Asthma?

I have gone through the same thing with one of my kids. Are you taking him to an Asthma & Allergy Dr.? If not that is who you need to take him to. I got the same thing from regular Dr.'s and delt with it for 4 years and finally went to an Asthma Dr. and with in a month or two she was soooo much better. After all Asthma Dr. deal with just that and regular Dr. don't, so who is going to know more??

A.

As somebody who has asthma and has had the wheezing and albuterol inhalers and all the like, I can tell you that the albuterol didn't always help me. What helped me the most was the preventative inhalers. I don't know how young they start those kind because they are steroid inhalers, but asthmacourt was what I liked the best...it's one of the older ones now, but worked well for me. I know that they also have oral medication now (the kind you swallow rather than inhale or breathe out of a portable unit. If they are telling you asthma, given what you say is happening, I would see no reason to think it was not asthma.

Are there things in your home that can trigger asthma, such as smoking, wood stove, or pets? There are other things that can trigger it as well.
My daughter (now 23) just realized that new carpet and glade block air freshener can both trigger her asthma.
It seamed that this time of year was her worse time to have attacks.
She is now fighting with her dr to get referred to a pulmonary dr.
If you don't feel comfortable with what your DR is telling you, then ask for a second opinion. You have that right. The DR is your employee, you pay their paycheck. If you are not happy with what they are telling you, listen to that mother voice inside and go to another DR.
Also if they are putting the little one on a nebulizor (sp?) what about predizone (sp?)? Predizone is a steroid that would help.
Also there are food allergies that can cause wheezing such as wheat and milk.
Have you thought about taking your little one to a natural path? I have a friend that uses one down here in Olympia that she loves.
And yes some things can come threw milk if you are nursing.
Good luck

Hi J.,
He is not too young for allergies... my daughter had them since about 3 months old. He is too young to have successful allergy testing. We found out that she was allergic to our cats by process of elimination and then had it confrimed via allergy testing when she was older.
If you have not already... I would start with removing aything "fluffy" out of his sleeping area. Plush toys, fuzzy blankets, etc. Also... if you have any pets keep them away from him. You also might want to think about if you wear any sort of perfumes or scented lotions. That could also irritate his airways.
See if that helps... if not I would try another round of medicine. As you know so often with babies you have to go by the process of elimination to find out what is causing reactions.
Good luck!
M.

Hi J.,

I am a mom of an adopted 29 month old that came into our family at age 13 months with a diagnosis of asthma. She had a history of rough breathing, and spitting up a lot since birth. She wheezed often and was also on albuterol treatments. She had been hospitalized before she came to us for breathing difficulties but showed a clear x-ray. At age 15 months she was thriving in her weight and developement, but still had lots of wheezing. A swallow study was ordered and it showed that Hailey had dysphagia, or trouble swallowing without taking small particles of liquid, and in her case, solids into her lungs. I can share more details of her condition, if you want to know more. She is now eating everything as long as it is thicker than honey. We pray, and expect for her to be able to swallow thin liquids some day.
I do suggest that you talk to your Dr. to see if your son is swallowing properly.

A little about me: Biological mom to son, age 32, twin daughters, age 29, Daughter age 26, adopted daughters, (biological sisters) 6, 4 and 2-- and married for 33 years to a GREAT guy! Currently a stay at home mom and loving it!!

I would take him to an asthma/allergy dr. My daughter (though she was older, age 3) started doing this same thing plus other symptoms so whenever we went in she was diagnosed with pnemonia. I started doubting that she was really getting pnemonia so often and that that was really it... I took her to the asthma/allergy dr as per advice from friends and he did some tests on her and we found out she has both allergies and asthma and we only see it sometimes cuz the allergies are what are triggering her asthma. (no one on either mine or my husbands side have asthma) Seriously, take him to an asthma/allergy dr cuz I bet if you bring it up with your regular dr he will tell you to wait till he's older and you dont want your son struggling breathing when it can be helped now. Im glad I took my daughter. She's breathing so much better and stronger now :) Good luck with your son.

In the alternative health field it is said that allergies are just a low immune system. Get to the root of the problem. Find out what is comprimising his system. If it is the nervous system then a chiropractor will help. If it is food or outside stimulus then a naturopath can find out what his body is not digesting. My daughter at a very young age had asthma and was put on the abuterol and nebulizer - only later to find out she had an intolerance to wheat and dairy and she was getting it through my milk. Took wheat and dairy out of the diet and the Dr. was stunned when he was able to take her off the abuterol and nebulizer and she has not been sick in over 4-years.

Good Luck!

Consider a second doctor or an alternative doctor, like a naturopath with a kid- or family- focus ... if the first doctor's office didn't give you good advice, look for better ...

God bless!

Hi J. - I agree with the others on a different doctor. I never had allergies in my life until a few years ago. I talked with my regular dr & she did not think much about it, told me to take some over the counter meds & that should help. I followed a friends advice and traveled to the next town to see an asthma & allergy specialist. Wow what a difference. They did a full work up (including blood tests) and narrowed down what I had allergies to (I had food as well as some trees). They also checked my breathing ability for asthma. These tests were worth it because then I stopped wasting $ on things that would not work for me and they gave me samples to try for a few weeks & then tweaked them before writing out the prescription this way I would not waste money on meds that might not work. Take the time & call for a referral, or check your health insurance website for this type of specialist. Giving kids meds, especially at that young of an age is not good, many times these specialist will help you with options that you can do at home over & above the meds. I have heard that if some allergies & asthma is treated early and properly it can lesson over the years. Your specialist would be able to help with this info too. Take Care, GR

PS - For those adults who do Zertec, i know that it is expensive but I found if I go to Costco & get their store brand it works the same & I can get a BIG bottle for less than I can get a small bottle of the name brand at Wal-Mart.

My son had/has allergies and asthma as well. His first week of life I noticed the same breathing you are talking about. My son would also occasionally frantically gasp for air while he was sleeping. Scared me to death! I told the pediatrician, but it wasn't until months later that he gave us the inhaler. It did help. We also noticed though that our son had some allergies. He was allergic to a plant we had in our front yard and if I touched it and them him without changing and washing my hands, he had problems. He also had problems with the air, so we put a air purifier in his room. That helped tons. Now, at 2, he only gets bad when he has a cold or visits a new place (Arizona was the worst).
The reason the dr says allergies are not possible is because a person cannot develop an allergy until the second exposure. Usually, this means the second year. My doctor though said it is possible that the exposure in utero was enough to develop the allergy, and now, this is his second season of exposure.
If you are having problems in the winter and summer equally, it could be dust. Dusting more often will just stir it up more though, so you'd need an air purifier and dust right after he wakes up so there is a long time for it to all settle out of the air before he goes back in there.

Time for a NEW DOCTOR! He is not too young for allergies. He could be on the wrong asthma medicine. Please take him to a different DR.

My little one still snores and breathes a little funny sometimes, really raspy breathing. Some people are worried about her when they hear it! Our doctor said she just has a floppy palate which should tighten up by age three or can be surgically fixed. I was originally concerned about asthma, it's pretty prevalent in my family, but they said she didn't have it. Second opinion maybe? I would check! I would also take my child to a chiropractor, sounds maybe funny but I've worked in an office for 13 years and have seen many kids go off asthma and allergy medications when they're under treatment. It's because the spine houses the nerves that control every function of the body, and chiropractors relieve nerve pressure on the spine. Let me know if you want more info!

My granddaughter has asthma that first appeared when she was just a few months old. There is no history of asthma in her family either. There are several ideas about what causes asthma that are related to our environment.

First, there are different medicines to treat asthma. Since the albuterol didn't help you could try another one. How did you administer the albutrol? We used a nebulizer every time she started to wheeze. She also took a liquid cortisone med for a short time.

I'm not sure that I agree that a baby that age can't be allergic to environmental impacts. Perhaps the reaction is not an allergy but more of an irritation. I know that several substances and conditions can irritate one's pulmonary system. My granddaughter's and my breathing got better a couple of days ago when her mother started their electronic humidifier.
Winter air is dry and it seemed especially dry once the snow started.

I think that odors and perfumes could aggravate breathing, especially if the baby/child has a systemic weakness of some sort.

From where is the noise of wheezing and breathing rough coming? If it's mainly in the throat and top of chest (in the pulmonary tubes) it might help to frequently suction mucous out of the nose.

Is the doctor sure it's not a cold or some other upper respiratory infection? One doesn't have to have a fever to have such an infection.

I suggest that no matter the cause, putting humidity in his room will help ease his breathing.

If nothing helps I suggest taking him to a pulmonologist.

Good Day J.,
Have you thought about chiropractic care? My daughter has been seeing a chiropractor since she was about 2 weeks old. She's been very healthy and has only suffered a cold here and there.
Sometimes when your spine is out of alignment, your body responds in different ways. With all the bumps and falls that little ones go through it is easy for thier little bodies to get a jolt and get out of alignment.
I wish you the best in finding a solution. May God bless you and your little one.

Go see another doctor. My son at a few days showed signs of allergy. A great naturopathic one is Dr. Kate Wiggin. And she does house calls for no extra! ###-###-#### SHe's helped our son tons!