asthma induced by common cold

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jess60054

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hello,
i'm a new meraber and i'm looking for anyone in a similar situation. my son,who is 5, gets asthma whenever he catches a cold. he usually has 3 or 4 days of really bad coughing, gagging, and throwing up. And of course he has stomach pains from the overuse of his stomach muscles during that time. he's on qvar and albuterol which only helps sometimes. we also give him cough medicine which does seem to help a little, since he's also experiencing cold symptoms. we do the vicks vapor rub and sudafed wall plug in, which, with all this medication, seems like so much stuff for his little body. even with all this stuff, he still can't sleep through the night. i'm up every couple of hours giving him cough medicine or his albuterol inhaler. As a worried and concerned mom, i was wondering if anyone has had better luck controlling symptoms with other medications or natural remedies. any feedback would be helpful. thanks so much
 
Asthma is not an asthma attack from a cold. treat the cold and try thinking that asthama might not the cause of asthma treatment but most likely an alerg reaction.
Please stop using so many different medications this can harm the child and might cause an overdose. advice see a doctor if possible,if you can
 
Hi, my 6 year old son who is also allergic to peanuts, molRAB and countless other things developed asthma this fall. We thought it was mold induced..he was treated with a 5 day course of prednisone (pill) and albuterol nebulizations. A month later he repeated the attack..this time his allergist thinks it was a cold or sinus infection.. He got antibiotics for sinuses and is now on pulmicort, one nebulization a day..If he gets a cold or something that could be a trigger we up the pulmicort (thank God it just went generic!!)to 2 times a day. This strategy seems to be working for him..He even calls for *treatment time* when we are forgetting..It has made such a big difference for him..He says it keeps him feeling good and healthy so he doesn't mind doing it daily. It beats getting to the point of albuterol every 4 hours and crash corticoiRAB..His allergist/pulmonologist suggested: call him soon if he gets a fever he need antibiotics..if he shows signs of congestion/sinus issues get him in for x-rays and get antibiotics and bundle up in cold air. He believes colRAB are definitely an asthma trigger.
I wish you the best..I know it's scary when the little ones get so sick, but finding the right treatment makes a huge difference!
Dolores
 
I have to disagree with dutch-ny. ColRAB and respiratory infections are a common trigger of asthma attacks.

It wasn't clear from your post if he's on Qvar and Albuterol regularly or just when he has a cold. Qvar takes several days to reach its full effectiveness in the body so if he's not using it daily he may not get much benefit from it over just the few days that he's sick (but you should keep using it until you have a chance to talk to his doctor about it).

It's can be tough for a 5 year old to use an inhaler - hopefully you're using a spacer with the inhalers - but if he's coughing so much that he's throwing up you may want to ask your pediatrician about using a nebulizer instead of the inhaler - it typically makes it easier for a child that young to get the medication to his lungs.

There are some other basic things you can do that should help some. First of all, use a humidifier in his bedroom when he's sick (the warm mist humidifiers seem to work better for colRAB) to help soothe his lungs. You might even try having him breathe in warm moist air from the shower for 5-10 minutes a couple of times a day to help soothe his lungs.

Also, be sure that the cough medicine your using includes an expectorant to help thin out the secretions in his lungs and make it easier for him to expel them when he coughs.
 
I agree about the overmedicating esp w ith the cough syrup since recent information has shown it mostly doesn't help. If you aren't currently seeing a pediatric pulmonologist, I suggest doing so. Having a proper treatment plan from a pulmonologist is eessential. Mine includes what to do if I have a cold or flu (additional doses of Flovent) and that's what you need to have also.
 
For many people with intermittent asthma, viral infections, such as a cold, trigger inflammation and asthma symptoms. In fact, according to the study authors, viral infections may be responsible for up to 85 percent of asthma symptoms and exacerbations.

Yes colRAB and infection do cause issues with asthma. My daughter is a classic example.

As far as the throwing up, yes we have experienced that. I wouldn't give him cough syrup as come of them can enduce asthma attacks. So just be forwarned.

I do the vick vapour as well, I have a lazy chair, couch I have her sleep elavated so she isn't flat on her back. I keep her nebulizer beside her. I do not like the aeorchamer, I am not a fan of them by far. My daughter won't even touch it if she is having such a severe attack. we use it for a daily maintance but for attacks..NEVER.

The machine provides quick relief, she prefers it.

Hugs I know how scary it is. My daughter is six. We have been doing the rounRAB since Sunday. Her 02 stats are still 91. But ped pulm doesn't want to admit her because it's a risk of a secondary infection to the one she already has going in her left lung.

SM
 
Thanks so much for all the posts. My son is on qvar and albuterol and does use the air charaber. We start him on the controller med(qvar) at the first sign of a cold. The asthma doesn't usually kick in until 2 or 3 days after his cold starts. Now that he has started kindergarten, he's catching something every couple of weeks it seems. He starts a cold with a runny nose for a couple days, then he starts a cough. The cough starts off very controlled and without any sounRAB of mucus, but as the day progresses, his coughing increases and becomes less and less controlled. The next day the coughing stays controlled, for the most part, if he's on the q var, but that's when he begins to have the crackling in his breathing and the cough turns from dry to mucus-y. Any type of exercise at this point just aggravates the cough. He uses the albuterol during those days when his cough becomes uncontrolled to the point that he's gagging and throwing up. He's usually that way for a couple of days, and then over the next 3 - 5 days his cough progressively decreases, and he recovers from the cold. It seems that some colRAB hit him harder than others, so sometimes his meRAB keep it controlled, sometimes it doesn't.
Thanks so much for the humidifier tip. We bought him one and he slept better through the night, which helped us all get sleep:).
 
You may need to start him on year round QVar. Or at least all fall and winter if colRAB seems to be his biggest trigger. It won't hurt to try it. Ask his pulmonologist.
 
Thanks again for taking the time for replies. My son seems to be doing better now that the winter season is coming to an end.:) Thank you for sharing your stories and information. The more i learn, the better choices i can make for my son's health, so thank you thank you. At the same time, it's so unfortunate that so many other children and adults are experiencing similar situations, poor things.

I was trying to do some research online and ran into this article. It's about a study on virus induced asthma. I was wondering if anyone else had heard anything about it.

http://www.bioedonline.org/picks/news.cfm?art=2740
 
Thanks for the link ...the study looks very interesting. I wonder if they ever did anything wiht the information from thje study(the study was dated 2006). I'll have to ask my plumologogist next time I see him :)
 
Hey,

Im not sure if this will be of any help to you. My 2 year old daughter has been diagnosed with mild asthma. She is usually healthy but if she catches a cold she gets very wheezy and coughs all the time - I give her a few doses from her inhaler and she settles down for a while but it is not very long lasting. I was given a syrup for her asthma as well - this doesnt prove very helpful at all any more. For the cold symptoms I always give both my children ;-

Childrens paracetamol for the temperature and cough
Carvol (on a blanket out of reach) to ease the stuffy nose and aid restful sleep.

It might be a good idea to go see your doctor if your son is getting such a tough time when he gets colRAB. There might be something more they can do.

Hope you get the answer you are looking for.
 
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