I Need Help!!!!!! - Flower Mound,TX

I just went through almost the exact thing with my 6 year old. Last month he also had bronchitis and when I took him ot the Dr. he started talking asthma. However, he also said he did not want ot say the "A" word until he saw him after he was through the antibiotics. When I took him back 2 weeks later he said his lungs were completely clear. His suggestion was to keep a very close eye on it instead of assuming it is or isn't asthma. He gave us a peak flow meter in which we chart his breathing numbers about everyother day. They have stayed steady so far so it looks good. I was really concerned because I am an asthmatic. However, I was also suspicious because I too had not seen anyother signs except when her was sick. My advice is see the doctor get a second opinion and keep an eye on it. A peak Flow Meter is a great way to stay on top of it without being invasive to teh little ones. Hope that helps :)

You are correct! I am a PA, and I think the NP may have been off.
The only symptom of asthma that you missed that she may have picked up on is a cough with excercise. This is without the typical shortness of breath/wheeze/ect. This is a subtle sign of asthma that is sometimes overlooked

Hope this helps!

S.

Hi C.,

My daughter is 3 and we have been going through the same thing since she was 9 months old..it started out the same way you described your experience. I NEVER say she has asthma...I just say that she has been diagnosed with it. I used to give her all kinds of steroids and meds that her pedi recommended and when he finally said that I should give her a steriod daily for a year, I said NO because I felt in my heart that I was not doing the right thing. I knew that God is bigger than all of this and that he would heal her without the meds and it was not His will for her to live like this. I believe that Jesus Christ died not only for our sins but for our prosperity and healing as well. The Bible says in 1 Peter 2:24 " He personally bore our sins in His [own] body on the tree [a][as on an altar and offered Himself on it], that we might die (cease to exist) to sin and live to righteousness(peace, prosperity, divine health, etc). By His wounds you have been healed." That means that your child has already been healed, but maybe it has not been manifested 100%, you just have to have FAITH that it will. I have said that scripture over my child over and over amongst other scriptures as well and it has been a year since I was told to put her on the steroid and she is doing great. I pray that you do not go down the same route as I did and I just wanted to encourage you and to give you the same realization that God loves our children even more than we do(which in an amazing amount!!) and he wants the BEST for them. They really belong to Him and we are just blessed to have them as a wonderful gift.

God Bless You and Your Family!!

See your child's dr. He would be able to test better
for asthma...and by what you said you son does not have.
He does not have asthma...steroids can increase
the heart beat and bloodpressure. Not good.

Asthma can be a tricky little thing! My 7 year old never had it until this fall when the allergies kicked it in....I too questioned the doctor every step of the way....ended up with a referral to an asthma/pulmonary/allergy specialist.
Back to you question about asthma symptoms.....they don't necessarily show in the obvious ways as you were mentioning. My daughter has had days with a poor peak flow meter reading(poor breathing capacity) and she will still be running around and playing soccer...sometimes she will cough, but not always. I agree with your doctor for being conservative. Just because your child has had bronchitis in the past 6 months, does not have an automatic connection with asthma. Did they do a spirometry test? In our pediatrician's office that means "blowing out candles" on the computer....I recommend it to see exactly how much air is getting in or out. Hope I haven't rambled too much....take care and Good luck,
T.

My 1st was misdiagnosed as asthmatic for 4 years when in reality it was an adenoid issue. Once those things were removed (and they were huge!!), never another breathing treatment. His asthma specialist that we were finally sent to figured it out. Usually asthma is triggered by an allergy of some sort (80%-90% of the time) and my child has absolutley no allergies after going through all the extensive skin tests. He showed classic adenoid issues and his pedi never caught it and sent us down the asthma road. Brochitis does not automatically make someone an asthmatic. I switched pedi's as soon as we were through the adenoid removal surgery.

Did your child ever have RSV as a baby? My 2nd did and has residual effects in his lungs from it. He goes from a cold to brochitis over night and then to pnemonia overnight if I don't jump on breathing treatments and catch it in time. He also has some allergies, but his pedi has not labeled him as asthmatic yet. My 2nd has had huge adenoids removed as well as large tonsils.

My suggestion, get a second opinion and do not hesitate to ask a lot of questions. I didn't do enough question asking or pushing even though what I was telling my pedi were CLASSIC adenoid issues. I feel horrible that my 1st was on steroids for as long as he was for really no reason.

A little about me - you can probably tell I can't spell. Working Mom of two boys, ages 7 and 4.

I'm not sure if insurance companies can access every little medical note on a person's record, but if they DO get everything, I'd make sure that diagnosis is reversed and that the reversal is documented.

My son was recently ill with an upper resporatory infection and sinus infection that led to some wheezing. He wasn't flaring his nostrils or gasping for air, but his breathing was labored enough to warrant a trip to the ER. It was the first time anything like this has happened to us, so we didn't already have a nebulizer or anything. Anyway, they said that on a first "event" like that they wouldn't label a kid as having asthma. They just called it "reactive airway."

My son is 1 and has caught colds repeatedly from daycare. They told me he may have asthma a couple of months ago and gave me a nebulizer with albuteral. It didn't seem to help. He gets over his cold and is perfectly fine. He now is getting over bronchitis. They told me it is a virus that is going around. I caught it from him and called in sick. I don't know about your son but I'm almost sure my son doesn't have asthma. I read and read about asthma and I will keep the nebulizer in case he develops asthma but don't want to unnecessarly medicate him.

Hi C.,
I have not experienced asthma with my children, but let me share with you a true story about a young Downs Syndrome girl, named Michelle Desrochers.
Michelle was diagnosed with attention deficit and Downs Syndrome in 1999. Difficulty in managing her asthma required multiple hospital admissions.
Her standard protocol included treatment with the use of a nebulizer and antibiotics in conjunction with steroids. After much deliberation and research, it was decided to introduce Michelle to a glyconutritional product. Positive changes came quickly.
Today, Michelle is a thriving active teenager, an honor roll student with her asthma completely under control. A side benefit is the difference in Michelle's appearance. The facial features associated with Down's Syndrome have become significantly less pronounced.
Dr. Reg McDaniel says that children respond VERY WELL to glyconutrients. To find out more information, you can go to www.glycoscience.org
I hope and pray this helps! If not you, someone else you know!
God Bless,
A. (____@____.com)
(SAHM of 3 children with a wonderful hard working husband of 15 yrs. of marriage)

I have had asthma for 28 years! First, in my opinion, asthma, like ADD is often misdiagnosed or a cop-out for truly diagnosing a problem. I call it DR.'s jumping on the asthma and ADD train. Now, I am sorry if I am offending anyone or any Dr.'s out there, but it is only my opinion. From my experience with asthma, I would start out with a cold, then I would feel the tightening in my chest with and sometimes without the wheezing, and if I did not catch it in time, it would go into bronchitis or pneumonia. Asthma symptoms often involve wheezing, but just because there is wheezing does not mean it is asthma. And you can have asthma without wheezing. It is the shortness of breath, gasping for breaths, and tightening in the chest and upper back. When I was little I was on meds all the time for it and not always an inhaler. I took theodoor and ventilin pills and would only use the inhaler before playing and a breathing machine when it was full blown. Knowing what I went through, when I heard my 2YO wheezing really bad when he was around 9MO I talked to my pedi about it. She never could hear him wheeze and his lungs were clear sounding and his breathing tests came back normal. She gave me a prescription for albuteral inhaler just in case because I asked for it. I used it occasionally and sometimes it would get rid of the wheezing and sometimes it wouldn't. That told me that he did not have true asthma. If I hear it, I give him 2 puffs from the inhaler and we maybe use it once every 2-3 months. He is active so I know it does not slow him down. Kids react different to those inhalers, so you will need to watch and pay attention to side effects if you do try it. If it is asthma, then kids usually outgrow it. Mine only flares up when my allergies do and turn into a cold or upper respiratory infection. I now have to use my breathing machine about 2-4 times a year and I don't have an inhaler or any other meds anymore for asthma.

I hope this helps.

HI My name is Becky I have a four and half year old as well who does experience wheezing and bronchitis in the summer but my dr wont diagnosis her with asthma. First and foremost my dr explained that they like to see multiple episodes of asthmatic type behavior before they label a child asthmatic and they also dont like to give that diagnosis until a child is older unless of course it is unavoidable. My daughter has had three or four episodes like this occuring in the summer and early fall months and we do give her breathing treatments but she has never had a course of steroids to this day. My dr feels it was allergen induced and may be something she can grow out of or can be controlled with allergy meds. I have had my daughter in the er once with severe wheezing and a low pulse ox (blood oxygen level) Her diagnosis respiratory airway disturbance. I would ask more questions and ask to see a pediatric pulmonologist if she insists on asthma and your mommy instinct tells you no. Also dont let anyone in health care boss you around (trust me I am a hospital and rehab social worker) and dont settle for a dx because no one wants to questions your dr. Asthma is a diagnosis label that will stick with your child forever and if this is the first episode by all means do not settle for that. Also how bad is the bronchitis why steroids- both my kids have had bronchitis as well as I have and we have never had to go the steroiud route. I hope this helps. Believe in your gut instinct and if your dr gets upset that you are questioning the diagnosis then think about finding a new dr you want one to work with you and help you understand not one who works against you.
Good luck

Ditto what Heather said! I would continue to watch him, but not give him the steroid treatments. Maybe schedule an appointment with his doc, or a specialist, to have some tests done and go from there.

Sorry you had to go through all this! Hope he gets better soon!

Take care!
S.

You test for asthma, and quite honestly, no one should ever be diagnosed with asthma without going through the testing. I would have a real problem with anyone who diagnosed my son with asthma without testing him. He has breathing difficulties every once in awhile and we have a nebulizer machine, and I asked his pedi if he had asthma and she replied that she can't diagnose that without testing him, and that it could be allergies, too, and we should wait a year or so to see how things go - I am very comfortable with her decision in this.

But I will also tell you that 2 months ago I was diagnosed with severa asthma. I do not have a single symptom of typical asthma, not even a wheezing in my lungs with a stethescope. My energy level had suddenly crashed and my lung capacity dropped to 70% for 6 months before my lung doctor finally just said let's test on a lark. I came back as severly ashtmatic. So knowing that, yes, you can be asthmatic without having any classic symptoms, but you just simply can't be diagnosed with asthma without being tested!

He could simply be having some allergic reactions to the weather changes, etc., which in some cases can cause asthma, but again, no testing, no asthma diagnosis, in my opinion.

Good luck!

S.

C.,

I was diagnosed with what they called "Asmatic Bronchitis" (sp?). Basically what that meant was that anytime that I got a cold, it was going to turn into Bronchitis. I never took any breathing treatments.

A side note: both my brother and sister had mild asthma.

I think you did the right thing by asking for a second opinion. I would not give my child the steroid treatments. C., remember that you are his mother and you know when he is having an "illness" versus a chronic condition. Sounds like you are relying on your motherly instincts and doing a great job of it!!

Take Care of that sweet boy,
H.

I can share that I was hospitalized as an infant for bronchitis, but only once. I also suffered from asthma most of my childhood, but was not diagnosed as an infant. There has to be a relation between the two, since they are both lung/breathing related, but I'm not sure to have one you have to have the other. I think you are right to question this diagnosis, especially considering the use of a steroid inhaler (on a regular basis???). I would seek a second opinion.

I don't know many 2 1/2 year olds that can use and inhaler. In fact when my 11 year old was younger he had to have a special attachment to use with his asthma inhaler.
My son and I are asthmatics and very careful with medications. There should be a wheeze and it is not always audible to you. Of course the doctor will know what causes the wheeze, not just asthma makes a kid wheeze. Bronchitis, pneumonia can do the same.
A steriod inhaler can help with the mucus that has built up on the bronchial linings, but when my guy was younger they never gave him that.
You are right to question this. I would make sure he is seen by the doctor again to check for a wheeze. Asthma is not just a diagnosis they should pluck out of the air.