Ok, so for the past month or so, Timothy has been coughing and had a mild cold. Last week, he would cough so bad at night going to bed that he would be up for an hour or so coughing before he fell asleep, or he would fall asleep coughing. This past weekend I noticed that he was better at night, but if he ran around a lot or played outside it would make him cough. Today he woke up coughing and spent the day throwing up mucus all day. Finally around 4pm he fell asleep and I was watching him and noticed that the skin around his ribs was sucking in every time he breathed in and he was breathing fast for someone who was sleeping...so I got him up and dressed and we headed off to urgent care. The doctor came in and I told him all of the above and he listened to him breathing and suggested that he get some chest x-rays so we headed off to get that done and when we got back from that he said there wasn't an infection but it sounded like asthma...so he prescribed an oral steroid that he only has to take twice and we're supposed to get a nebulizer and start doing breathing treatments 2-4 times a day.
So my question is for all you other moms out there who have had to go through this before (because I know you're out there!)...what should I do? Should I trust the diagnosis of the urgent care doctor and go ahead with the treatment or should I call the pediatrician and get him in there to someone who's a little more specialized with children? If it really is asthma, should I buy a nebulizer or just rent one? How long do you need to use it? Just until the symptoms go away? This is so new for us! Obviously I probably should have asked the doctor all of this, but I think I was just so surprised to hear him say asthma that I froze! Anyway, I would very much appreciate any advice anyone has to give and thank you in advance for your help!
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3 comments:
I don't have ANY experience with this. But my gut tells me I would have a follow up appointment with pediatrics. Keep us posted. I hope he feels better!
And Charlotte is getting so big!
Hey! Jake has asthma...diagnosed at about 9 mos., and he just turned 3. We've done breating trmnts ever since. Infact, he's on one (Pulmicort) once a day from Sept to May, whether he's sick or not. Anyhow, too much to write for a post, so I'll send you an email. You may, however, want to take him in to the Pedi, just so it can be put in their records. Ok...more in an email. :)
I'd still double checks with the peds. BUT, I'd say buy a nebulizer. They were actually shocked when I've gone in before and they've had to do a treatment on me and I don't own one (my asthma was diagnosed around age 16). But, by what you write about what he was doing, I'd say it's a strong inclination towards asthma.
Part of me also says that there might be a trigger for allergies, which can induce the asthma. Almost EVERY time I go back to visit family in Texas, I have asthma problems...same for Kansas. But, up here, I have maybe had one problem that was solved with an inhaler over the course of 3 years. Alot of the time, if you can control the trigger (such as pollen, etc), then you can forego the treatments. I've been taken off of everything and just have a rescue inhaler. I used to be on 2 medications plus an inhaler.
When Timothy breathes, ask him to blow out really hard. If you hear a wheezing or high pitched sound, you know it's asthma. It's hard for little ones to understand how to do it, but it's a sure sign normally.
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