My daughter, Martha, had an asthma attack, again, last Monday. It was her second asthma attack in three weeks, after we first discovered she has one. What I notice about Martha is she gets attacks during night times, and during changing of weather. It really is scary and frustrating since she get acute asthma attacks, so all we can do is nebulize her every hour until her wheezing normalizes, and if on the fourth hour, it has not stopped yet, give her steroids.
“Asthma (Az-muh) is a chronic disease that affects your airways. The airways are the tubes that carry air in and out of your lungs. If you have asthma, the inside walls of your airways are inflamed (swollen). The inflammation (IN-fla-MAY-shun) makes the airways very sensitive, and they tend to react strongly to things that you are allergic to or find irritating. When the airways react, they get narrower, and less air flows through to your lung tissue. This causes symptoms like wheezing (a whistling sound when you breathe), coughing, chest tightness, and trouble breathing, especially at night and in the early morning.
Asthma cannot be cured, but most people with asthma can control it so that they have few and infrequent symptoms and can live active lives.
When your asthma symptoms become worse than usual, it is called an asthma episode or attack. During an asthma attack, muscles around the airways tighten up, making the airways narrower so less air flows through. Inflammation increases, and the airways become more swollen and even narrower. Cells in the airways may also make more mucus than usual. This extra mucus also narrows the airways. These changes make it harder to breathe.”
I have not done my research yet, but I sincerely hope her case is like her older brother’s, which went away when he became active in sports - swimming, and ate more nutritious foods. Matthew’s attacks were not the same though, as he vomits everytime he has an attak. He got hospitalized too, when steroids were not able to stop his wheezing once. (It has not happened since then.)
Do any of you have kids with asthma? I really need more advice how to prevent an attack - as Im clueless how Martha gets hers. Also, is there any side effects on nebulization and steroids? I think having an asthmatic child will require more vigilance than I thought.
Here are her medicines:
Ventolin nebules.
Prednison (steroids - when she is still having wheezes)
Virlix
Hi! My only son Julian is the only one with asthma in the family. I just don’t know if this is something to be thankful for. My two girls are both fine and asthma-free. We have been to two different pulmo doctors, one for adults who insists in having a maintenance medication and a pediatric pulmo who prefers as needed medication.
We take all the necessary precautions but still minor attacks occur, especially now that the weather is very erratic. We usually give Meptin and would resort only to Pred if attack is severe. Otherwise, we give none. Julian asks for nebulizer if he has difficulty breathing, especially around 3-4am. We just avoid giving him his favorite foods that triggers an attack, like strawberry and pineapple. We also take note to change clothes when he perspires. This is really very hard and much as we want him to enjoy playing outdoors, we usually ask him to stop if we see his shoulders going up a bit. Sorry, long comment,
July 17th, 2007 | #
Hello aggietha. One of my daughters was diagnosed with asthma when she was 1. Another daughter was just diagnosed at 3. They have different seasonal patterns, but one thing for sure: if they have upper respiratory infections, they are almost sure to have acute exacerbations (attacks). So I can almost anticipate when they will have them.
There are now alternatives to giving steroids, a class of drugs called leukotriene inhibitors, which you should discuss with your child’s doctor. Also, as an alternative to nebulizing, you should also discuss using inhalers. Children are not coordinated enough to use the inhaler straight out, but an asthma specialist can recommend a good spacer - this is a device with a mask at one end, the inhaler is attached to the other end, and in between, a tubular space with a one-way valve. The child can take his time breathing through the mask, as the space acts as a reservoir for the drug.
Steroids can also now be given through inhalers, and this is better than taking the drug systemically (by mouth, then it circulates through the blood and various organ systems) because it targets the lungs right away. I won’t scare you with a run-down of side effects of systemic steroid use, there are just too many. However, sometimes it is absolutely necessary. I would not give it without doctor’s advice.
If your child’s pediatrician is not comfortable or knowledgeable, you should seek referral to a specialist (a pediatric pulmonologist).
Lastly, as a plug for public health, you and your kids ought to get immunized for the flu annually. It’s not too late to get the shots for this year’s season.
Sorry for the even longer comment.
P.S. Why is your child on cetirizine? Does she also have allergies? Not all asthma is allergic, by the way. Only in about 1/3 of cases is an attack triggered by a known allergen.
July 17th, 2007 | #
Hi Aggietha. My youngest daughter was diagnosed with asthma at 8 months old. It’s been an uphill battle since then but we have been very diligent in managing her attacks. I wrote an article on this a few weeks ago. Maybe you’d like to check it out. Hope your kid will overcome this episode soon
http://scroochchronicles.blogspot.com/2007/07/adriana-asthmatika.html
July 17th, 2007 | #
hi, my younger son had symptoms of asthma as well. didn’t help that allergies ran in my husband’s family. his first pedia gave him (and he was BELOW 1!) inhalers as well, all the way up to seretide. after being on flixotide for 3 months and seretide the 3 months after, i decided to move doctors. i didn’t want him on anything steroids. we went to an integrative doctor and after a month on singulaire, we moved to homeopathic remedies. today, at two and a half, he doesn’t wheeze at all and his pedia says we can get off the remedies already. yay!
July 19th, 2007 | #