Question:
We have recently adopted a child with a known athsma problem.
Fortunately, his asthma is not bad and we have only had a few dealings
with it. We have been doing tons of reading and question asking with
our child's doctor. I would like to know from the parents of young kids with this problem what signs they look for?
Answer:
For young children with a tendency toward asthma, any virus could
trigger asthma, so we watch much closer during viruses and are more
likely to take the child in for breathing checks. We also watch for retractions - any sign of the skin pulling in around
the ribs or at the base of the throat is a potential warning sign.
Increased breathing rate is a sign. Now that our kids are older, they
have a particular "hyper-talk" - a fast-paced breathless nonstop
talking that immediately sends us to the peak flow meter, the
nebulizer and/or to Urgent Care. We have dust-proofed their bedrooms, dust-proof covered their pillows
mattresses, and found new homes for our pets, all to help reduce their
tendency toward bronchospasm. We now know to watch for signs of sinusitis after upper respiratory
viruses. The typical pattern is to get a cold, to have it for a few
days, and then to develop a low-to-moderate fever. For our kids, this
is an almost certain indication of a sinusitis, which is often
followed by their more severe asthma episodes. The trick is to get
them on antibiotics and increased inhaled meds before the asthma kicks
in. Our oldest now uses a steroid nasal spray to prevent sinusitis;
this and other measures have kept him off of prednisone and out of
Urgent Care for several years. An ounce of anticipatory anxiety (and action) is worth a pound of
prednisone!
