Need a Place to Start to Help Son with Asthma

I have a former 24week preemie, so I know all about asthma. He almost died from whooping cough at age 2, we were in the hospital for a month (ICU for two weeks of that).

At 4 1/2 my son has not been on medication for over a year. Not daily meds, and he rarely gets sick.

We use only natural products in our home. I switched everything from cleaners to laundry to bath soaps/shampoos. This has helped his immune system SO much, he is so much stronger now and can breathe easily.

I am sure others will have great suggestions and there are medical ways to approach this in addition to changing your house. But please really think about looking into this, it will make a big difference and change his life.

GL!

Here is my son's website: www.babiesonline.com/babies/a/alexdaniel

We used a pediatric pulmonologist - Dr. Copenhaver at Presby Dallas. Loved him!

Have you seen an Allergist? If you haven't, I highly recommend seeing one. We see Dr. Tanna and Dr. Haden in Fort Worth on College Street. Both Dr.'s are excellent. They do thorough testing at Cook's Children's Hospital, it is all done by bloodwork. We had our Son tested for allergies with Dr. Tanna when he was 2 1/2. They also give allergy shots there as well if that is what the Dr. recommends (this is usually done on older kids). They also do breathing tests where you blow into a tube and they check your breathing.

It is child friendly there, they have DVD's in the examining rooms. They have a TV for children with cartoons on it in the waiting room, and books.

All of our family has asthma. Our son has gotten better with Singulair. You might want to check into getting Singulair for your Son. Our Son started at 2 years old on Singulair and it is in a powder that you put in applesauce or his food. We don't have to use the inhaler or nebulizer anymore! I'm on Singulair also and it really helps a lot. We also both use Zyrtec (now over the counter), however Zyrtec you need to be at least 4 years old to use it.

We also used Saline drops in our son when he was younger. They also recommended a humidifier in his room. You might also try propping your son up. What we did is put a wedge type pillow underneath his mattress. This will help keep him elevated and with drainage.

Wood floors do help, so if you have carpet, remove the carpet and put down tile or wood or something like that. An air purifier would help in the house in your play room and bedroom where the kids spend the most time.

We have a dog and we keep her only in our den, and she doesn't sleep in our bedroom. This helps a lot keeping her confined to one room. We have a pet gate to block her from getting to the rest of the house. Bathing the dog each week or at least a couple of times a month helps a lot.

Cook's Children's hospital also has a great Pulmonary department. We started out there and then moved on to our allergist. You could also go to a Pulmonoligist that specializes in children. They deal with your lungs and breathing and check X-Rays and do any type of special testing and check your breathing. They are more expensive to go to than the allergy Dr.

Our allergy Dr. deals with allergies and asthma, so seeing the Allergy Dr. would be very similiar as seeing the pulmonologist.

Yes, I would highly recommend going to see a specialist, either an allergist or a Pulmonologist, like at Cook's Children's hospital. Hope this helps! Good Luck

K., my friend's son had Asthma and was on same treatment when she decided to put him on a nutral supplement for children that helped him get off all his medication and inhaler. I will be happy to connect you with her and let her share what has happened for her son.

Blessings,

A.

Hi K.. I understand your frustration. I was there not to long ago myself. My son is 9 years old now through. When he was about your son's age, I was told the same thing. Through several ER trips, doctors, and time this is what I know now. You son may very well have what is considered a cold winter allergy. When the temp drops he is more likely to have a flare-up. When they are this young, doctors do not want to disgnose them with asthma. The hope is the child in question may grow out it by age 5. However, if they go ahead and diagnose, this diagnosis stays with them whether they grow out of it or not. (Some insurances may not want to insure do to pre-existing conditions. Crazy I know)So they treat it undisgnosed until they are sure it is not going away. Alot of time other illness also bring out an asthma flareup such as cold, infections, etc. I will say your environment has alot to do with it as well as the outside air. Do your best to keep allergens down such as pet dander, dust, mold, etc. Here are a few of my personal tricks for minimizing flares. Remember clothes catch alot of outside allergens. If the forecast is really high in mold, pollen, etc., consider changing clothes when coming from outside. Especially the clothes he is wearing. If your car has cloth seats, Febreze the fabric. Lastly, cut down the temp in your home. This either freezes or slows the allergens in the air and has always given my son some relieve. I am no expert. This is just what I have learned from our experiences. Also never be afraid of a second opinion if you are not happy with your doc. Good luck and hang in there. :)

There are countless things that you can do to help with asthma. My sister and her family all have respiratory issues and or asthma. It can be an ongoing struggle.
The EPA says that our indoor air can be 2 to 100 times worse than outdoor air, and we now spend almost 90% of our time indoors. I would seriously look at what to do with your pets, what chemicals you use indoors, and make sure you get your home on a cleaning schedule for air ducts, carpets, upholstery, and draperies.
If nothing else, look into purchasing a good air purifier. Stay away from anything that produces ozone or ions as that can cause more issues for people with respiratory problems. I loaned my sister a Healthway Air Purifier which is a class 2 medical device and within an hour it helped most of her kids breathe better. The Healthway are purifier is one of 2 air purifiers (that I know about) that are registered class II medical devices. Another air purifier to look into would be the Air Gorilla. It helps to destroy any VOC's from chemicals, paints, and off gasing that are being spread throughout the home through your central HVAC system.
Zerorez Carpet Cleaning Services sells both of these products and many customers have told us how much better they sleep once having them.
http://www.zerorezdallas.com

Hopefully you find something to work for your son.

Take him to a pulmonologist (sp) or an asthma and allergy specialist. We see Doctor Wust in Denton and I absolutely love him! http://www.lsallergy.com/meetourphysician.htmlI would also recommend Dr. Dyson in Fort Worth. https://www.cookchildrens.org/physiciansservices/pages/ph... They really try not to diagnose children with Asthma until they are 5 or so simply because once they have been labeled insurance companies see it as a pre-existing condition should your coverage change. My husband and 4 year old have asthma. My husband's is triggered by allergies for the most part, whereas my son's is triggered by viral infections. We have had our son allergy tested and he comes back completely allergy free. Lucky kid. Allergy testing tends to not be the most accurate in children under the age of three. This doesn't mean that you can't have it done, it just means that you will probably have to do it again. By all means be persistent about your son's health care. Don't take no for an answer. Find someone who will treat him as if he was their child.

Hi K.,
I was referred to Mid-Cities Allergy/Asthma a few years ago when my son was having constant upper respiratory infections and was constantly on breathing treatments. We saw Dr. Purnima Venkatesh and she was wonderful. Because of his age, they will not do a 'scratch' allergy test, but can do some allergy tests from a blood draw. And you are right, at this age they will not diagnose a baby with asthma just yet - but may treat them as if they have it. You can give her a call at ###-###-####. Her office located in Bedford. I hope you find a resolution for him soon! Best wishes, S.

I'm so sorry you are having problems. I have a son with respiratory issues or Asthma. Most doctors don't truly diagnose Asthma at such a young age, they call it RAD or Reactive Airway Disease.

The BEST Pediatric Pulmonologist we saw was in Frisco Dr. Rembecki his practice is Kid Lungs and you can see his website www.kidlungs.com He will take the time to answer all your questions.

Good luck!

Hi K.,

Perhaps you could check to see if your son is old enough for spirometry testing. This pulmonary function test should give you a definitive answer as to whether your child has asthma or not. At least you would have a better idea of his lung function.

My son also had chronic breathing issues and for some reson the dr he was seeing at the time hesitated to "label him" asthmatic. Just called it "the crud" every time we went in; told me to run a humidifier (not so good fo asthma!). Fortunately we changed docs, but not before a double ear infection, sinus infection, and pneumonia. =\

Good luck,

K. R also ;)

Pets absolutely cause asthma like symptoms. I grew up with asthma and allergies, and although I love furry animals, their hair always triggered breathing problems for me. Birds are by far the absolute worst though, I do have to say that, not many people associate birds with allergies, but they do cause them!

If you have cats or dogs (particularly cats) you can try bathing them at least once a month, that definitely helps the situation. I was amazed to find that my syptoms were totally gone when we made sure to do that.

I have 4 children with asthma, ranging in age 22yo to 16. My oldest is the worst one with it. I took her to doctor after doctor and she was on so much medication at a very young age that I decided to take her to an allergist. Thank GOD I did. Once we did the allergy testing we finally got it under control. I think taking your son to an allerigst will help tremendously and also with his immune system changing somethings especially like your detergent. But my daughter we found out was allergic to ALL grass, pollen, dust, and dustmites. Try what you feel will work best for your child.

With the complications of immune deficiency, the treatment for asthma can get tricky. Most of the treatments consist of steroid-based medications which decrease the function of the immune system in even healthy people and can set the stage for other infections.
Chiropractic has been shown to help with the symptoms of asthma in many studies and clinically as well. I've have several children and adults decrease or all together get rid of their asthma treatments under care. I encourage you to look into specific upper cervical care, a specific chiropractic technique. I have seen so far, 100% of my patients that have a history or current symptoms of asthma have significant issues at the atlas (C1) which is the area that surrounds the brainstem and controls respiratory function. Go to www.upcspine.com for further studies and information. It's a patient-run website to get information concerning this specific and gentle chiropractic care. If you're in the Plano area I would be glad to see your son, but if you are not convenient to my office, then I can refer you to someone closer to you. God Bless. Email me if you have any further questions.

Hey -
You are getting some great advice. I definitely recommend going to see an allergist. My son caught RSV at 4 months and that was the beginning of all the asthma stuff for us. I didn't like medicating my son either and tried to pursue other options. My son DID go to an allergist, but at his age, they only tested for food allergies (none of the grass/pollen allergies). I'm not sure why. But, it turns out he was not allergic to any foods (which was a big relief). Even though he was not allergic to foods, I did use hypoallergenic formula, which helped a LOT. I also used hypoallergenic detergents. I honestly think when he was around 2, they put him on Singulair every day and that REALLY helped to control the symptoms. From age 3 up, he only had an occassional attack. I think when he was 5, he only had 1 attack (but it was scary because it really came out of no where - it was NOT cold triggered and that is the first time that happened).

So, what it boils down to is that for us, I do control it with medication. I have albuterol and pulmicort on hand for when he does have a flair up and he takes Singulair every day. My daughter (who is 2 today!) takes Clarinex every day, but she is not as bad as he is with all of the asthma symptoms.

I did a LOT of research on the drugs (albuterol and pulmicort) and we went to a pediatric pulmonary specialist and she gave me some of the research (performed in Britain, not here). It said that the two drugs above were truly just lung drugs - not systemic, so they do not enter the blood stream and go to other parts of the body. They truly just help the lungs function better. So, I finally wrapped my mind around being "okay" with those drugs.

Good Luck!
L.

Candice is right to mention that there are many household products that can cause a number of issues and one being asthma. My oldest has dealt with this along with ecxema. It may be as easy as switching products in the home that are consumed with many toxins. Some people go as far as having a toxicologist come into the home to find these things out. Melaleuca products are wonderful, work really well, and are CHEAPER (a lot of their products are concentrated so you just mix with water). Check out melaleuca.com and since you are a SAHM you can check out workathomeunited.com/H.. Good luck and hope this helps. Contact me if you have any questions:)

Hello K.,

I hope your son is feeling better. certain allergies will also trigger asthma symptoms too. like latex. My daugther's latex allergy triggers asthma. besides boosting his immune system also increase his magnesium intake. when you see the allergist they can tell you about magnesium ointment/lotion, etc. also get the book: Smart Medicine for a Healthier Child
http://www.amazon.com/Smart-Medicine-Healthier-Child-Jane...
awsome book and lots of good information. there is where I read about how they use magnesium sulfate IVs for asthma because the magnesium relieves the lung inflamation. it's the 'old' asthma treatment before all these 'new' drugs hit the market. well, studies have shown that kids that got the 'old' treatment didn't have to stay at the hospital overnight (which means that the magensium worked better than some of the 'new' stuff) Don't get me wrong, I know that it's not a cure all. However I can't deny it's effectiveness. at that age I'd give my daughter a couple of teaspoons of milk of magnesia mixed in her strawberry milk and instead of 15 days of breathing treatments it was ONE! checked by the doctor... I didn't just stop her treatments... I had her checked. the doctor was shocked and her prompt recovery. when I mentioned to the allergist, he said that yes, they use magnesium for asthma but he didn't think it would work on allergy induced asthma (and he's a very well known and awsome doctor!) and do take him for chiropractic adjustments too. Good luck! ~C.~

Have you ever thought of Chiropractic? My husband is a pediatric chiro in Mansfield. He works with children with asthma and ALL immune system deficiencies. He finds the root of the problem and treats from there.. If you'd like to contact him to ask about your case specifically his name is Dr. Todd Elsner and his number is ###-###-####.

HI K.,
I have been dealing with similar issues with my now 4 yr old son. He was diagnosed with asthma that everyone said was due to allergies except the allergy dr. So i was getting conflicting reports. Long story short I insisted on trying to get to the bottom of it. I don't know the medical reason behind it but a lot of dr's wont diagnose asthma in kids you son's age.

Has your son been sickly at this time of the year last year? If so then allergies or asthma due to the cold weather or colds may be it.

Asthma can be caused by
cold weather
numerous colds or flus
family history, mom has it etc
sinusitis
allergies

Does you child have excema 80% or kids with excema have allergies.

A simple blood test can get you started as to whether the child has allergies season or food related.

An allergy and asthma dr can check for the sinusitis and allergies.

I don't know where you live but we finally found a great dr. Pediatric Allergist and asthma Dr. Dr Flawett @ Southlake. After having all of the problems with my son I took my daughter who is 2 next week to see what she thought of her. She was willing to discuss what I should look for and what triggers her asthma may have even thought she was under 2.

Hope this helps.

Sorry its so short kids going crazy. If you want more details send me an email.

Mertees