Last week we had an appointment to take C. to the allergist. It has been over a year since his last RAST test and I was interested to find out of any of his IGE levels had changed. We also seem to be having an exceptionally active pollen season and C. has been showing symptoms of seasonal allergies.
I had detected a pattern where he would develop a cough, runny nose and rub his eyes every time we played outside. I consciously kept him off any allergy medication for a week before the appointment in preparation for the scratch tests. The day of his appointment his coughing seemed a little worse than usual. At nap time he was really fussy and started to wheeze a little bit. At one point I considered taking him straight to the pediatrician instead of waiting for our 4:00 allergist appointment.
I gave up on the nap and was able to get him to calm down with some books and a video. His breathing got a bit better, so we settled in to wait for the allergist appointment. Anyone with allergic kids knows that developing asthma is a possibility, so that is the thought running through my mind. I just thought it would not happen at 2 ½.
Shortly after we got to the allergist his breathing worsened as we waited in the exam room. The allergist came in checked his breathing and said that she wanted to give his a nebulizer treatment before we went any further. Since C. has never had a breathing treatment, he was not happy about it! I had to hold him close and wrap my legs around him to keep him from kicking. All the while I am also trying to hold the mask on his face. As he screamed his lungs out I just tried to reassure him that he was ok. I told myself that the crying was good – the deep breaths would help get the Albuterol deep into his lungs. The nurse, was very nice, but did not stick around to watch – or even help as I balanced this chaos. In contrast, the nurses at the pediatrician’s office are great in assisting to administer medication or draw blood.
Finally when it was over and we were both dripping with sweat the doctor came back. She checks his breathing, which was much improved. She also said that given how constricted his breathing was, we would not be doing any scratch tests today. So, now we are on Pulmicort once a day and Albuterol as needed for coughing and wheezing. I only needed to give C. the Albuterol for 3 days. He is doing much better and we are gearing up for the scratch test next week. He has learned to sit still for his breathing treatments – it helps that I let him watch Tom & Jerry.
I guess I have a little research to do on asthma.
3 comments:
We've got asthma with our food allergy 4 y.o., too. It's under control with Singulair and Pulmicort (a nebulizer treatment), both once daily. TV helps a lot. We also have a "cool" dinosaur mask the e.r. let us bring home after one visit. It also helped once we took the elastic band off and let him hold the mask on himself. Since we're on a bedtime schedule now, we just let him fall asleep, and then do the treatment! Good luck, Libby
We too are dealing with similar issues. My little guy is 13 months and we're trying to find the source of his recent noisy breathing/wheezing. He does have a milk allergy diagnosed at 4 weeks and recently had a horrible response to a milk challenge (epi pen, benadryl, steroids, observation ugh) although both his blood and skin tests showed everything to be negative. He's been placed on Flovent inhaler twice a day and nebs as needed. We have an ENT appt and also a Modified Barium Swallowing study to r/o aspiration, though I doubt this is the cause. I just wish I could get to the bottom of this so I know I'm giving him the right treatment.
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