...yet we really can't do without you!
So for the third time in 4 weeks (we had a whole week off!), A is back on Prednisolone after a very nasty flare up over the past few days. I have to be honest, I'm feeling at my wits end wondering where this is going to end, three attacks in four weeks regardless of being on all of the medication we have to hand and each attack worse than the last. This time she hasn't even responded to the Prednisolone quite so quickly. At the moment I genuinely don't understand the term 'well controlled asthma', we have no family history of asthma, (so we are rookies) but as far as I understand it A is on all the medication that she can have at her age, so what more can we do? We know her triggers, we recognize early when her condition is worsening, and yet nothing we do appears to make a difference.
Giving Prednisolone is such a double edged sword. When we see her condition worsening the options are; go in early with it to try to prevent a severe attack, but not really know whether you've given it unnecessarily; or be wary of it's potential long term side effects and wait until you know things are bad, risking further damage in the lungs which in turn takes longer to heal and then she's at more risk of further attacks and (probably) more Prednisolone. Of the two options above we are constantly at a loss to know which is the best, particularly when she is having these very frequent attacks and all we can do is assume that she'll have another flare up in 1-2 weeks and we'll be agonizing over the decision yet again. We go back to the Paediatric Respiratory clinic at the hospital next month... maybe they can shed some light.
So for the third time in 4 weeks (we had a whole week off!), A is back on Prednisolone after a very nasty flare up over the past few days. I have to be honest, I'm feeling at my wits end wondering where this is going to end, three attacks in four weeks regardless of being on all of the medication we have to hand and each attack worse than the last. This time she hasn't even responded to the Prednisolone quite so quickly. At the moment I genuinely don't understand the term 'well controlled asthma', we have no family history of asthma, (so we are rookies) but as far as I understand it A is on all the medication that she can have at her age, so what more can we do? We know her triggers, we recognize early when her condition is worsening, and yet nothing we do appears to make a difference.
Giving Prednisolone is such a double edged sword. When we see her condition worsening the options are; go in early with it to try to prevent a severe attack, but not really know whether you've given it unnecessarily; or be wary of it's potential long term side effects and wait until you know things are bad, risking further damage in the lungs which in turn takes longer to heal and then she's at more risk of further attacks and (probably) more Prednisolone. Of the two options above we are constantly at a loss to know which is the best, particularly when she is having these very frequent attacks and all we can do is assume that she'll have another flare up in 1-2 weeks and we'll be agonizing over the decision yet again. We go back to the Paediatric Respiratory clinic at the hospital next month... maybe they can shed some light.
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