My Son Has Ashma

My granddaughter, who is now 10, was diagnosed with asthma when she was around a year old. She has had to take steroids, prednisone, a few times so that her chronic inability to breathe well was stopped. I don't see that you have a choice. The alternative to not taking steroids is permanent lung damage.

I think her rescue inhaler may contain a steroid. You may have a choice to use one without a steroid. I don't know. But again, not using a rescue inhaler can result in death at one extreme and permanent inability to breathe well at the other end. There is no good result from not using a rescue inhaler.

Steroids can damage the body and can have bad side affects. You have to trust that the doctor will do all that is possible to keep those to a minimum. I know a couple of women who had asthma as children and used steroids. The are OK. My granddaughter, at 10, shows no signs that the steroids have harmed her.

I've had to take prednisone a few times in my life and have suffered no ill effects. I think where the risk comes in is mostly when one has to take something like prednisone for an extended period of time. I don't know about your son, but I'm guessing that he's taking a steroid now to get him back to health and then he'll stop taking it. What counts then, is being faithful to follow treatment goals so that he won't have to have prednisone so often.

Please find a way to take this in stride. Why are you so worried that you can't eat or swallow. Asthma is common. Most people with asthma live a normal life. They do have to closely follow a regimen until their lungs heal and with simple precautions many do not continue to have serious attacks. Some, like my daughter, are more sensitive to allergens and have more frequent attacks which do increase in severity until she has to take prednisone. Her lungs heal and she's back to not having to use her inhaler for awhile. She lives a pretty normal life. IF she were more careful her asthma would be better controlled and I do worry that over time her lungs will build up scar tissue.

This is just part of life. I'd rather she have asthma then type 1 diabetes. Of course, we don't have a choice but sometimes knowing that something could be worst helps us to put what is happening into perspective.

Your son will be fine. You have to make some adjustments and accepting steroids may be an important part of that. Used judiciously, steroids do not harm the body and are in fact life savers.

If you haven't had his lack of speech evaluated, I strongly urge you to do that immediately. He will most likely learn to talk with speech therapy or if that's not possible he can learn sign language which will enable him to live a more typical life. You can both learn sign language now so that you can communicate. Some mothers and babies start "talking" using signs before the baby is a year old. Please don't leave him in a "no man's land" without some form of language.

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You need to be more specific about the steroids....what i am guessing is that he probably got pretty bad and was put on prednisone for a couple of days. My son has had to do this a couple of times and I did not like it either. What I would suggest is to use Pulmicort daily for him. There is a very low dosage of steroids in this that really helps keep the symptoms away. And the steroid in Pulmicort is much lower that what you would give if he had to get on Prednisone to controlhis symptoms. My son is 6 now and doing fine. I almost think that he has outgrown his asthma now. I know what you are going through though-it it scary.

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My daughter is also 4yr and has severe asthma. Right now the doctor has her on Pulmicort morning and night, Singular at bedtime, Prednisone for the next 4 days, and Certirizine for the next week. She gets Breathing tested every 3 months and this time they found a small bacterial growth in her lungs that we caught in the early stages. Yes, it is extremely scary and overwhelming especially when you look at your little one and think "Are all these medications really helping her or hurting her". I have been with our little girl in the hospital when she has bad attacks and let me just say that I never want that to happen to her again, so if taking these medications right now works, then I wont second guess our doctor. What I can tell you is if you have questions, doesnt matter how big or small or if it sounds silly, ask. That is what your doctor is there for. I know exactly what you are going through. PM me if you need someone to talk to. :)

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I have asthma... have had it since I was a child.

You NEED to give him his medications.
If not, Asthma will get worse.
It is a very serious thing....

TALK to your Pediatrician... learn about it.

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Dear M.:

I would go to this web site www.anatomystery.com and email your question there.

Kim

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You need to be more specific with your question. What is the name of the medication he is on? Did they put him on a preventative too what's the name of that? My oldest has been on asthma medications since he was a baby and he is almost 9 the only problem they have caused him is they can have side effects that cause you to have a hard time focusing but he has iep (he goes to ot for writing completely unrelated to asthma and the meds) so its included that he needs to sit in the front, be given extra time on exams, and redirected to his exams this would have been on a 504 if he didn't need the OT along with being kept indoors when it is extremely cold or hot and humid and when the tree pollen count is high. I would much rather deal with asthma then type 1 diabetes or something even worse. Once its under control I am sure you will feel much better about things. Is he going to a pulmanologist? He should. Sometimes it takes a few tries to figure out which preventative med will work with your child.

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When you have concerns like this you should talk to your doctor and have him explain to you beyond the "this will make him feel better."

Although asthma is common, it can easily be deadly if not managed well. Your son should have a maintenance regimen as well as a rescue regimen for acute attacks. Chances are he is on steroids because he had a recent attack. With an asthma attack, the pipes that allows one to breathe becomes inflamed. It swells up an narrows making breathing difficult. This is why you hear the wheezing. This attacks are usually exacerbated by exposure to (triggers) allergens and exertion. The inhaled steroids help with the the inflammation of the pipes. It is also added to you maintenance regimen to minimize an asthmatic's reaction to triggers. It allows your child to lead a better "normal" life. Side effects are minimal and the dosages are so controlled that this is quite safe for children.

Check out webmd it should have something about inhaled steroids and asthma.

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My oldest son is 22 and has had asthma all of his life. My second child, my older daughter was hospitalized at 5 months old due to her asthma. She was the one who was put on steroids first, at 5 months. She is now 19 and rarely has any asthma issues. She does have bad allergies. My son, deals with both and when and IF he goes to the doctor they again put him on the steroids. He played football for over 10 years and ran track for 15 years and rides his bike everyday still. The steroids do help but you have to learn about all that you can about asthma and allergies. Go to the library and use the internet to educate yourself, so that when you see your child in distress you know what to do.
Our younger son also has asthma and when he has an episode, I just get what is needed and don't have to really think about it. I know the signs and he is also very athletic. Don't stop him from living.
I am curious as to why he can't talk and let you know how he feels. You will have to get him to help you so that you and he know when the asthma is at it's worse.
Hang in there.

My daughter was on four medications, missing 4 to 8 weeks a year because of asthma and bronchitis problems and had severe eczema. All my doctors would do is recommend more breathing treatments, antibiotics, and so on.

We've been dealing with it since she was an infant, at 18 months I insisted that she be tested for food allergies and they did the scratch test, finding eggs, soy, corn being the food allergies and several environmental ones. I also stopped ALL vaccines/shots at that time because I knew that they were 'brewed /cooked' in egg yolks. Saved my daughter's life I do believe.

She continued to be very sick but it wasn't a daily occurrence but it was still severe enough for the above. I took the bull by the horns when she was 10 - having her futher food tested and they found it was 21 foods, not 3. Removed them cold turkey. The immediate problems of coughs and ear infections went away. Started implementing supplements and adamant about keeping her diet 'clean' of offenders, she has been allergy and asthma free and off all medications for quite a while now.

Shots - If you take the time to read the package inserts, the ingredients contain all of the things that she is allergic to. They also contain a lot of things that should not be in a child's body. Start with:

Healing the New Childhood Epidemics: Autism, ADHD, Asthma, and Allergies: The Groundbreaking Program for the 4-A Disorders, by Dr. Kenneth Bock

The Vaccine Book, by Dr. Robert Sears

What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Childhood Vaccinations, by Dr. Stephanie Cave

Evidence of Harm, by David Kirby

VERY IMPORTANT - Vitamin D3 has been found to be great for asthmatics!!! For the little ones that can't swollow a pill, there is liquid form but do know the pills are very small. For my kids, they take 2,000 mg to 4,000 mg a day, depending on the amount of sunshine they get. It is hard to take too much as it does leave the body quickly. I personally take 10,000 mg to 15,000 a day because I know what my levels are and that I need to.

Omega 3s - get a good DHA fish oil, preferably made from the small fish.
Vitamin C

I had asthma growing up. You didn't mention the specific medicine he was put on... I was on theophylline at about that age. I had the liquid but learned to swallow pills quickly because the liquid tasted awful. I took it every day for many years. Also used a rescue inhaler of albuterol. Only went on steroids when it got really bad and for short term. There are a lot of 'controller' medicines out there now. Advair, pulmicort and some others. You might want to ask to meet with an asthma educator at your local hospital or a referral to a pulminologist so you can discuss the long term effects of the treatment you choose. When I was a kid it was very scary to not be able to breathe and there were a few trips to the ER because of it. It is important to get his symptoms under control with some sort of controller medicine that will usually be taken every day. The way my Dr explained it when I was a little older was that the 'attacks' would do damage to my lungs if I did not treat it and the damage would be worse as I aged than the treatment was... I hope that helps a little bit. Feel free to message me directly if you want to chat abuot it.

You can treat it naturally. My husband is a license acupuncturist from China and believes it can be done. Just make sure you have an acupuncturist who knows how to deal with children and is actually licensed.

Good luck.

N.

You don't say which medication the doctor gave you. Sometimes they do the steroids to get it under control then ease you off them. However, I have asthma and acupuncture saved me. Originally I went for acupuncture once a month. It helped so well that I didn't need any medication. I can no longer go once a month so now I take Advair as preventative and still go for acupuncture when I can and keep a rescue inhaler with me at all times. The acupuncturist also give me herbs to take when I have trouble breathing. Definitely check it out but go to a licensed acupuncturist or a Medical Doctor that does acupuncture.

Good luck!

very treatable with homeopathy. no side effect, cheaper in the long run than conventional meds.
check it out:
http://www.homeopathyforwomen.org/acute.htm
Good Luck
V.

Hi M.,

I'm so sorry about your son. However, I'm glad I can help. My
friend whose a nurse, son had asthma since he was 5 yrs. and
often used an inhaler. When her son tried Energy Enhancer
(DRUG FREE) patches (it's like acupuncture with out needles)
placed at a specific acupressure points it worked great that after
one or two tries he no longer had to use his inhaler and hasn't for
about 2 yrs. now. Now that's amazing! If your interested in some-
thing like this log on www.mynanopatches.com It has also been
featured on PBS on Alternative Medicine and CNN. You can also
call ###-###-####for more information.

Warm regards,
E.