Question about asthma

[Lothlorien]

Missy has this horrible asthmatic cough. It takes forever to get rid of once she gets it. We use the inhaler and nasal spray. She will likely have this for another couple of weeks. It's like bronchitis, but doctor says it's asthma.

My question is, should I let her go in the pool? My instinct is to keep her quiet, but what the heck am I going to do with this kid until school starts. She's bored and starts running through the house and irritating her brother (he irritates her too). The running through the house makes things worse, so which is the lesser evil....letting her get some energy out in a pool or keeping her in the house, when she's bored out of her mind? It's really hot this week, so she can't even play outside, because the quality of the air is horrendous.

I usually don't go out to the pool until later in the day (after 3) when the sun isn't so hot.

I'm not all that well versed on the dos and don'Tourette's Syndrome of asthma. We don't deal with it all the time, mostly seasonally. I've only had to use the inhaler for emergency purposes on her about three times.

 

[SRL]

Is her inhaler albuterol? If so, I'd let her go but medicate shortly before leaving and see how she does. Also pack it along just in case.

 

[Lothlorien]

It is albuterol.

 

[AnnieO]

I'd say let her swim. The cough sounds awful, but with the inhaler... Should help. Is it... exercise-induced, allergic, or...? That might make a difference. Mine is stress-induced, meaning most of the time I am fine. I no longer even have an inhaler... The panic attacks are worse than the asthma attacks!

 

[tiredmommy]

Loth- Are you sure it isn't cough variant asthma? If so, Missy might benefit from a maintenance medication (Duckie is on Asmanex), talk to her doctor. I watch Duckie carefully but let her swim at will. I might limit the total activity time but I try not to over-limit her physical activity because that's not good either. You may also find that she has exercise induced asthma, which means she would use her rescue inhaler before strenuous activity.

 

[AnnieO]

TM - That is exactly what we do with Jett and Onyxx. Hers, like mine, is stress - his is allergy - which means during football season he's on zyrtec. Well, really, all summer. It REALLY helps.

 

[Lothlorien]

It is the cough variant asthma. We had her on Singulair, but her behavior was over the top with it, so I took her off. I'll ask doctor about Asmanex. You don't have any behavioral issues with it? Missy gets hypomanic on Singulair. She's super obnoxious, loud and really irritating. I want to put her on it, right now, because of the asthmatic cough, but I shiver at the thought of the behavioral effects.

 

[Lothlorien]

Step, I had her at my aunt's house last week. She has cats. Missy was just barely beginning to have a cough prior to that visit. I had to emergently inhale her Saturday, because the cats sent her over the edge. She's been coughing wickedly since.

 

[hearts and roses]

When I am having asthma with a lot of coughing, my Dr will suggest a cough medicine such as Mucinex D or Delsym.

Before exercising in any way at all, have her take a hit off the inhaler as a preventive. Both my girls had to do this before gym class all through school. It prevented an asthma attack and excessive coughing fits. For me too! I would allow her to swim in short intervals and do a check on her breathing and coughing. Take a break and then let her swim again. And so on.

Also, personally, rather than using those nasal cortisone sprays, I use simply saline in the shower. It actually works better because it softens any mucus to be blown or spit out rather than drying, which would actually make the coughing worse. My allergist suggested this to do along with using the nasal spray and I discovered that I didn't need the nasal spray.

I take Singular every day and I also use Advair inhaler. I have an emergency inhaler that I hardly ever use. I also own a nebulizing machine for at home breathing treatments - they work wonders for those asthmatic coughing fits. You should ask your Dr about getting one - most insurance covers it and it is a blessing to have on hand.

 

[tiredmommy]

Loth,

Duckie's asthma attack lasted from the very first day of school until late October when she started the Asmanex. It was completely gone within three days. Here's the best part: Duckie was having a hard time controlling herself at school... talking, easily distracted and being a general pita. She was even blowing it at cheer by being very ODDish. Her teacher agreed that it was like a switch was thrown as soon as she started the asthma treatment plan (and she was on prednisolone at the time!) and her behavior overall has been very good since then with only fairly minor dips into gfgdom.

I think I'd be inclined to try another maintenance medication because I'm sure the ongoing asthma attack can't be helping her behavior. And by the way, Delsym did nothing to help the coughing in our case but it may help Missy. Also, do you have an asthma action plan? It can help you know the best course of action for Missy when she's having an attack. We use our peak flow chart to monitor Duckie to know how her breathing is. You really should consider a peak flow monitor if you don't already have one.

 

[susiestar]

With my boys I find that limiting exercise is generally not in anyone's best interests. thank you will mope around if his is too bad but I generally let how he feels dictate what he can do. I have not found singulair, advair or zyrtec to be helpful, though if we give him benadryl with the zyrtec it seems to help. I didn't know you could double up on those but apparently our allergy doctor thought it was a good idea.

He uses the 4 hour version of mucinex, the generic ones. I also get the cough gel pills with DM in them. It seems to work better than the liquid ones. Delsym didn't last the entire time for thank you and these are every 8 hours and seem to work best.

We DO fid that the sinus rinse bottle (similar to a neti pot but not done in the shower) makes a HUGE difference. It seems to flush out the ick and pollen and is the most useful thing we have tried.

If she is coughing the inhaler should be used every 4-6 hours. Not just when she cannot stop. She can get scars in her lungs if she is not treated with the albuterol enough. Just because seh CAN survive without the inhaler doesn't mean she should. Or so they told us.

Does she do well with steam? Just sitting in the bathroom while you shower or just run the shower can be a powerful tool.

She will probably hate it, but does keeping her chest warm help the cough? I have thank you put on a sweatshirt or use a warm rice bag on his chest and it really helps.

I hope she feels better soon.

 

[Lothlorien]

I use the inhaler 3 to 4 times a day, when she's like this. I called the doctor. I asked her for the Asmanex, but she wants to try Pulmicort first.

 

[AnnieO]

Singulair was a nightmare for Jett. Mania and volume don't begin to describe it. Plus, it had no effect.

I would go with what the doctor says - if all heck breaks loose, then you have something else to try. I don't like guinea-pigging the kids on drugs, but sometimes...

 

[SRL]

I've had really good luck with Albuterol combined with Pulmincort. If you're doing both at the same time, be sure and do the Albuterol first as it opens up the passageways.

It often takes 7-10 days for the Pulmincort to fully kick in so give it some time.

 

[house of cards]

I use albuterol and pulmicort with Angel. I also find the hot humid weather is a trigger for her so I don't let her out on really humid, hot days. If she was driving me crazy...I'd give her a treatment and limit the time outside. Angel has been reactive lately and we are treating her morning and night with the pulmicort as a preventative.