Possible Allergies or Asthma

My son who is now 14 months old has the same problem. he got RSV in November and got over it rather quickly, then shortly after he got better he got sick all over again. They have put him on several inhalers and the zyrtec as well. They have never diagnosed him with asthma. I recently took him back to the doctor again and they refered me to a pulmonologist (lung doctor) to better find out what is going on. I just kept taking him back until i get results. I have my appointment on the 30th of April, and hope that they can give some kind of definitive answer. The inhalers don't help in the long term for him, only when he is super congested to where he isn't breathing right. He also has a nebulizer which is the best thing that I have for him for first thing in the morning when he is at his worst. Keep taking your son to the doctor until someone gives you answers is the only thing that I know of to do. :( Hope that helps some!
T. J

My 6 month old recently was hospitalized for bronchiolitis and they gave him a nebulizer. I couldn't tell that he was as sick as he was because hes always worked a little hard at breathing like in the mornings and after getting excited. I suspect that mine might have asthma and the doctors told me that the bronchiolitis could be a sign of it but hes still to young to diagnose. But any way the nebulizer really seems to help him out. When he gets wezzey I give him a breathing treatment and it seems to help him out a lot. So maybe it will help out your little one.

Hi M.,
If it has been two weeks and the Zyrtec does not seem to be helping then I would call the doctor. I have a 7yr old boy with Asthma and for the first year he kept getting colds and would cough for weeks after the cold was gone. I asked his doctor if it could be Asthma and they always said that since there was no family history of Asthma it was just a cold. at six months he ended up in the hospital with difficulty breathing, turns out he did have Asthma. Now his Asthma only acts up when he gets a cold and we start the breathing treatments right a way.

Ask your pediatrician about these meds: Pulmacort Respules or Singulair. My daughter has suffered with similar symptoms and we've had great success with both of these. My daughter could not tolerate Zyrtec. Don't be afraid of Pulmacort - it will prevent asthma from becoming a factor as your child grows. Best of luck. M.

Good morning M. F,

My grandson has allergy induced asthma. This means that his asthma is brought on by his allergies. He is on medication for both. Some household changes can help such as keeping him away from pet dander, washing stuffed animals regularly and keeping up with household dusting (this one is a tough one for me :~)). This time of year is really bad for this kind of asthma due to the pollen and other allergy inducing elements of changing seasons.

My oldest son also had the same thing when he was young...yes they can grow out of it. As a matter of fact my son is 22 now and is in Coronado California for BUD's (Navy SEAL training
).

I would consider taking him back to the doctor. The medication should be effective after using it for two weeks I would think.

I hope this helps :~)
L.

M.,

I read your request and my opion is to call the ped again and let them know what is going on. My older brother and myself both have asthma and I know that you don't want him on the medication but I would deffiently call the peditrician and let them know that it is not helping.

J.

Don't get worried. I have twins that are now 5 and when one of them was 6 months old I went through the same thing. My doctor referred me to a wonderful doctor. Allery & Asthma Associates in Hickory, Nc. She put her on Zyrtec, Singular, Pulmocort, Albuteral, and nasanex. It takes about a month before you will see a difference but do not give up. She is now 5 and only has to take Singular. She has just about out grew all of this. Try getting seen by an Allery & Asthma doctor. They work wonders. Let me know if you need anymore info. It will get better.

My son is 8 months old and has had this problem since he was born. He got pneumonia at Christmas. Up until he got pnuemonia my ped doctor wouldnt do anything. When my child was in the hospital an Allergy/Asmtha specialist for peds was bought in. My son has stridor. The specialist also said that he probably does have asmtha because of the history in our family but that he was too young to be diagnosed with it at that point. He sent my son home with a nebulizer and a nasal suction machine. My son is doing great with it until he gets a cold. Then he is back to the same symptons. I dont know if this helps but see if you can get your son to see a specialist. Good Luck.

Hi M.,

Just a thought, I take Zyrtec and it works very well for me. It doesn't do a thing for my husband. He takes Claritin and it works well for him, but it doesn't do anything for me. You might ask your dr. about trying the Claritin (over the counter, but you may have to ask for dosage) before deciding it's not allergies. They're really bad right now around here.

Good luck!!

Good morning, My name is J. and I am also a first time mom. I currently work for an immunotherpy company in source materials and international sales. I had the same concerns with my little girl who will be turning one at the end of this month. It seemed that she was at the doctor every other week and never cleared up. At one point she ended up with strep throat and pneumnia. This is when I almost had a breakdown. I am a nonsmoker and no one around me smokes as well, so when I learned my daughter was this sick it puzzled me. She had been prescribed Zyrtec and Singular for allergies. Well when she was in the hospital neither drug was given to her but she did receive breathing treatments which made a tremendous difference in her breathing. Then as I traveled one weekend I was reading that some side effects of both Zyrtec and Singular was upper respiratory infections, coughing, etc. I thought I am making my child sick when I thought I was helping her. So I spoke to her doctor and soon took her to a Pediatric Respiratory Specialist which did allergy test and a breathing test. What she said was my daughter was normal and she would recommend a breathing machine for as needed treatments and maybe a decongestant as needed. We as parents hear the rumbling and think oh my child is sick but it is just a natural part of the little baby growing. Meaning until they grow more the rumble is from the mucos being confined in that small nasil passage and breathing area. I do not give my daughter Zytrec or Singular any more and she does fine. I have since had to give her breathing treatments but only maybe one or two a day for 3-4 days. If she starts getting sick I do this as a precaution. If you yourself do not have asthma or no one is your family has asthma then your son is likely not to have that disease. I have asthma and so does my mother, grandfather, etc. Also generally we would not test a baby for allergies before two years old because the results are not very accurate. We did do a 10 panel test on my daugther and they were all negative. If you decide to give your son a chance with the breathing treatments ask for the solution named Xenoex. This medicine is more expensive but well worth it. The regular Abuterol made my daughter literally jump around and go somewhat crazy acting with hyperness. The Xenoex doesn't do that at all. Another thing I might add is my daughter does go to daycare but it is private in a home with only 3 other children and she still gets sick so good luck.....please let me know if I can answer any other questions.