W. T. F.

[prairiemama]

Robin's illness continues. Her coughing finally woke her up at 5 am. I had her use the inhaler, which we've been practicing with. It seems to not have made a ton of difference. I am not sure I'm using it perfectly, it's hard to get a toddler to comply with a face mask, but I thought it would make more of a difference. I gave it to her 20 min ago and only just now is her cough slowing down but it certainly hasn't gone away. I just don't understand how she can get a cough every. single. time she has a virus with NO EXPLANATION, and it NOT be viral-induced asthma. **BANGS HEAD AGAINST WALL REPEATEDLY** This was my silver bullet and now I'm really worried we'll just be dealing with this awful cough FOR LIFE with NO RECOURSE.

I'll have to call my doctor. (Have I mentioned our new doctor and how much I like him? I took Robin to her WBV last week and we had a great talk. He tested this weird rash on her knee that she's had since JULY and 2 days ago he CALLED ME to tell me the results. Then he said he'd check on it again when I bring Holly in May 4th -- probably the closest I'll ever get to back-to-back appts or whatever. I told him about Robin's frequent nightwaking and he asked some Qs, mostly to rule out night terrors, and then said, "Well... that sucks!" Ha.)

Yet she has no fever and is in fine spirits, and is even eating about the same as usual ("cerealmilk" as she calls it... cheerios and milk). So I'm confused and uncertain about how to move forward. The whole do-I-send-her-to-daycare-or-not debate is getting soooo old. Childcare is supposed to solve problems, right? I could let her stay home with the nanny and Holly. SIIIIIGGGHHHH.

We set up a new toy shelf with bins and a sling bookshelf in the never ending quest to use our small space more efficiently. I keep hoping that if she can see them, Robin will play more with her toys instead of messing with our stuff and whining :).

Robin just said that something on tv was "really annoying." Ha. At least she's in a good mood, at least she's in a good mood, at least she's in a good mood...

Comments

[nutmeg.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry you are having to deal with this. My son has pretty severe asthma... We struggled for two years with eli's asthma before we finally took him a specialist to get a good plan in place. The idea of entering another winter with him and not knowing what to do besides what we had already been doing (which was simply not working well enough, every cold would induce three weeks of coughing which could not be stopped)

So I"m going to ask a few questions and give a few recommendations. I found that the albuterol inhaler really didn't do as much as I wanted it to. When he's really having a flare, if it works at all it is only really briefly and it's very frustrating. We've definitely had to stand there with him grunting and coughing and decide whether we shoudl take him to the hospital or not. We never have because we are pretty calm about things, but I could not handle any more of that.

So, the allergist gave us steroid inhalers that have completely changed our lives. We had been giving him steroids in a nebulizer when he was sick, but it takes a long time and he is miserable about doing the nebs (we've been doing them since he was 6 months old, so the only thing he associates them with is screaming and crying). No we use the steroid inhalers two puffs in the morning, two in the evening. During a flare he gets three in the morning three in the afternoon and three in the evening for a week and we usually give him some albuterol before hand to open his airways so the steroids can get where they need to go.

This has totally changed our lives. The colds he's gotten since we've been on this plan have come with moderate coughs that last less than a week instead of three weeks. And we haven't once debated taking him to the hospital. He still has bouts induced by running etc but he self-moderates his activity level when he starts to cough etc.

RE Daycare. If he isn't actively sick (ie no fever and isn't going to get the other kids sick) I send him. Before we got on the new plan he coughed all day long, constantly, ALL THE TIME, every day. There's no way I could keep him home all the time, obvioiusly. So now I make sure he's going to be okay, they know when they should call me (if he starts grunting instead of coughing) and I used to get dirty looks, but now everyone knows he's got asthma so the kid coughs no matter what.

So, there are futher things to do if you aren't finding relief from what is being done right now. I really wish you luck. It's been pretty difficult for us, but we've stabilized mostly now and I'm so, so happy about it.

[lolacat.livejournal.com]

Thanks for all of this. I have no experience with asthma so I'm trying to learn. Fortunately we live near one of the best hospitals in the country and they have a great clinic if we need a second opinion. Our new doc seems to understand that this is a real problem for us/he even though it's only when she's sick.

I'm going to try to get better at using the inhaler before ruling it out... but I'm not thrilled with the slight effect it seems to have. We got her to use it pretty well yesterday and it worked for about 2 hours before wearing off... not ideal.

[greenminions.livejournal.com]

As someone who got diagnosed with asthma and severe allergies a few years ago I highly recommend taking her to an allergist/asthma specialist. It stinks to have to suffer with something like this over and over again.

A specialist can help you be proactive in order to reduce the triggers. They can test her breathing and if you happen to go during a flare up they can try some immediate relief measures right there and evaluate the effect.

[tesslouise.livejournal.com]

My brother had asthma as a kid. (I know, I know, asthma isn't something one outgrows--but he did. Go figure.) Anyway, it took quite a few doctor visits before he got diagnosed--eventually one of the peds said to my dad, "I guess we just weren't listening to what your wife was saying." Gee, thanks. Anyway, I would persist until you have a good explanation for Robin's cough.

[aslant.livejournal.com]

I had asthma as a kid too, and grew out of it around puberty. It was also around the time we moved from the east coast to the west coast, so maybe the different pollens made a difference as well.

[aslant.livejournal.com]

yikes. i hope maybe a new kind of inhaler might help her, like nutmeg describes. i had asthma growing up and it was terrible. i think it wasn't diagnosed until i was 5 or so, and they had me use an inhaler that i thought was fun -- it puffed the medicine into this accordion-looking device, and i had to inhale it, and the inhale would make the accordion collapse down and make a little musical sound. it was kind of cool. i think by the time i was 6 ot 7 they put me on the regular adult-type inhalers.

my sister always got strep throat when we were young, but she would never test positive for it. and eventually in her teens a doctor ran some new test on her that showed she had this completely atypical strain of strep. to this day she still gets it maybe once a year and has to go on antibiotics for it. she's memorized the strain's scientific name because unless she tells the doctor to look for it, she will get sent in ENDLESS stupid red tape circles since they won't believe that she has strep. i wonder if a similar thing could be happening with robin's diagnosis?

in any case it sounds like the inhaler isn't quite doing its job. but there are definitely other treatments (like the steroidal inhalers) that can help you. it will get better!

[strph.livejournal.com]

Oh, I would be banging my head against a wall too!! I gotta say, though... you might want to also try some dietary changes. Milk gives me more asthma issues, if I drink it or eat it too often. I'm on Symbicort every day for my asthma but I still notice problems if I drink milk/eat pudding/have ice cream (yogurt and hard cheese doesn't seem to give me as many problems). Also, do they make guaifenesin in a liquid for kids? They must. I love that stuff. It really helps if I'm having asthma issues too.

Basically, it causes excess mucus in the body and that will immediately start causing me to cough, wheeze more, etc. I'm not sure if she eats a lot of cheese, ice cream or whatnot, but your mention of cereal and milk was an immediate flag to me. :) I would switch her milk over to nondairy--rice milk or unsweetened vanilla Almond Dream is my pref, NO soy--and see what happens.

And actually it might be a good idea to try a DIY elimination diet. It couldn't hurt any of you, actually... I've done it a few times before. You can google for some plans, but I just eliminated all dairy, nuts, corn, citrus, soy, gluten, and shellfish from my diet for a week or so... so I was basically eating fish, meat, fruits, veggies, and brown rice for a while. Then, I reintroduced one category of food for a while, etc., and kept a food diary of symptoms.

It helped clue me in to some issues I have with dairy, gluten and soy. (If you end up seeing an allergy specialist for Robin, they will probably suggest something similar unless they are quacks. ;)

[lolacat.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Steph. I've heard this and been kind of like LALALALALALA I don't want to know this! ;) I guess I just worry about getting enough protein in her and I hate to cut out dairy. That being said, she doesn't EAT that much dairy, so I'm not sure if this is the culprit (she doesn't like milk and is in a "no cheese" phase, and is only so-so on yogurt). I will AVOID IT DILIGENTLY while she is sick and see if that helps.

That's good to know about guafinisheshsinn (:P) I don't think they make it FOR kids but there are dosage guidelines online (wish to hell I had some RIGHTNOW -- why didn't I get this message BEFORE I came home! Sigh.).

[strph.livejournal.com]

I know, dealing with possible food allergies really bites. LALALALALALA...

I see Mucinex makes a few that only contain guaifenesin (ie, doesn't say "COUGH" on the front)... a grape syrup and "mini-melts" for kids... I bet there's even a generic version available some places. I take at least 2400 mg when I'm sick, the maximum dose, and it always helps (AND I have never had any side effects... well, other than extra-slippery EWCM around ovulation but that's not a concern to Robin... haha.) Actually I should probably just start taking it every day. Couldn't hurt.

Re: protein... yeah, there's the rub. :-/ Does she like eggs? Hard-boiled ones, for instance? They're a great cheap non-dairy source of protein. Also, nuts aren't bad... nut butters or whole nuts if she's good at the chewing... or I've known some people who even mix rice-based protein powder into non-dairy milks on the sly, just to get extra protein in their kids... :)

Keep the faith, lady. xoxo.