Need Answers as to Y My 18Month Old Is on a Nebulizer 2Nd Time in 2 Months

yes, allergies can do this, my kids both have allergy induced asthma. No asthma in the family. but when they get that pollen up in their lungs they shut down. It's ragweed season here and we are starting to have to get the nebulizer out again.

The nebulizer makes his airways expand and allow more oxygen to flow in and out of his lungs. If he is congested the saline water in the medication will help loosen the mucus and make it more runny. The medication will also help the little guy cough up the stuff much better.

oh, dont worry.. it will be alright. I totally understand how you feel. My son had his first treatment of nebulizer when he was 9 months old. there is no real cause for allergies.. and its all connected, if your kid has allergies, chances are there, he gets respiratory problems. but once you know how treatment works, life willl be much smoother.
so yes.. It can do this bad. take care.. One piece of advise as I have gone through the same.. My son is now 3 and half years old.
so when he was a baby.. and starts wheezing.. I would think lets try other medication if that works.. like medicine for cold or cough.. or tylenol.. but thats wrong.. as soon as you hear wheezing sound.. that means there is very little passage for air flow.. and thats why he tries coughing to breath. so dont wait.. Start Albutrol pumacort treatment through nebulizer,.
Let me know if I can answer any more related questions.. I have gone through so many books,internet website.,, I am a mom just like you. who worries a lot..
Doctors say .. as they grow older things get better.. cross your fingers.. for our kids.

Take care

yup-both of my twins suffer from allergies. It's usually around the "changes" of a season we get the issues. One of my twins was hospitalized with pneumonia at 12 months but before I really knew what to do when i would hear it start up. Now when it starts up I automatically start up with the treatments so that it won't turn into bronchitis or pneumonia. This is another reason I get very irritated with people who have colds and think nothing of it.....a common cold for my girls is nothing like a common cold. Sure it starts off that way but then it almost always ends up as bronchitis or pneumonia for them if I don't catch it in time or it's just too far gone that they need an antibiotic or steroid to clear it up. I know what you are going through because I had to start this mess up at 12 months old. They also told me to give them a daily allergy med which I did but never seemed to really make a difference in my opinion but now they are 8 and I started to give them local honey every single day and I can honestly say I really do think it has helped them out. However I don't recall but I don't think you are supposed to give honey to your young ones until they are at least two??? Might want to check into that FIRST.

Yes.

Have you considered an electric room filter?.. We purchased one for our daughters bedroom. It changed her life.

Ours was by Hunter.

We also got rid of all of the carpets in our house and took down the drapes in her room.

We tried to keep the door to her room closed when she was not in there so it could be as allergy free as possible.

I know it breaks your heart, but thank goodness you have a way to help him.

Two of my boys have had neb treatments and periods like that and one was in and out of the hospital for two years with breathing problems. Here are a few things to consider:

Weed allergies and in some places, mold due to all the rain are super high right now and affecting kids.

A pediatric allergist is always good, but they also usually can't detect many allergies for sure until at least age 5 or 6 (and they will tell you this). We took my oldest and although he has had a lot of allergic responses, tested low for some of the things that he now tests positive for. They are mostly outdoor allergies.

It could be asthma, even if you don't know of any asthma that runs in your family. It was only after two of my boys were diagnosed, that I realized I have had asthma my whole life, but it only flares up when I have bronchitis. Believe me, it was a shock to me.

If you don't already, make sure you change your air filters at least once every three months (I do every two as one of my allergists had recommended).

My now almost 4 year old was on nebs for two years straight, at times every 3-4 hours in an effort to keep him out of the hospital. We had nurses helping us and we learned that if we didn't keep up with regular nebs and we knew he needed them, things just got worse.

If you're not happy with your pediatrician, you can always check out someone else, but honestly it may likely just be another virus. Remember every virus your child comes in contact with may be one his body doesn't have immunity for and some kids are more sensitive to those. Again, my almost 4-year-old caught EVERYTHING he was even remotely exposed to and was in respiratory distress.

Maybe you can see what his breathing rate is before you give him the nebs and then after. Our one that was always sick had changes when we gave him the medicines. It was a nice reassurance for us that they were actually working.

Good luck! Hopefully it's just a bad spell for him and he'll become more resistant as he gets older.

We were in the same situation about 2 years ago. Our daughter was about the same age as your son. We were giving her 2 different medications via the nebulizer, one was a maintenance drug. We tried an air purifier in her room, it helped so much, that we were able to stop the meds, unless she gets a cold, then she usually need the albuterol for a couple of days.

She's now 3 and she was diagnosed with several allergies by the allergist earlier this year, but none were really severe. So seeing an allergist, like everyone else has recommended would be a good thing, but I would also try an air purifier. We try to limit the meds our girls are on as much as possible.

I had to take my daughter to the ER this summer for an asthma attack. Her dr said it was caused by her seasonal allergies. It made sense that it could be triggered by that when I realized that people with food allergies can have trouble breathing. She's on daily allergy meds until the first frost.

my 2 1/2 year old has to do breathing treatments occasionally. he has seasonal allergies and a "touch of asthma". our pedi told us as soon as he starts with a cough to give him a breathing treatment, even if we have to wake him up in the middle of the night. he is prone to URI's and had bronchitis 2 times. sucks, but ya gotta do what you gotta do.

We are going through the same thing after ear tubes were inserted in February. His older sister has an anaphylactic response to peanuts, and has a baseline allergy to all tree nuts, maybe environmental things, and dogs. He tested negative to food allergens, so his ENT had an Xray done of his adenoids ( a bit large, but not requiring surgery at this stage) and his next stop is an allergist. They did run an environmental blood panel on him and I'm guessing we'll be adding Flonase, Zyrtec and/or Singulair for him. Once we got my daughter on the right meds, she's flourished. Hang in there and be persistent...I spent many nights crying as she coughed and I'm smarter this time around!

As an asthmatic myself and the mother of kids with allergies (and one with asthma), absolutely the allergies can kick off respiratory troubles. Like the others, I can't emphasize enough that you should use the nebulizer sooner rather than later. I know how upsetting it can be to hold your little one as he or she struggles to breathe. You can really avoid most of that if you use the nebulizer early. DON'T wait!!!

For what it's worth, albuterol/ventolin and most asthma medications are very, very safe. Both my ob/gyn and my pulmonologist encouraged me to use them when pregnant (and how many drugs do they say THAT about? ;) ). Restricting oxygen intake is much worse for children than using the medication/nebulizer treatments that help alleviate the problem.

The treatments can be inconvenient, but your little one needn't suffer with the wheezing, the sleepless nights and the coughing that go along with this kind of reaction. It gets easier -- trust me.

When my 9yo was a baby..like 8or9 months he had to have breathing treatments three times a day for months. He was always sick and would wheeze. I ended up owning the nebulizer. It's hard to see your baby have a hard time breathing! I would bet allergies could give you a hard time breathing. Does your son have allergies? Maybe go to an allergy dr.. Poor guy.

Could be asthma, bronchitis, bronchilitis, croup, whopping cough, pnemonia, allergies, foreign object inhaled into the lungs...

You need to take your baby to a different pediatrician and not leave without a solid answer (this includes blood work, chest xrays, etc).

How does your current pediatrician simply 'not know?'! They can make an educated diagnosis and give a better course for recovery than leaving you in the dark like this... get a new doctor!

Hope your little one feels better soon :)

And if it makes you feel any better, all 3 of my kids have needed a nebulizer at some point in their lives, sometimes more than once (my middle child gets croup every winter)... good luck!

We did with our daughter. When she was a little over a year old, she started having a recurring cough at night that would wake her up. It didn't sound like a normal cough like you'd have with a cold, just dry and hacking. It sounded horrible, but there was always other stuff going on that masked the cough as a sign of a problem, like colds and season changes that always seemed to explain it. Finally, we ended up in the emergency room with a full blown asthma attack. That was the first time I found out that the coughing had all been an asthma symptom, something I had never realized was possible. She was on a nebulizer for about a year taking pulmicort daily, and after that, she has never needed it again and has never had anything remotely resembling the cough or an asthma attack. From my understanding, there are some kids who more or less outgrow it, and others will deal with some degree of asthma for a lifetime.

Make sure he's not sleeping with his head near a furnace/air conditioner vent. When my son was little he started sleeping with his head at the other end of his crib one night. A few weeks later he got a horrible cough that wouldn't go away ang the doctor did x-rays thinking pnuemonia. They gave us a nebulizer and we used it a lot. I made him switch so his head was at the other end of the crib away from the vent and his symptoms disappeared. It was definately allergy related. Good luck. I hope you get a diagnosis soon. I agree with the poster who said have another doctor check him.

Hi, A.:

Check the web at:

www.enzymedica.com/products/kids_digest

Yes, allergies can create this kind of problem.

Let me know if this helps.
D.

My son had the same problem. We took him to different doctors and only allergiest could tell us that he had viral asthma and we need to use nebulizer as soon as he starts wheezing. Also they ran allergy tests and he was allergic to cats and dogs (we had cat for 3 years in our house). So we removed the cat, with first sign of cold we use humidifier in his room and it seems to help so far but it is always worst in a winter time. I understand how you feel. My heart breaks for your son. Hopefully your little one feels better soon! Take care.

Yup. We spent nearly all of Febuary to July in Children's hospital. We'd come home for a week, be back for 2 weeks, home for a few weeks, back for a month.

At certain times he was on a nebulizer for 12 hours solid, off for 2 and back on for 12, others he was having 8 puffs of his inhaler every 30 minutes for over a week.

7 months later and we still don't have a diagnosis. We know a lot of things it's not, but don't know what it is (still working on it).

He's currently on a steroid that is giving him insomnia (staying up until 5 or 6am, sleep till noon... SO not enough sleep, for him. For me, that's just fine. I check his vitals every hour -he's coded twice in August-, and admin meds as needed in his sleep... but it only takes a minute or two to get him back to normal these days or to know we're packing up to the er -anyone wonder why I'm on here so much these days? It's because I'm a bear of very little brain and need to stay awake until he can sleep).

Not knowing is scary, and frustrating, and has a VERY steep learning curve.

But you can do this.

Know how I know ? :D

It's the no-choice thing. It's not strength. It's not having a choice. You do what you have to do because they're your kid. Your heart. Your life. You love them. So you do everything you can until you fall over, or sob in private, and tomorrow you do it again. And again. And again. It doesn't get easier. You just get used to it. And then you realize when they're stable at some point; whoa. How easy is this? Kisses. Love ya kiddo. Let's get the dragon mask going. Blue puffer. Red puffer. PICC Lines. Allergy testing. Stethascopes. As easy as changing a diaper.

Did you happen to take him to a pediatric allergist? This is what happened to us...our son at about 6 months old was having horrible issues with colds and breathing and was even hospitalized with RSV for a week. Our ped referred him to a pediatric allergist. he did some allergy testing and at least eliminated the seasonal type allergies but did find some food allergies. after we adjusted his diet he still seemed to keep getting sick...it was like 2 weeks sick, 2 weeks fine, 2 weeks sick, etc. all while on nebulaizer treatments when sick because he couldn't breathe. so we finally went to an ENT cause after 6 months it was no better. they found he had seriously enlarged adenoids & large tonsils too. after the adenoids were removed (he was too little to have the tonsils out), he's been fantastic! i mean he'll always have issues when he's sick so we just deal with it...when he gets a cold he has to have treatments to help him out. there's no way around it. but at least he can breathe normally every day now! so i guess what i'm saying is if you have a pediatric allergist in your area, take him in and see what that dr says. they will also be able to help you figure out any triggers to his attacks and either rule out or confirm any seasonal allergies. this should help you manage this better. i'm sure your dr is great, but sometimes you need this type of specialist.

also, get a really good air filter for his room. and most of the time symptoms escalate when they lay down because everything is settling in his lungs so if you can prop him up when he sleeps that should help. warm baths before bed too.if he does end up on some kind of steroid like prednisone, make sure you give it to him in the morning because it usually keeps them awake. we made that mistake once! lol don't be afraid to use the nebulizer. it won't hurt him and we even use ours with sterile water in it if he just needs some moisture and no albuterol. good luck...i know what you're going through.