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

I love me some data, so I'd love to be able to monitor that! That is on my list for the next appt.

FWIW, we were told DD was too young for a peak flow meter until she was...I think 7 or 8?

My DD8 has daily Zyrtec and Nasonex to control allergies with the option for nebulizer, Singulair and spacer+puffer as needed. Attacks are now rare and generally preceded by another upper respiratory illness or severe allergies. Getting rid of carpet was helpful. The dogs don't bother her. Going to homes with indoor cats is a problem. She does seem to be outgrowing it as she gets older. Ditto what everyone else said about getting flu shots and hand washing. Asthma specific checkups every 6 months with our pediatrician have been helpful for adjusting medications as needed over the years.

Hospital tip; if your kid does not wheeze, and is young enough, take off their shirt before triage. Indrawing around the ribs will get the message across even with nurses who sometimes just assume the blood gasses aren't working right ("oh, he's not at 86% oxygen, he'd be in more distress")

"Indrawing around the ribs" what does that look like?

Exactly what it sounds like;)... The skin between each rib is pulled in with each breath, so you can see the whole ribcage. It usually shows first in the little divet between the collar bones, when it gets a little worse, you can see it at the bottom of the ribs, and then everywhere.

DS can regularly be found running up and down the hallways asking incessant questions when he's in a state that would have most kids looking semi-comatose. I didn't realize just how odd it was until my second started having asthma attacks. Younger DS is a rag doll, or else asleep at 86%... Or was until he was about 4 mos. He hasn't had any significant attacks since then, but I suspect it's still true.


While I'm at it... OlderDS's first asthma attack lasted from three months until about 2 yrs 9 mos, and what we were calling attacks were just exacerbations of one single attack. Don't ignore a "happy wheezer" or a cough. Kids can adapt to amazing things, symptoms have to go away, or they can be self-perpetuating.

I can't overstate how important it was for us to get a respirologist. They're the ones who are going to suggest you try a peak-flow meter early, or write a note you can show the emerg dr. So you don't get sent home too early. Also, that's how our younger son got better treatment right off. Only th e resp. Was ok with prescribing meds at two mos. Not even the pediatric emerge dept was willing to treat him at all. we were just supposed to watch and wait... Like with our older kid. And the docs dont't realize how important the referral is because they think of asthma as basically benign (which is true, just that doesn't mean inadequate treatment is ok)

To add on to that, get to know what your child's breathing looks like when NOT having an attack. Otherwise it can be hard to know what you're looking at.

If your child has cough-variant asthma, though, you may not see this. O2 levels may also be fine. DD has CVA, and hers always were. However, her symptoms were extremely disruptive and incessant. DS wheezes and has low o2, but actually suffers less, because he responds to albuterol (she didn't) and doesn't cough all night.

Epoh - You asked what indrawing around the ribs looks like. It's called retractions, and it causes your child's rib cage to look like that of an emaciated child - skin sucked in between each rib and almost pulling up underneath the bottom rib. If you see this, it is an indication that your child is struggling to get enough oxygen into the lungs and is in distress. If you Google asthma and retraction you'll get sme images.

Another note from experience - peak flow meters are not always reliable in small children or children with motor coordination issues. In those cases, using a stethoscope to listen for the amount of flow going through the lungs (all the way to the bottom vs. only the top portion) and an O2 saturation meter are helpful. I

f your child gets mucous plugs, you can use a cupped hand to rhythmically beat in your child's back from lower lung to upper to help dislodge them - the same technique used for cystic fibrosis. Doing this is a warm shower will often help a child expel a mucous plug and get past a crisis.

Damage? Possibly.

Ask for a referral to a pediatric pulmonologist. There are so many other options beside Flovent (which is crazy expensive and didn't work for either of my kids), and a pulmonic it's will be much better equipped to make decisions about what combinations to try.

Flovent caused auful side effects for me, that's why my kids won't be on it until they can reliably describe these kinds of symptoms. Lots of other options, get a specialist. It's really worth it.