barite the next. Ummm someone shoot the autocorrect. Anyway, rushing, but might be somewhat brittle asthma, pm me if you want, we have two cases brittle and one case "garden variety" in the family.

http://justnebulizers.com/micro-air-electronic-nebulizer-system-ne-u22v.html

The above is a link to the portable nebulizer we use. I did a lot of research and liked this one for its portability, the mask and mouth pieces, and that it used an AC adapter or AA batteries you can buy anywhere - even on vacation.

We were able to get our insurance to cover it under the Disability Act. If a puffer with a spacer does not provide a medically acceptable rescue, it can be argued that a regular neb limits the ability to live a full life (field trips, sports practices and competitions, etc. where electricity is not available. Plus the ultrasonic delivery is much more effective and speedy.

And, really, this is not that 'off topic'...check it out --
asthma+giftedness ---
Misdiagnosis And Dual Diagnoses Of Gifted Children And Adults: Adhd, Bipolar ...
By James T. Webb
Chapter 8

http://books.google.com/books?id=NQ...asthma%20linked%20to%20high%20iq&f=false

You guys are awesome. This is all very new to me.... The doctor hasn't done any tests or anything just yet. The nurse mentioned the spirometry test, but I am assuming he wants her asthma under control before doing that? They just sent me the paper work to get a blood test done for allergies (we don't currently know of any - hoping she's not allergic to the dog!) I'll be taking her to the lab place later this week.

Currently we are using a metered dose inhaler with a spacer, haven't done a nebulizer. At this point I have a nice long list of questions for the ped when we go after the allergy test!

Two with asthma here as well. (sigh) My oldest's, however, seems to be almost totally outgrown. DS's is less frequent but more severe when it happens. Both kids are triggered by illness.

epoh, be sure to REALLY discuss those test results. RAST values are notorious for producing false positives-- most often for food, but also for pet and pollen/mold allergies.

With food, it's easy enough to conduct a challenge to find out for sure-- but with the others, it's more hit and miss and depends a LOT on patient history. BEFORE you go into that appointment, be sure to arm yourself with a thumbnail journal of when your child seems to have the most trouble. That is, under what circumstances, both general (early fall until frost) and particular (at Jenny's house, where there are three cats and a parakeet).

If you have seen no evidence that your dog is a problem, then it (probably) isn't. A positive allergy test really doesn't mean much with respect to tolerating a particular animal, unfortunately.

So as in my example with dustmite allergy, it's more a matter of seeing whether or not efforts to reduce exposure to that allergen have any discernable impact. That will trump test results every time. You obviously don't want to find a new home for your dog just to "see" if it helps, though! Pay close attention next time you travel, though, to see whether or not you see improvement when away from the dog-- or worsening symptoms when you return home to your dog.

Spirometry is hard when a kid is impaired, but there's no real reason that I know of why a physician wouldn't want to check it as a baseline measurement.

You may want to check with your allergist whether dust mites are an issue in your area. When I raised it with our allergist, a national recognized expert from National Jewish Medical Center, he politely told me that dust mites are not an issue in Colorado because it is too dry here. He said that if we lived in Houston it would be a different story. I don't know whether dust mites live in N. Texas. You may want to check before going through dust mite mitigation.

Thanks for the info. I don't know about dust mites, but her mattress and pillow are in waterproof/allergen cases, so that should help if that was an issue. She does have some old carpet in her room, that we could remove (didn't have the money to do the whole house at once.)

We've always had a dog, and both sets of grandparents have dogs, as well as nearly all my siblings and husbands siblings, hah, so she's exposed all the time. She doesn't seem to cough much during the night, but the evenings and mornings do seem worse than the daytime. She coughs at school and at home... currently she's had this cough for going on 3 months. In the past we've seen the same thing, where she gets a cold and the cough would linger for a few months. She never had any other symptoms that we noticed, so it was always dismissed by us and the ped. We have a new ped, and happened to go in this time because we were going to visit a newborn baby and wanted to make sure she wasn't contagious.

It's been hard to track when her breathing seems worse/better, because she's 1) attention seeking and 2) six years old. LoL If we start talking about coughing, she starts coughing, 100% of the time!

That is where a peak flow meter is your friend. She can blow into it every day and it tells you an objective measure of her lung capacity. The peak flow will alert you when her lung function is below normal, probably before she can feel it herself.