Daniel has reactive airways

DansMom wrote: Poor kiddo has had two chest colds in two weeks time, each one leading to reactive airways requiring a trip to the hospital for breathing treatments After last night's trip to the hospital, he's got to be on a 4-day dose of steroids with Albuterol inhaler every 4 hours for the next 48. He's doing better today.

luvbug00 replied: Poor baby! I hope he startes feeling better soon.

amynicole21 replied: Oh no! Poor little guy I hope that the steroids do the trick.

kit_kats_mom replied: Oh man. How awful. Sounds like a rough week for the entire family. He sure is a sensitive little guy. Is this something permanent? is it related to asthma? I hope he's on the mend soon.

jcc64 replied: Oh man, Tracy, that's scary! Btdt, in a similiar way, with Alec (he was probably 6 or so at the time). They diagnosed it as asthmatic bronchitis, but it sounds very similar. Just a little heads up, if the drs didn't already tell you- don't be surprised to see some pretty significant behavior changes while he's taking the steroids. Alec's been on them a few times, and even his classmates commented on how "crazy" my normally very quiet and laid back guy acted while on the meds.
Has anyone mentioned the possibility of asthma? Hope he heals quickly!

~Roo'sMama~ replied: Oh no.. poor guy!! I hope he's feeling better soon.

A&A'smommy replied: OMG poor baby!!! I Hope he gets better soon!!!

DansMom replied: The docs won't say the word "asthma", but it's the same---all the docs and nurses were using phrases like "asthma attack" and "classic asthma cough" and such. The trigger is viral rather than environmental, which in some ways is good news as Daniel gets viruses less often than he is exposed to various airborne allergens here in Michigan, but it's the same kind of airway constriction. I've been reading about "the allergy march", and it's very typical for a kid who has exzema as an infant and food allergies as a toddler to progress to seasonal allergies and asthma as an older child. But with the dietary restrictions and being careful, he may outgrow all of these things by middle school.

Oh yes, those meds! He was literally twitchy last night, and woke up very combative today---aggressive, demanding, giving orders. I'm sure the meds are making him wacky. I'm such an anti-med person that it's hard for me to administer them. Thankfully, only 4 days of the steroid.

Thanks for the good wishes, you guys!

jcc64 replied: Tracy-
If he is indeed on the "allergy march", as Alec was, here are a few more tips, in light of the fact that you may not know what airborne allergens he's sensitive to, if any.
Try to eliminate as many soft animals, fabrics, blankets, etc as possible from his room. The #1 airborne allergen is dustmites, and they are everywhere- curtains, mattresses, carpets. Get those hypoallergenic mattress/pillow covers- they work great. We have no carpet or curtains in Alec's room, and no stuffed animals (well, he's 13 now, but you get the point). We also have a HEPA filter running all night in his room, and that works very well in controlling his symptoms.
I'm also reflexively against meds, but in Alec's case, we did finally find a daily med that controls his asthma so well that no one even knows he has it. And now he's been able to taper off of that as well, so asthma is not the scary, lifelong condition I feared it to be.
Hopefully, your experience will be the same, if not better.

ediep replied: oh no!! Poor little man!!! Hope he is better soon!!!

5littleladies replied: Oh-Poor guy!! We've had Maddie on Albuterol a few times due to wheezing, but it's been a long time so I'm hoping she grew out of it.

I hope Daniel feels better soon!!

Jamielou replied: The doctors told me that laney has a touch of asthma but they wont label her with it until she gets older and sometimes they will grow out of it but if they put it in her medical record it cant be taken off or something like that....

I hope he feels better soon

gr33n3y3z replied: Awww I hope he is feeling better today

Jamison'smama replied: So sorry to hear that---that is Jamison's type of asthma at this point--usually triggered by a virus. We too are currently on day 4 of the Orapred craziness. This is a bad time of year for asthma. She is back on the nebulizer daily through the winter.

I hope this is not long term and the prednisone nightmare will be over shortly!

ETA--if the doctors think that this will re-occur, you might ask about using a nebulizer as opposed to an inhaler--even if you rent one just for the few days because they make a drug to use in lieu of Albuterol called Xopenex. It has much fewer side effects---no shakiness, racing heart etc. They have yet to come out with a Xopenex inhaler but it is in the works. The Orapred has enough crazy side effects of it's own.

DansMom replied: Thank you, Brenda! One problem with the inhaler is that he really fights it. It's a battle I'd definitely rather not wage long term. However, the nebulizers at the hospital were ok with him. I'm going to look into that alternative, definitely.

I'm so sorry to hear that Jamison's going through an episode now as well. At the hospital last night the doctor said Daniel was the sixth case to come in that shift---definitely the season, it seems.