6 Mo Old with Asthma

I know what you are going thru my son when he was little was the same way. But I wish I know what I do to day when he was little. You need to get all of the toxic chemicals out of your house. Go to this website and learn more.

www.livetotalwellness.com/donnaryn

Hello,

In my experience, I have found that medical doctors treat symptoms where as naturopaths and others who deal in natural or alternative medicinces find the problem and treat that. I suggest you search your options there. If you are giving up to four treatments per day, it's time to try your alternatives. I have had better success with "alternative medicine" than going to the doctors for medications.

I wish you the best!

J. H.

Perhaps this site will be of help to you:

http://www.aanma.org/

My family has also struggled with my daughter's asthma (she's almost 3 yrs old) since she was an infant. At first they thought it was just a bad case of bronchitis but it continued for more than a year and they diagnosed her with asthma. Treatment was essentially the same but long term: nebulizer with pulmicort and albuterol treatments and oral doses of prednisone.
Similar symptoms and triggers- outdoors, other home environments, activity, etc. It isn't allergy related at this young of age. She was premature (7wks) and struggled right away in terms of breathing which I am not sure if that contributed to it. Her twin brother has not had any problems. Mild and moderate asthma runs in our family on both sides which puts the children at higher risk for it.
My daughter struggled and was in and out of the hospital until she was 2 yrs old. We did regular treatments everyday no matter where we were. Portable nebulizers are very nice for this though we got by without one. The good news is some kids outgrow it. I'm hopeful my daughter will be one of those! She has improved greatly - to the point that we do not have to do the daily nebulizer treatments anymore and when she does have flare ups we have been successful at treating her without resorting to the prednisone. She really turned around in terms of severity of attacks when she got on the Singular regularly. Oral dose of this once a day - it has helped significantly. She is also old enough that we can use inhalers with an aerochamber instead of the nebulizer. Much more convenient!
So my best advice - hang in there and get through this next year or so - it should improve as he grows and you'll find new ways to treat it. I believe Singular is approved for 6 mos. and older - you may ask your dr about this as a preventative in addition to the treatments.
Let me know if you have any questions along the way as I feel well-versed by now.

WOW! My heart goes out to you because just two months ago this could have been my entry! I have a 14 month old son that you described perfectly. We were doing breathing treatments 3-4 times a day to keep him from wheezing. We have fought 10 ear infections in his short little life and he was not responding to antibiotics. He couldn't breathe after a 20 minute walk outside. His best months were in the winter, he was not nearly as sick. We were seeing a chiropractor twice a week to drain his ears; there was ALWAYS fluid behind his ear drum. It was constant. After putting all of this together and talking to a friend who had gone through similar situations I walked into his 1 year "Well visit" (we were never "well") in tears and ready to self-diagnose my son with allergies. Long story short, my pediatrician was totally on board with me and they did the blood work to test him for most of the allergies they could and started him on OTC Zyrtec and a prescription for Singular. A few days later they called to tell me that his test came back perfectly fine and was wondering how the meds were working. I was THRILLED to tell her that we had not had to use the nebulizer even ONE TIME since we started the meds. So who knows what my son is alergic to, I don't care :) TALK TO YOUR DOCTOR!! I don't know why I had to be the one to suggest it, but I am so glad we did. Now my son can enjoy his summer outside!!! It has been so wonderful and I hope and pray that there is a solution this "easy" for your child. I know what you are goign through and it is miserable!! Hang in there!! I have heard of them giving Zyrtec as early as 6 months, but certainly talk to your doctor because I would not know the dosage. The box does not start with dosage until age 2 and like I said my son is 14 months so I can't help you out there. Good luck! If you have any questions or I can help in any way you can email me!! My name is K. and my email is ____@____.com a great weekend~~

HI FwladyM,
Sorry to hear about your child with asthma...I am a research coordinator at Wash U and I used to do Asthma research....the problem with asthma is you do not know what the triggers are for young ones....the goal is to go without asthma exacerbations (attacks) for a longer period of time. Has your pediatrician provided you with the albuterol or has your baby been diagnosed by a pulmonologist..there is an excellent pediatric pulmonologist at children's Leonard Bacharier that is very good

HI! I feel for you. My son is now almost 8 and he was diagnosed with asthma at just over a year old. Good news is he has gotten better over the years.

We were giving him albuterol breathing treatments every four hours, some days were better than others, but you still want to give him at least two a day to make sure the air ways stay open. I do this for about three days after the last symptom.

His asthma is also mainly from allergies. At age 4 I took him in to a specialist for the scratch tests - they said it was almost everything outside along with Dust, mold and pets inside.

We found that once he was on a daily allergy med, it helped tremendously! I think also they out grow some of it as their immune system develops.

Now, we basically only need the breathing treatments when he's getting a cold or if he's been at someone's house that has pets, a lot of dust. Once it a while it will come on with no notice and we never figure out what it came from, but that's not often. When it gets really bad where the albuterol doesn't work then he goes on the oral steroid Orapred. It usually knocks it out within an hour, but it's strong so we wait to use it until we have no other choice.

Our son got a lot of ear infections and strep throat and His asthma would flair up each time. Since we've had ear tubes put in (we're on his secon set now) and his tonsils taken out - he is MUCH better and hardly every gets sick!

The best advice I can give you is #1 take him to an allergy specialist – I’ve heard that Dr. Stapleton here in Kearney is really good, but there’s others out on North Oak. See if you can get him on a daily allergy med (not sure how old he needs to be to start).

And #2 for safety, keep stocked up on all medications in your home and always take the enebulizer and albuterol with you when you’re going to be away from home for the day. When we are going to be gone overnight we also take the orapred just in case, because if a bad asthma attack comes on for our son, it can get to the point of no return in a matter of just a couple of hours without notice. We’ve been stuck out of town without the orapred before and had to go to the hospital. Getting a hold of your normal doctor to call in a prescription to an out of town pharmacy sometimes take an act of God! I was just thinking this morning how I wish we didn't have to pack the enebulizer to take on our trip next week since he hasn’t had to have a treatment in almost 3 months, but you just never know and for us it seems to flair up more often when we’re on a trip so better safe than sorry! Good luck!

I have a 3 year old with Asthma as well. She has been struggiling with this since before she was one year old. We had her tested for allergies at an Pediatric Allergists' office. Do you live in the Wichita area? My daughters Dr. has now moved to Hutchinson, but we still see her there. Her name is Teri Lower and she's at the Hutch Clinic. We have Morgan on Pulmacort 2x's a day to PREVENT the onset of asthma and we find when we stay on it, she doesn't have any problems. Her's is a lot of activity induced, but she really struggles with weather change. You also need to ask about an inhaler for an emergency and they have an attachment for kids who can't use it as an actual "inhaler." We do take our nebulizer with us everywhere just in case. I also find that if you to a "pre" treatment before going outside or to someone's house, this seems to help things.

You really need to have your child tested for allergies as soon as possible. This will help you know what you can and can't do and where you can go, etc. Their might be an allergy to a food as well. I hope you have some luck from my ramblings and find the solution to your child's asthma. Please let me know how it goes. God Bless.

J.

my son also had asthma and started at 3 months. His seemed to be worse in the fall and spring but would be better in summer and winter months. Maybe something in the summer months bothers your child but I didn't limit him to the house, we just lived our lives and went out and did things. He would have to do the treatments whether we were sitting in the house all the time or outside anyway and he did eventually grow out of it and hasn't needed an inhaler or treatments for at least 5 years. You may check the pollen counts and if they are really high that day, limit your outdoor outings but keeping your child indoors all the time isn't going to help out that much and you will get cabin fever and be miserable. I have also noticed kids that don't play outside much seem to be the ones sick all the time.

I've had asthma all my life and my oldest daughter has it as well. I noticed her symptoms starting at 6 months, but it took me until she was 2 for a doctor to diagnose her. Using albuterol daily is NOT going to help him. He needs to be on a preventative medicine to prevent his symptoms. Having asthma myself, I can tell you your little guy feels miserable! My asthmas is mainly allergy induced, and it sounds like his is as well. There are SO many trees and grasses this time of year that I am allergic to. I can't stand to be outside for more than a few minutes from June to December. We go straight from heat to A/C and have since I was very young. We aren't able to open the windows in our house. If he's better after being in the A/C, this might be his case too. And I definitely can't be around animals. It doesn't matter how much you or your friend vacuums, it will NOT help!! I take my oldest daughter to an allergist and her asthma is under control and she is doing great. Do your little guy a favor and take him to someone who specializes in this! Asthma is a scary thing at that age and you will feel so much more confident once you learn more about it. I wish you luck and I hope he starts feeling better very soon!

Wow, I sound like your son.... I was the same way only my parents didn't believe in asthma until I was 11. I love my allergy specialist. Not all doctors are specialists. you can be a MD that specializes in allergies and asthma. If you are an Allergist you took extra course work and bord exams. Dr. Richard Cannon is a great allergist in St. Charles. I loved him so much I traveled from Kansas City back here for my anual check ups. I read someone said something about the scratch test. That is the way to go. They do have different kinds of testing but these are specific to the triggers that are most common to induce asthma flare ups.

Dr. Cannon's # is ###-###-####
He may recommend allergy shots, they will help the body build an immune system responce that will help him in the future. It sounds like you have done plenty in your house. Is there carpet? We had to remove ours. Outside is harder. For you picnic comming up, Make sure you try clairiton, benedryl, etc. to help block the immune response to ouside allergins. That will help his asthma also. My kids (and I) fall asleep with benedryl. We do ok with Clariton (the no-name brand liquid at walmart is good). If the box says "compare to active ingredient xxxx" by law it has to be the same as the name brand; some peple don't know that. He is awful young for clariton. Try any "antihistamine" for younger kids. You have a limited choice with the ones under 2 years old. The "little" brands work great, "little colds" is what I used for my little man. Even for allergies. You can get those at most places too. Good luck, it does get better....

Have you ever tried a natural approach. I am a chiropractor and do a lot with nutrition and homeopathics. I have had a lot of success with Children's asthma. Most children still need occasional albuterol and other meds, but for the most part, they do well and can actually go outside without an attack. Please visit my website at www.bcoh.org or you can call my office ###-###-####. There is no fee for a phone consult.
Good Luck,
Dr. J. Murphy

My chiropractor has been able to get rid of all of my toddlers allergies! We used to have to do breathing treatments and he would also have a nosebleed everyday for 3 years, but we have stopped the breathing treatments completely and he only gets nosebleeds when he has been wacked in the nose, playing with his brother:o)

Dr. Clarke has been seeing one of my boys since he was 3 days old. He is wonderful with kids and has made our lives so much more enjoyable!!

Dr. Clarke
13849 S Mur-Len Rd. Ste. E.
Olathe, KS 66062
###-###-####

Why not take him in to see an Allergist one who specializes in allergies.Also use non toxic cleaning products I love Holy Cow they sell for 3.99 a bottle and there is a pink one that you can use on everything!!!My children don't have Asthma but my son has seasonal allergies he has to use a nose spray for a few weeks to clear it up.Also an air purfier in the home and room.This can be expensive Asthma isn't something to take lightly at least in my opnion.I would get my home checked for mold that can be a trigger too.Most all homes new and old have mold,like I posted in another article about Asthma get an inspetion from your local Pest service make sure you have no Roaches they put off a vapor that causes astma and so do other pests just a thought.

I have twins and were both preemies which has contributed to one of my son's breathing problems. My docotor, and pediatric asthma doctor said to bring the nebulizer with us. As he put it... yeah, it's not the best thing for him, but a breathing treatment to help out is better than having a dead baby. Harsh, but I got it after that. My son is now 16 months and is doing much better... still wheezes. We are all set for this winter wiht our meds and nebulizer should we need it. A good place to take him if you have any doubts is Children's Mercy. Breathing trouble they get you right in. We were there about 5 times last year with one time being admited. Do what's best for your baby... Feel freem to email me offline if you have any questions or need support. My son has Tracheamalsia and Tracheastnosis. Good news is that is should get better with age!

Sounds like he has allergy problems if he is affect most after he has been outside for a while. Try watching the mold and pollen counts and see if you notice if he is worse when they are higher. Also, just because it looks nice outside doesn't mean that the allergens have gone to bed. Sometimes that actually makes things worse. With all the storms we have been having lately and more flowers blooming, there are TONS of allergens in the air right now. Being inside with the AC on all the time helps so filter out all of those nasties. My hubby had lots of asthma problems when he was younger and they eventual found out that he was allergic to sage brush (they lived in Idaho at the time). So in the fall when a major storm comes from out west he feels it. Keep trying to figure out those triggers and in the meantime, try to find fun places that you can go that are indoors.

he needs an asthma regimen. he needs a controller that he takes every day, one to two times a day, such as pulmicort or qvar. he takes his EVERY DAY whether he is flaring up or not, it decreases the inflammation in his lungs. he needs a reliever, such as albuterol or xoponex, that he takes when he has flare ups--this is his "rescue" when he as an attack. he also needs singulair to take every night before bed, and claritin every morning wouldn't hurt. talk to your doctor about this because he doesn't sound well controlled at all, despite the albuterol. just a reliever isn't enough. heat really tends to set off asthmatics/respiratory kids, it makes it too hard to breathe. my advice would be DONT' take him to the picnic...too many plants and triggers, the heat, possible smoke, etc. and maybe have your house checked for mold...our old house had it, unbeknownst to us, and it was just horrible until we moved for my son's asthma. now he's fine.

Speaking from experience you really don't want to have to use albuterol that often for an extended period of time. It has many adverse effects. They need to find a preventative way of dealing with the asthma by 1)Finding out what is causing the reactions 2) providing ways of avoiding those triggers and 3) providing a preventative type breathing medication. It took us 4 years to finally get to the bottom of my son's asthma, the result food allergies. He had to be hospitalized multiple times because it had gotten so severe. I highly recommend seeing an allergy doctor, they probably won't be able to do skin testing on your little one right now but they can do other things to help you figure out what your baby's "triggers" are, and that is the best thing you can do.

Asthmatics can be extrememly sensitive to harsh chemicals/toxins found in products you use in your home. (laundry detergent, dryer sheets, shampoo's, lotions, cleaning products, etc...) I have found a great catalog company where I can order organic, natural products at wholesale and I actually save money. Let me know if you want to give this route a try. The doctors told me my son had "asthma-like breathing" for a couple of years. We did the albuterol, pulmocort, flovent for a year and it barely made a difference. As soon as I stopped using over-the-counter products he hasn't used his inhaler once in the last 2 years!!!!!!! Email me if you want to talk. ____@____.com

The only suggestion I can think of is to look at all your cleaning solutions. I know it seems contradictory to look at the inside of your home when he has the problem outside, but maybe the chemicals he is exposed to inside make him have breathing problems that worsen when he is outside. Just a thought.

If he may be sensitive to cleaning agents, you could try changing your cleaning products to the "green" and environmentally safe kinds. They are sometimes more expensive, but this is something you could try for a few months, and if you don't see improvement, think about switching back. (Although, even if you don't see marked improvement with his breathing, it is safer and healthier anyway to have non-toxic cleaners in your home, especially with children).

Especially pay attention to things that would effect him the most, like laundry detergent, carpet cleaners, disinfectant solutions (the fumes can also be harmful), bleach, any perfumes or air fresheners, and any other synthetic or toxic chemicals. Oh, and how's your air filter? Is it the anti-allergen kind?

Also pay attention to what he eats. Buying organic can eliminate some of the toxins in the food he eats. He may be extra sensitive to these. Non-processed, more natural food eliminates any preservatives and artificial flavors/colors he might be sensitive to.

Well, I hope you find some help for your son, I know this can be frustrating. Just wanted to give you some ideas, even though you have probably already covered most of these things.
Best wishes!

Dear F. M,
I'm not sure if I really have any answers for you. I'm not sure that the doctor will do any allergy testing for quite some time. Until then, you just have to hang in there and be prepared to do the treatments whenever. My son was 16 months old when he was diagnosed, and the first couple of years were the roughest for him. He is now 19. Although he does have pretty bad allergies, his asthma is very under control. He went away to college last year, and some of those old worries came up for me again. But, he knows when he needs his inhaler. He seldom needs it anymore. But, it's usually when there's an allergy overload for him. Anyway, I just wanted to encourage you that things do get better. I know it's so scary at first. But, your child can have a normal life. My son recently took up running! He's up to six miles now! I would have never thought he could do that when he was a child. My younger son is still in high school and does track and cross country. Several kids on the team have asthma.
I guess I just want to say things will get better, and this doesn't have to limit your child. Just hang in there. Better days will come.
R.
____@____.com

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Category: Healthy Body -

Asthma testamony
I have a 4 year old boy, who up until about two months ago had severe asthma. It was so severe he was on 7 preventive maintenance medicines a day. I tried everything: cleaning of the vents in my apt, cleaning of the carpets, going through my house trying to determine what he was allergic to, but nothing seemed to help. Just when I thought we had it under control there would be another attack and we'd be back at the Doctors. I joined Melaluca at the end of May to supplement my income as a single mother. I purchased one of the packs and changed my products over from what I was using to the Melaluca products. One of the products that was in the pack was the laundry soap. I started washing my sheets with that soap and cleaning my house with the products. As a result, my son has not been to the Dr. in over two months. He is not taking any medicines for his asthma and he sounds great. The only thing I changed was the products I was using. I began reading the labels of what I was putting on and around my son - which ultimately caused him to have his asthma attacks because of the toxins in the products. It has been a true blessing to have these products in my home and I am so blessed to have join this company.
07 Sep 2004 05:08:46 PM

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Note: Personal experiences are not scientific data and should not be relied upon as a reflection of the typical experience of other persons. Never rely on "stories" as a replacement or substitute for a medical doctor's advice or council. Always consult your doctor in treatment of any and all health conditions and problems. If you have any health related conditions or problems, please consult with a physician before using any health-related products, including those sold by Melaleuca.

Pam Palmer
http://pamp.healthyhometour.com
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I have a 16mo old son who was diagnosed with asthma at around 10 mo. We went through the several albuterol treatments a day just like you are doing. Finally after a bit his Dr. put him on pulmicort (more of a preventative med) twice a day. With doing that we only needed the albuterol for attacks, and what a difference the pulmicort has made. We rarely need the albuterol now. So maybe ask your Dr. about that.