Skip to main content

Prednisolone we hate you...

...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.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pretty gutted

While A has gone into the spring seemingly able to fight the nightmare wheezing of winter, last week our little Baby L ended up in hospital with fast laboured breathing, low oxygen, a high temperature and the dreaded  'Post viral wheeze'. We are certainly not the first to find that our second child might be vulnerable to the same respiratory problems as our eldest, however we really do feel pretty gutted. On the positive side, if he does continue to wheeze, at least we know what we're doing. We don't have the same learning curve as the first time round and in a funny kind of way inhalers, A&E and everything related to viral induced asthma is fairly 'normal' to us as parents (albeit worrying), but still, for him as much as for us, gutted. For now we'll have to wait and see if his tendency to wheeze continues. The last two times that he's had a cold I've had him down the doctors as we thought we'd heard a wheeze at nightime, so I think it d...
Post a Comment
Read more

Some useful links

Before I give a bit of background on our experience with asthma, I thought I'd add a couple of useful links. Firstly, Asthma UK are an incredible charity and have a great website, excellent resources and knowledgeable asthma nurses on the end of the phone between Monday and Friday. I think that BootsWedMD is also a good site which shows appreciation for the differing types of asthma symptoms and explains quite clearly the stages of an attack which I think is particularly important when caring for a child with asthma as they cannot necessarily tell you how they are feeling and what's happening to them.   Something that's been really invaluable to us is the under 5's Personal Asthma Action plan available here from Asthma UK along with action plans for older children. It's very important to keep the plan current in consultation with your GP or asthma nurse, but in the middle of the night when you're at your wits end wondering which course of action to take next...
Post a Comment
Read more

Hi Ho, Hi Ho...

Well, after sixteen months, twelve of which spent in the privileged company of my two most favorite little people, (the first four having spent way too much time in hospital with a pretty tricky pregnancy), I have this week darkened the doorstep of my place of work again and with a mixture of sadness and genuine positivity started the new 'normal' routine, working three days a week. It's gone pretty well, the kids have settled into the new childcare arrangements brilliantly and my welcome back has been really quite lovely. I feel though, that the phrase 'work/life balance' is hanging over me ominously. I think this is pretty normal for any parent returning after a significant period of maternity or paternity leave. There's an adjustment period and there are weeks where it all runs smoothly and then there are the weeks where you're holding it all together with a diarrhea filled nappy and a Calpol syringe in one hand and a laptop, mobile and cannula pumping ...
Post a Comment
Read more