Asthma or Something Else??

my son had this and started when he was 3 months old and coughed everyday until he was about 2. The doctor wouldn't give us a nebulizer to use at home and had to take him in about every 2 weeks for a breathing treatment as well as chest xrays which I called the torture chamber. He hated the xrays and they didn't show anything so after about 4 visits of them the doctors just decided not to keep taking chest xrays and check his breathing every 2 weeks and everytime we went for those checkups they would put him on the nebulizer breathing treatment. I think he would have been better if we had the nebulizer at home and used it everyday until his cough was gone. We lived in California his first year, then moved to Washington where he got better and occasionally needed to go for a breathing treatment. When we moved to Missouri 3 years later he did really well and only got the cough occasionally usually in the fall months. When we moved to Tennessee he got really bad but we were burning wood for heat and did not realize that was the cause of him being sick and was diagnosed with actual asthma at that time. After we quit burning wood he got a lot better and rarely needed his inhaler. When we moved to Georgia, all 3 of our kids had asthma symptoms and was given the nebulizer at that point. They were sick for the 3 years we lived there with breathing problems and ear pain which was considered allergies and wasn't ear infections. I also got sick a lot there with strep throat, and youngest son was allergic to something outside and had to wear long sleeves and pants to play outside or he would break out with a rash when he was outside but if he had long sleeves and jeans on he wouldn't break out. That was the strangest thing. We moved back to Missouri when hubby retired from the Army and all 3 kids are very healthy. The oldest that had all the bronchiolitis and asthma as a kid has no problems now and hasn't used his inhaler for 6 years now. The youngest starts coughing every fall and uses the nebulizer when needed but usually after a week of treatments he gets a lot better and doesn't need it for a while.
I know this is long but just wanted to let you know that in our case it seemed that theirs was probably allergy related due to the different areas we lived in and some states were worse for them than others. Carpets can also aggrevate it as it seemed the apartments we lived in with carpet he coughed more.
Most of the time they will grow out of it in time but some kids can grow out of it by age 2 or 3 and others will actually have asthma and have it all their lives. Most of the kids I know that had the problems as babies grew out of it by age 3-5. Our oldest son was around 9 but was a lot better by age 2 and didn't cough but during fall and spring. I think the different climates were the issue with him. We were blessed that he was never fussy with it. It was just sad to hear him coughing all the time but he was a very happy baby.

When my son was 7 mos old he got the flu and then it went into bronchiolitis. He had to have Pulmicort every 12 hours and Albuterol every 4 hours for about a week and a half. It was terrifying and exhausting! The doctor told me he was too sick to be in the hospital. She was concerned his immune system couldn't handle any additional germs. After that episode he has not had any additional problems. He is almost 15 mos. old now. If you are truly concerned I would get a second opinion. When children are this young they're unable to tell us what's wrong and perhaps it should be addressed. He was never put on Singulair. Good luck!

L.,

I'm right there with you with my two youngest (3-1/2 & 1-1/2). We finally decided to take our 3-1/2 year old to an allergiest who also handles asthma. He actually gave us several different options with her medication and breathing treatments. They seem to be helping alot more. We go Tuesday for actual allergy testing to determine exactly what is causing her issues. She's been suffering like this for two years off and on.

My 1-1/2 year old has just started having a lot of issues. So he may be going to the allergiest next. I'm not sure where you located but our allergiest is Dr. Michael L. and he is great out in Lees Summit. Our entire family has used him (mom's, brother's, myself, husband, & kids).

I would keep up with the treatments but I would make an appointment with an allergy specialist or a pulmonologist. Usually the way to diagnose bronchiolitis is by an X-ray and with they type of sputum your child produces. If this is what it is there is a good chance that your child will grow out of it when she gets older as her airways get bigger. Moms tend to know when there is something wrong with thier child and sometimes the doctor is right but if you have a strong feeling it is something else I would get a second opinion right away. A second opinion never hurts and it will make you feel better. I had an ER doctor one time tell me my son has bronchiolitis and he had croup instead so he gave my son the wrong treatment. I took my son to his regular doctor and got the right medication later. Follow your instincts with this one and although coughing can last with what your daughter has it can also be something else. Did they just give her pulmicort or did they give her albuterol or xopenex as well? Sometimes getting a treatment with pulmicort alone can cause more coughing.

We have been through this just recently. If the meds aren't working, it isn't asthma, and you need to get her to a pulmonologist. He could have a rare vascular ring like my son did (although she is a little older than the typical diagnostic timeline), or cystic fibrosis, etc. Do you have any CF people in your family? Anyone that dealt with this type of thing even back to great great aunts? That may reveal something to you. A CT scan would be in order. It may take a few months to get over the bronchiolitis, but asthma isn't caused by having it. They give asthma meds because that is the same treatment for bronchiolitis. My baby was hospitalized for 2 days for it, and got better from the meds in 2 weeks, but then got bad again, and did have something else that caused the meds to stop working. HTH

Hi L.,

My son went through a similar spell when he was just under a year old, I don't remember the exact diagnosis, but it sounds about the same. We did breathing treatments 3 times a day for quite a while. He did grow out of it and is a very healthy and active 11 year old. Just hang in there!

M. C

I agree that it could be allergies or asthma...however, if your gut is telling you that it is something else, be persistent or change doctors. My daughter who is 2 &1/2 now, experienced the same thing about the time she was one. She had been ill, and then the cough would not go away. I had her to the doctor and they kept insisting there was nothing there. Finally I asked for a chest x-ray and they complied. Turns out she had pneumonia. My doctor and nurse practioner apologized profusely. Turns out that sometimes pneumonia cannot be heard in little ones. She was treated with antibiotics and was better in about a week. Six weeks later it happened again. This time they did not hesitate to get an x-ray. She had a new case of pneumonia. I took her to a pulminologist who diagnosed her with asthma and we did the Pulmocort and Singulair and 6 months later there were no signs of asthma or anything. I believe she has seasonal allergies. My doc told me some kids just really struggle with that first year. If you are in the St. Louis Area, Dr. John Spivey at St. John's hospital is an awesome Pulminologist. He had childhood asthma and understand what the kids go thru. Good luck to you, and it sounds like you are doing a very good job.

My middle son had chronic croup as a baby as well. We spent many nights walking in the cold or standing in or by the shower to open his airways. Asthma and allergies run in my family so I coud believe what the Dr. was telling us; however, my son has now been fully diagnosed with asthma but is medically maintained. He took several meds for a few years and we just recently backed him off of. He still takes allergy meds as he is allergic to all trees, grasses and pollens. Going to an allergist to find out the triggers can be very helpful. Knowing he is allergic to all things out doors we now make sure he showers welll when he comes in at night to help get rid of the allergens. The coughing has mostly gone away, he doesn't use his rescue enhaler and hasn't had any asthma ER visits. If you manage it well your child can live a perfectly "normal" life. My son is a healthy, happy outdoor loving 4th grader.

Good luck and God bless

My son had bronchiolitis about a year ago. He will be 18mos on the 12th. He also has Albuterol and Pulmicort treatments. His wasn't just a cough though, you could hear him wheezing with every breath. We did the breathing treatments every night and it seemed like he didn't need the treatments once the weather got warmer. (months later) Now that it is getting colder, he is more congested and I can hear his chest crackle with flem when he breathes. It just sounds like he needs to have a big cough and get it out. I am not sure about 'growing out of it' because he didn't need the treatments for a long time and now that 'cold season' is here, he is wheezing again. I hope that this helps some. Feel free to ask anymore questions and I will do my best to tell you my experience.

L., stick with your mommy instincts. If you feel something is not right, I say do something about it, you know your child better than the dr. I would also say that even if you totally respect your dr's opinion, I would still get a 2nd opinion. My child had RSV at age 1, and our stories sound similar. Anyhow, after a few years of back and forth at the ER for breathing treatments, and wondering what the heck was actually wrong, I took him to Dr. Jeff Wald at Kansas City Allergy and Asthma. What a difference he made in my son's life. Yes, he had asthma brought on by the outside elements. He would start with coughing and a clear runny nose and seem to have allergies, them BOOM the asthma would kick in. He has not totally outgrown it yet,at age 12, but is much better with Dr. Wald's assistance. He is on Singulair, and just got taken off Pulmicort and put on a new drug called Symbicort, which is Pulmicort and inhaler combined as I was explained. Anyhow, what I am trying to say is don't be afraid to go to a different Dr. because your daughter cannot speak for herself, I just think a specialist would not go the extra mile and figure it out for sure. I'm sure glad I went. Also, be prepared that your daughter may have allergy problems. My son did, and I put him on their shot program at Dr. Walds, it was a pain, and a 5 year program,with weekly shot visits, but he has almost no allergy problems anymore. Their program just "revamps" your immune system so you don't suffer severly from allergies. I'm not sure what they would do for a baby, because by the time we started the shot program my son was 5 or 6. But I would not change it for a thing. His life was changed because of the visit to the asthma dr. Good luck to you and your daughter.

My son has Asthma and is on singular also. We do use a Nebulizer if it gets bad. My Dr suggested to run hot shower and let him breath in the moisture or if cold outside wrap him up and take outside and breath in the cold air. It did help w/his. Also run a cool mist humidifer and get the thick allergy air filters for furnance. But I would also demand a chest x-ray.

My son is also 1 and has recently been diagnosed with Asthma. He kept getting recurring sinus infections and bronchiolitis and I finally insisted on taking him to an allergy specialist to see what his allergies were so that i could try to reduce his exposure to them. Well, the Allergist is also an Asthma Specialist and he couldn't find any "contact" allergies, but did diagnose him with Asthma and put him on Pulmicort. But, I was told by the sepcialist that if my son starting getting sick again and/or got a cough, to give him breathing treatments throughout the day of Albuterol every 4 hours until the symptoms went away and continue with his Pulmicort at night before bed time. He has had a slight cough once since then and 2 treatments of the Albuterol took care of the cough and we haven't had any issues since, knock on wood. Good luck and I hope this helps.

I have a couple of suggestions. First, I highly recommend chiropractic care. My niece had the same troubles breathing all the time, and a few months of the chirpractor helped immensely. It's natural, and you don't have to medicate your kids. But it does cost $$.
My second suggestion is you try chest percussion therapy. If she's doing breathing treatments, do it afterwards. Basically, you lay them on their stomach and put your hand in a cup shape. Then, you pat their back, starting at the lower part, and work your way up. Do it for as long as she'll tolerate it, and every time she has a breathing treatment. This helped with my little girl.
I know it's stressful when you can't immediately make it better for them, but hold on, because you're doing a great job!!!
Good luck!

Our daughter was the same way starting at 10 mos. old. She kept getting Upper Resp Infections and bronchitis. She was also on Singulair, Pulmicort respules, and Albuterol. She was on these meds for 3 yrs. before we found out what was wrong. We had her skin tested for allergies, and come to find out, she was allergic to certain foods that she had been eating all along. (Watermelon, cashews, and codfish) You may want to see if maybe your pediatrician will do a skin test on her or send her to an allergist. She may be allergic to foods she's eating. Once we found out the foods, we removed them from her diet and ours, and at the age of 3, she quit having bronchitis, URIs, and asthma. She's almost 7 yrs. old now, and she has been asthma and URI free for almost 4 yrs. now!

My oldest got really sick about a year ago with a really bad cough and weezing. They gave us a nebulizar and cough medicine with an expectorant and eventually it cleared up but it took a while. My husband has allergy induced asthma so this was a major concern for me as well. At first we had to do the nubulizar every couple of hours and I could really tell when it was medicine time again but it did get progressively better. Now if she starts getting that kind of a cough again, we get out the nebulizar without any hessitation. Allergy medicines help too but for us, the nebulizar works best. Be careful with the allergy meds though becaus if it is asthma related, some of them could make it worse. My husband took Claritin once and that was the worst his asthma had flared up in a really long time. Follow your instincts and don't be afraid to get a second oppinion if you don't trust your doctor.

My son started at 6 weeks old----he had upper respitory problems, bronchiolitis, and allergies since then. Although he has grown out of it. He still has allergies and is more likely to get infections easier. But when he was younger they had him on Singulair, nebulizer treatments with Albuterol, and as he has gotten older an inhaler. He will be 9 in a month and has been doing much better. He did have chest xrays, sinus cat scans, spinal tap, sleep study, a sweat test and many more other tests. I wish you the best of luck and hope your little girl gets better!!

What kind of cough is it? I have 4 girls 2 with bronchiol problems which I am happy to say they have outgrown with age, they are still more sensitive to seasonal allergies and resp. flu. My oldest got pertusis(whooping cough) after she had all of her well baby shots. It is a very scary sounding cough and it is on the rise in the U.S. beacause many people are choosing not to have their children vacinated and because people from foriegn countries in the U.S. have not had the same vacinations we have. If it sounds like she gasps or takes in alot of air before she starts coughing I would have her checked for pertusis, there is not a antibiotic that can stop the pertusis but it can stop the spread of it. Good Luck -email me if you have more questions about the asthma.