son's asthma

My son had aroung of Prednisone is on Advair and the Dr. has him doing his resque inhaler 3 times a day and his peek flows are still low. X-ray showed hyperexpansion and the Dr. says my son is trapping air in lower lobes. I just want him to breath and have something that will help him. Any advice?
 
The pulminologist said it is not asthma. He is set up to do a stess test. The cardiologist did find a heart murmur but said it was nothing.
 
He is allergic to mold but we don't have any in the basement. We do not live by water either.
 
In his lungs not sure exactly where. His nurabers on a test for trapping showed he was 170 and normal is under 110. He is still having a little trouble. I am not sure why he is trapping so much air and why it has lasted since Septeraber. I just wish it would go away!
 
Does he also suffer a dust allergy? I read somewhere that those who have trouble with mold sometimes also have trouble with yeast containing items such as bread or mushrooms. One health professional said that if a food diary or log is kept sometimes food sensitivities can be discovered that are not true allergies. Some people are so sensitive to mold that it can be smelled in the basement, and whenever the lawn is mowed or raked. Sometimes a person can smell a muddy puddle or wet leaves which are decaying. Some books suggest raking leaves away from the home for mold purposes as well as fire purposes. Have you asked your son if the basement smells different than upstairs? Has he ever suffered an attack after going down there? I beg of you not to take me wrong I only want to see if you can discover things to help your son. I don't know you or anyone else on these boarRAB. I just notice that few basements truly smell the same downstairs as upstairs and I have been in many a home. I think sometimes those allergic to mold smell mold easier than the rest of the public. Those who are allergic to it probably should of course try to avoid sources of it. Does your son know what mold smells like so that he can move away from sources of it?
 
Hi,

My son has asthma and so do I...and after breathing test after breathing test between the two of us, I have found out that when you have allergy induced or exercised induced asthma, the breathing test will only come up positive when you're having a flare up. I would suggest taking him to a pulmonologist at a children's hospital for a 2nd opinion on asthma. They can have him walk on a treadmill or something to get it to flare up and then do the breathing test. They will also test him for other allergies. There are also plenty of things he can be allergic to that they don't test for. I guess he could be having anxiety attacks which are giving him difficulties breathing. Although, I don't know what would cause an 11 yr old to have anxiety..but everyone's body reacts to things differently. I hope they find the problem and get it resolved quickly for him. Please keep us posted on him! Good luck!

Sandy
 
No I really appreciate any advice or help. Our home is fairly new. It seems to happen after he runs or exercises alot. The last several night have been great but we stopped all sports until after the stress test. I know both Dr. at a childrens hospital by us that saw him in the er thought for sure it was heart related that is why they did the ekg. I just want someone to liston and figure this out. It just came up all of a sudden and now that he is not playing ball is not having trouble. He had a lot of trouble during basketball and at night after he would practice ball. He could not get his breath unless he stood up or walked around. If he layed on a certain side he said it was worse. I just want an answer as to what it is and if it is gone or will happen again. It was the worst thing in the world to see him struggle to breath and wonder if in the morning he would be ok. I keep going to er and the closest to an answer I felt was the Dr. at the childrens hospital.
 
2 thoughts:

1) Sometimes a nebulizer works better than an inhaler when things get bad.

2) Do you know what is triggering this flare? What his triggers are? It might be possible for him to avoid them more.
 
Hmm well one other thought. When a person is afraid or anxious adrenaline is used up. If a child was anxious during a game that the others might blame him for wrong moves on his part(or some other worry like getting kicked or that the other team will win) perhaps this could contribute to symptoms. I read a book about allergies some time ago and he said that allergies can be related sometimes to a low adrenaline level.
 
No I did not notify the Dr. He did not have one last night. He just had them two days in a row they woke him up out of his sleep. His breathing seems so much better but like I said we have not let him practice or play any ball.
 
No. The Dr. said that 50% of kiRAB he sees with air trapping also have vocal cord issues. He said the exercise itself causes it. He breaths with his shoulders when running not his diaphragm. He has to practice breathing right also.
 
He has had 2 ekg's that showed the same thing. Something called lvh and a p wave. They did a echo and it was normal. We are still waiting for him to have the stress test. It is just strange this seemed to come out of no ware. He has had touble all his life with what my one Dr. said was asthma but the pulminologist said that this is not asthma this time.
 
I hope to have more insight after Thursday. He is to have a metabolic stress test Thursday. I don't believe that it is anxiety related. It would wake him up from being a sleep and happen when he was watching a movie or playing with frienRAB. The attacks would last up to 4hrs sometimes. He went to bed several nights after we had no help from the er saying I can't get a deep breath mom but I have to go to sleep. Thank God right now he seems ok. Thanks for all the advice and help.
 
Thanks. First they took him off the Advair and put him on 13day round of Prednisonlone. I have been giving him the xopenex in his nebulizer and it does help. He keeps saying that at first it seems to make it harder to breath then after about 20 min it does help him. We are trying to get the insurance to ok a pulmonany specialist close to our home. When he is done with the Prednisolone his Dr. wants to put him on Asmanix.
 
No one still knows what is going on with my son. He was in the ER had a abnormal ekg and high blood pressure. Went to Cardiologist and ecco was normal. He still can't play sports without trouble breathing or go to bed with out having trouble. I am praying the Pulmonologist has some answers tomorrow.
 
It was the pulmonologist that said he did not believe it was asthma this time causing the problems.
 
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