20 answers

Need a Wheezy Breathing Cure

My 2.5 year old daughter has had a wheezy breathing sound and a cough, soon almost a year.
(She sounds like a percolator and we call her Darth Vader because of her rattling breathing.)

She walks around with a clear runny nose, wheezy breathing and a cough all the time.
Every now and then these symptoms turn into an ear infection or sinus infection and then her pediatrician prescribes her antibiotics, which clears everything up for the 10 day treatment, but a few days later it all comes back again.
We have tried an allergy doctor, lung x-rays and even an antibiotics shot but nothing really helps.

At the moment we are trying the nebulizer with Xopenex. It seems to work the best, but after a month of being on it, I've noticed that if we skip just one day, it all immediately comes back again. Which leads me to belive that it doesn't cure the problems, just helps relieving the symptoms. I don't know what to do, I feel so sad for her, it's like her second year of life been one long antibiotics treatment with a never ending cold. I am willing to try anything, alternative medicine, voodoo, acupuncture, I just need some guidance of what could cause this and where to go. Has anyone been having similar problems like us? Thank you.

What can I do next?

Featured Answers

Id find a new Dr who knows about asthma. Sounds like asthma to me and I cant believe that in a years time they havent suggested it to you. The breathing treatments need to be done everyday. Hope shes better soon.

2 moms found this helpful

Hi,
I read through the answers you have gotten already and agree it sounds like an allergy of some sort. The one thing I noticed that no one has mentioned yet is pets....do you have a dog or cat? Could be as simple as that...

M.

1 mom found this helpful

More Answers

Id find a new Dr who knows about asthma. Sounds like asthma to me and I cant believe that in a years time they havent suggested it to you. The breathing treatments need to be done everyday. Hope shes better soon.

2 moms found this helpful

Sounds like food /environmental allergies to me. Why your doctor hasn't taken this route yet is SO annoying and just drives me crazy.

I would remove ALL dairy/casein/soy and replace them with coconut, almond, and/or rice milk products. This is very easy to do. You can go to http://www.tacanow.org/tag/gfcf/ for just about all the help and information needed to replace milk, look for hidden sources, etc.

After 2 weeks, are you noticing a difference? Then you continue on to wheat/gluten and completely remove that from her diet. What you are doing is an elimination diet to find what are the triggers for her asthma. We did a blood test and found 21 foods for my daughter and removed them, cold turkey, immediately. She got off all four asthma medications and was not sick again. This was after TEN YEARS of what you are dealing with. There were many times that she would miss weeks of school at a time, was on countless rounds of antibiotics, all of which are not good at all.

Make sure she is taking good probiotics too. Go to Henrys /Sprouts or Whole Foods. She should be taking them on a daily basis, two to three hours after or before the antibiotics.

1 mom found this helpful

Hi,
I read through the answers you have gotten already and agree it sounds like an allergy of some sort. The one thing I noticed that no one has mentioned yet is pets....do you have a dog or cat? Could be as simple as that...

M.

1 mom found this helpful

You might try taking her off of milk products for awhile. Milk is notorious for causing phlegm.

1 mom found this helpful

Sounds very much like allergies to me. The easiest (and most accurate) way to find out what she is allergic to is to use a rotation diet. For five days remove the food group you suspect might be the problem (for example apples and pears are in the same group) then introduce it back in and see if it makes a symptom appear. It might also be environmental, so try changing the detergent and softener you use on her bedding to something hypoallergenic. The concern is that you will create a resistance to antibiotics so that if your daughter ever gets a serious infection, it will be difficult to treat.

You are correct that the nebulizer is only treating the symptoms.

There are books available for assisting you in diagnosing her allergies, but for the life of me I can't remember a single title!!!! Old age I guess!
Good luck, L.

1 mom found this helpful

You sound a lot like me 2 years ago. Please, get her tested for food allergies. My daughter was like that until The day her body had enough and had an anaphylactic response... Had to run to the hospital. Please don't let this happen to you!! It turned out that my daughter was allergic to almost everything I was giving her. (wheat, dairy, eggs, nuts, oats, banana, grapes, mangos, latex) once I took her allergens out of her diet, all those pesky symptoms began to disappear.

Good luck and don't give up...something is causing this!

1 mom found this helpful

Have you tried eliminating dairy? It sounds like your baby has allergies? I would recommend having her seen by a holistic health practitioner, most likely your regular ped won't suggest allergies. I have allergies and my youngest has allergies. We were both suffering from a number of symptoms including asthma and frequent colds, and we have both improved by taking dairy out of our diet (as well as other foods I found out I was allergic too). But there could also be something in the environment? It wont hurt to have her seen, although may be a little expensive, but will be worth it! Maybe put up another post on finding a holistic health practitioner in your area. Good luck to you!

p.s. just now read all the other post, sorry to be repetitive

1 mom found this helpful

relieving her symptoms may be the best option at this point, but I would definitely look for another doctor- don't give up or be discouraged because someone out there can figure out what is wrong and how to help her.

In meantime a few things you might try: coffee (I know it is weird to give that to a child, but it does help reduce wheezing) , removing carpeting from her bedroom and cover her mattress and pillow with hypoallergenic covers, make sure she isn't near smoke....

I wish I had better answers for you. It's terrible to feel helpless when your baby is struggling.

1 mom found this helpful

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