Help with Asthmatic Child.

My daughter was born with a heart and lung defect that she wasn't supposed to live through. Her lungs are still a big factor in her health and she is very susceptible to illness. Her Pediatric Pulmonogist from the beginning has been Dr. Gelfand and Dr. Copenhaver. They are truly the best there is out there. Their number is ###-###-####. They also have a sleep doctor specialist attached to their practice. Dr. Copenhaver has seen my daughter through some very serious illnesses and has always been extremely helpful. I would highly recommend them.

Did your ENT say why he had to wait until he was 18? I Googled 'deviated septum in children' and on the first page there were Children's Hospitals posting the procedure (http://www.childrenshospital.org/az/Site707/mainpageS707P.... Perhaps you need a second opinion from another ENT (I have a great one in Plano if you're interested).
At night, does he sleep with a humidifier - may the mointure in the air will help..? Can he sleep propped up on pillows? Powdered Singular helps my daughter when she coughs from allergies, but then again, she doesn't have asthma. Good luck.

We are currently going through a similar situation with my son, but no apnea. I'd like to recommend Dr. Wasserman at Dallas Allergy & Immunology... they are a pediatric practice and Wasserman has been voted best in his field several years in a row by his peers. He is very good and we have learned to follow his recommendations to the letter, for our son's benefit. Everytime we try to ease off, my son has suffered for it... and I have learned that the man REALLY knows what he's talking about.

The best thing about his approach is that he uses the medications AS NEEDED. He prescribes boldly to get the asthma under control and then they come off the medication while they are healthy. Thus only giving the medication necessary to maintain their health. Currently, my son is doing well and only takes his Allegra, but when he is ill we use the nebulizer steroid combinations as well.

D.,
Have you switched to non-toxic cleaners? The cleaners you use, even certain furniture or carpeting can cause asthma. Truly some changes in the home could make a huge difference. Here is a link to a video I strongly suggest you view about a child that suffered from respiratory issues and where it led his parents.

http://content.shaklee.com/shaklee/flash/RealDirt/

If you use facebook here is another video along the same vein that was just posted yesterday: Become a fan of Healthy Child Healthy World and look at the recent video by Christopher Gavigan.

I am a Shaklee Independent Distributor. Shaklee's non-toxic cleaners have been featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show. I use them myself and they are awesome. They get the job done and you won't have the "fumes" in your house anymore.

Contact me if I can help!
P.
http://www.shaklee.net/healinghappens/getclean/index

D.,

I am an upper cervical chiropractor. Clinically I have had several children with advanced asthma that have been helped by specific upper cervical care. It's very gentle, and very precise. I would like you to research for yourself the effectiveness of this care and then contact me with any further questions if you think you would like to try this avenue. It seems as if you've run out of options in the medical model, maybe a more natural approach is a possibility. By further understanding your child's case, I would be in a better position to see if upper cervical chiropractic could help. Here is a great patient-run website and I've included two articles from it to get you started in your research. www.upcspine.com
http://www.upcspine.com/reslib3.asp?id=111&cat=2%20&a...=
http://www.upcspine.com/reslib3.asp?id=50&cat=2%20&am...=
I truly hope this helps in your family's journey. God Bless and let me know if I can be of any help.
Dr. Jenn

Do you believe in prevention is better than a cure?
If so, why don't you try to keep your 6-year old away from things that trigger his symptoms such as smokey-party environment.
Do not spray hair sprays with him around, use of adequate humidifier in his bed-room at nights, good ventilation, but keep him away from pollens, grass or weeds when the lawn-man comes around. When these are taking care of, his symptoms will subside. Ashtma goes away as age progresses, but you have to do your part by keeping your child safe. Do not forget to teach him how to use his medical apparatus and applications. You might not be home when it would strike. keep all breathing device septic, clean and handy at all times.

I wish him a speedy recovery.

J..I.

D., boy have you been through it all!
Let me first say, God Bless you! I know what you are going through oh so well. When my son a was 6 we had undergone all of those steps as well and I had just grown accustom to the fact that we would have a regular hospitalization every year in February and April because that is what our routine had been for 6 years. Then when he turned 7 our ins changed so we had to change doctors, I hated it but it turned out to be the most amazing thing ever! He started seeing Dr Shridharan at Physicians for Childrens in Plano at Preston and Legacy and she took my baby and I am not sure what she did to him but she found the problem and fixed it! For 4 years now he has been taking 5mg of Singulair daily and it works wonders. When she first started him it was a concoction of Singulair with Zyrtec and some over the counter stuff to get him through the rough times and Singulair is the maintenance drug. In the past this did not work but I believe because she gave him so much at once it brought him down to the level of manageability. He has not used his inhaler, neb machine or anything outside of Singulair for 4 years, every once in a while when seasons change I can hear the change in him and he adds Zyrtec for about 5-6 days but it never gets to the point of being out of control. I wish you well and hope things get better.

I have never seen any of those doctors you listed so I cannot comment on them personally but to me it sounds as if you should at least seek second opinions.

Just wanted to add that you can use the homeopathy and Lithy Tree and Briar Rose drops on top of all the prescribed medication without negative interaction. You don't have to dump your MD to try some of the other stuff. I second the recommendation to add a chiropractor to your routine and try the supplements. You could also try cranio-sacral massage therapy. It's very gentle and can help the body in all sorts of subtle ways you might not expect. You're already trying everything you can think of, and this is just one more option to check out. If the massage is going to be really helpful, you'll know after the first session. www.kenpiercy.com is my favorite guy for cranio. I take my kids to chiropractor Melissa Shelton at Preston and Hedgecoxe.
I kind of assume your child's bedroom has no carpet, but if it does, try moving him into an room with hard floors for a week to see if it makes a difference. Carpet can harbor all kinds of creepy allergens. My son's MD/PhD allergy/immunology doctor rolled his eyes, but removing my son from the carpet significantly reduced the terrible night-time coughing immediately.

Good luck. You are your child's best advocate, because only you can keep the whole picture in mind. A lot of specialists only see what they are trained to treat, so it's up to you to pull together the team you need to keep your child healthy and happy.

S.

Hi D.,

My daughter was diagnosed with asthma and allergies when she was 2. She is now 6 so I totally understand your battle with inhalers and steriods, etc.

I was finally at my wits end this summer and started to take her to a chiropractor and switched her pedi. Most doctors just do assembly line medicine and treat each asthma allergy patient the same and not look at the patients as individuals and then treat them accordingly. I switched to Dr. Deborah Bain in Frisco because I heard that she was into treating her patients as individuals and she also uses homeopathy treatments as well as traditional medicine. After seeing Dr. Bain and Christy Duffy her NP, we decided to do extensive allergy testing (IGE and IGG food testing--just a simple blood test) and found out that she is allergic to almost everything we were feeding her so we modified her diet and along with visits to the chiropractor she has had a much better transition into the winter months. We took her off the inhaled steriods about 8 months ago and we have not needed it since!! She has probably had 1-2 episodes of needeng her other inhaler and this was due to outdoor allergies. Per Dr. Bain, I put her on a couple of herbs that you can buy at Sprouts or any store that has health food itmes. One is Lithy Tree that helps with lung health and briar rose that helps boost her immune system. The only time I use zyrteck is if I know we are going to be outside on a windy day or over at someones home who has pets. She is severly allergic to outdoor allergens and pet dander so the food changes did not help in that area.

So this is her routine:
*Vitamins everyday
*Lithy Tree drops in juice 2-3 times a week and if she is having symptoms I do Lithy Tree 2-3 times as day until they are gone
*Briar Rose drops in juice 2-3 time a week or same as above
*Zyrtek only if I know outdoor or pet allergies are going to be bad. I have also tried a natural allergy med that is made especially for Texas tree allergies( I found it at Whole Foods)
*Non-steriod inhaler...only as last resort if she is really having a hard time breathing. We have only used this 1-2 times in the past 8 months.
*A healthy diet is sooo important as well. Very little sugar!!

I was a very concerned about taking her off meds because asthmas is such a serious problem and when you child can't breathe you will do anything to help them so it seemed that all the inhalers and steriods were the answer, but I was wrong...there is a different way of treating this.

I am now a beliver in homeopathic meds and herbs. I believe that God made our bodies to function naturally and choosing to change to Dr. Bain and going the chiropractic way was the best thing for us!! I hope this helps! God bless you!! Feel free to send me a message if you have any other questions.

Watch his diet, give him more of vegan food, more fruits and raw vegetables,spinach soup and beetroot juice,turn to naturopathy diet.

Hi D.,

Have you tried Chiropractic care? If there are areas in your sons upper back and neck that are out of place it can put pressure on the nerves that supply the lungs and result in asthma. Also food or environmental sensitivities could be causing the asthmatic reactions. I am a chiropractor and I frequently work with children to eliminate allergies and asthma. I use Applied Kinesiology (aka muscle testing) to help to determine what is causing the sensitivity and to help eliminate it. I do this by using a cold level laser and/or by using nutritional supplementation to help make the body healthier and to aide in its recovery. There are so many different causes of asthma. By using the applied kinesiology we can narrow in on the cause and find your son some relief! If you have any questions, or would like more information, please don't hesitate to visit my website at www.sullivanchiropractic.com or call me at ###-###-####. Thank you!
D. S.

Hi D.,

If it is truly due to asthma that would mean his asthma is not under control.

I take my daughter to an allergy and asthma specialist in Duncanville.

One thing I learned is that if there is any sort of infection (such as sinus) that will make the asthma act up. If you are doing treatments every night there is something aggitating the asthma. He should have an antibiotic to knock it out.

Also, I don't see where your son is on an asthma medicine to help control it like adavair that is taken daily. Not sure where you live but I would reccomend seeing an asthma specialist.

Hope this helps!

Take care and GOd bless!

M.

You can clean your humidifier with bleach to stop spores and bacteria. I would recommend every day.

Have you had a sleep study done? And if you did or if you are going to have it done at Children's Dallas. My son has sleep apnea and not until we had a sleep study done did the doctors realize that he was having serious issues with being able to keep his oxygen levels up. He would drop down into the 40 percent while asleep. We had one done at Medical City and they woke him up all night long thinking that it was the they way they had him hooked up so it was not an accurate study. Had one done down at Childrens and they allowed him to sleep all night. (the tech did tell me they were extremely nervous and wanted to wake him up )But with that test we were able to get Oxygen for him to sleep with at night and monitors. Also a much better picture for our pulmanologist (Dr. Silver) who said that my son is like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Until you actually see him sleep you do not realize how bad it is. We had adenoids and tonsils removed. Have a hospital grade air cleaner, all no stuffed animals in his room and pillows mattress and bedding all protected against dust mites. I know that you have a great pediatrician we used him until our insurance no longer covered him, ENT has a great rep, I do not know your pumanologist. Good luck.