Omlet Smart Autodoor - New in box

[chuckmum6]

My YS has asthma that has become worse recently (the high pollen count no doubt), normally he has an occasional wheeze. Tonight he was coughing continuously whilst struggling for breath, it took him two pulls on his inhaler and a good hour to calm his breathing (the coughing stopped much sooner). I was on the verge of going to the walk in centre with him, but he did improve. I just wondered how many pulls of ventolin should have? He is asleep now, but still coughing occasionally I will be at the doctors with him first thing in the morning. How have you coped with asthma in children as wasn't really sure what more I could do other than give him ventolin and calm him?

[Lewis]

Doctors sounds like a good idea - maybe get a brown inhaler too

 

I sometimes need to take an inhaler but mainly 'cos of cat allergy and dust.

I don't 'do' exercise

 

Could try a bowl of hot water and steaming. Dehumidifiers over summer if pollen is bad?

Sure I read something in coffee can help open up alveoli, probs not best for young children though

[chuckmum6]

Thanks, the steam sounds like a good idea, he has a daily preventative inhaler which is flixotide orange not brown. OH is taking him to the doctors ASAP, as I'm teaching.

[Seagazer]

I can remember my DD coughing all night as a toddler with asthma, absolutely horrible.

 

All I can remember is that her primary school would always ask me to take her home if she'd had more than 5 uses of her puffer on any one day. I got to know the office staff very well

 

I'm never sure when you should decide to take more emergency action ie taking them to hospital. YS had a horrible throat thing just before xmas and was really struggling to breathe, I stayed in the shower room with him whilst the steamy atmosphere seemed to calm it down a bit. The doctor said the next day that if he'd made a whistling noise as he breathed in then I should take him straight to the hospital. He had been doing that the night before, I didn't know this. I think that I should have taken him in hindsight but you never like to feel like your bothering people.

 

I think your OH should definitely ask the doctor what the criteria is for seeking further help, it would then make it easier for you to decide if it happens again. I'd probably say err on the side of caution and if you're worried then take him.

[Rhapsody]

The Rapeseed is in flower here and everyone with a sensitivity (including my dog) is suffering. Make sure he showers the pollen off himself as often as humanly possible and changes clothes. It really helps.

[The Dogmother]

Yes, I've been sneezing with it too - it seems to be the only crop which is faring well with the lack of rain and had flowered early.

 

Rosie was asthmatic as a child and benefited from steam inhaling, in the winter I used to pop a damp towel with a few drops of Olbas Oil on it over the radiator in her room.

[Lydia]

See if he can take the combined Flixotide/Serevent inhaler called Seretide (dark green one). It's much better than just one of those and it works well for me.

 

Also, if you don't already have one, get a volumatic from your doctors and take the inhalers through that. You can get them on prescription. If you don't have one a good stop gap is to get a plastic beaker or something like that, cut a large so that the inhaler mouthpiece fits snugly when fitted from the outside of the beaker and get him to take his inhalers through it. It works in the same way as a volumatic.

 

I started taking Ventolin/Salbutamol when I was 7 and took far more than I should when I had attacks because it was all I had.(preventative meds such as Seretide etc were in their infancy then). You can take a surprisingly large amount without harm but I wouldn't recommend it especially in a child. Also it is a steroid and regular use can lead to brittle bones (I have osteopenia now because of intensive use of inhalers over 30 plus years).

 

I hope your son gets some relief soon. Good luck.

[CatsCube]

My 5 year old son has severe asthma, has been hospitailsed 5 times with pneumonia, he has the seratide preventative inhaler evening and night and has the ventalin/salbutamol inhaler two puffs 4 times a day. If he is having coughing problems he has 10 puffs every hour. We get through a lot of inhalers! He also has preventative antibiotics 3 times a week to help stop coughs from developing into infections, were sort of on top of it now.

 

I definatly echo Lydia, and use a spacer if you don't already, it does make the inhaler more effective.

[Snowy]

I would find out if your GP practice has a respiratory nurse specialist - most practices do these days. He should be having regular reviews of his medication so that it can be tweaked in order to try to prevent these acute attacks.

[HarrisonFamily]

My son suffers from croup very badly and I have found a humidifier placed in his room is wonderful, also worked with a friends daughter who has severe asthma.....

[Tiggy]

lots of people are coughing and wheezy this year even those who have never had hayfever/asthma before, seeing the nurse who specialises in asthma at the surgery is a good idea. Spacers are good particularly for children and very helpful if asthma is playing up, If he normally only needs his blue inhaler occassionally switching to seretide is a big jump a brown inhaler at the moment would probrably be a good idea as would some antihistamine. You really need to get advice at your GP surgery.

How to spot bad asthma:-

 

Blue inhaler does not help

too breathless to complete a sentence

cannot lie down without cough/breathless/wheeze

 

give 10 puffs blue inhaler through spacer and get help

[Clash City Rocker]

The Rapeseed is in flower here and everyone with a sensitivity (including my dog) is suffering.

 

I was listening to a guy on the radio talking about Hayfever/Allergies.

He recommended that anyone who suffered during the Rapeseed season should replace their usual cooking oil with Rapeseed Oil all year round, as a continued use of Rapeseed oil helped the body's imune system against Rapeseed intolerance ?

 

It sounded a reasonable suggestion.

[Seagazer]

That's interesting, might try that. YS was always worse when we went to stay at our caravan and the fields were full of rapeseed.