Asthma Parent

I've just stumbled across Medicines for Children for parents/carers to find information about medications prescribed to their child. I was looking up Prednisolone and found this leaflet to be both accurate and clear. Medicines for Children's vision is 'that any parent, wherever they are, have information on their child’s medicines that they need and can trust'. The leaflets are written by healthcare professionals and checked by parents and carers.  A great idea and very worthwhile.

A somewhat rocky few weeks with stupid unseasonal weather have seen both our two go down with awful colds and we've spent a great deal of time stuck indoors. A was back on her prednisolone at the weekend due to worsening symptoms after her second cold in two weeks and Baby L has been down for weeks drowning in snot and struggling with a crackly, wheezy chest (which of course is always clear when a doctor gets to listen to it). To be honest I think that I am paranoid that he'll develop asthma and as such I think that the fear of missing symptoms in him and going through anything like what we've been through with A drives a mild hysteria in me which I know that I must fight. But then the tiredness of being up at night so much with him for three weeks solid doesn't really lend itself to rational thought! A's behaviour while taking the steroids this time round was quite something and a really tangible reminder of the wonder (asthma symptoms under control within 24...

The Starlings are back and I can't tell you how happy this small sign of spring makes me feel. Spring means less coughs and colds which means less chance of an asthma attack and that's got to be good. Also, more daylight and sunshine mean more vitamin D which I personally believe really helps. I know there is little solid evidence when it comes to Vitamin D and asthma [ Paul, Grace, et al. "Vitamin D and asthma." American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine 185.2 (2012): 124-132 ] however I've got to say that 'A' has taken a supplement which includes vitamins D and C since September. She had a number of nasty flare ups between October and early December and mercifully nothing since, which really does make me wonder if the vitamins helped once they had time to get into her system as it was a very different story last winter. During the summer months she had a number of colds, but nothing that  escalated to the point of needing Prednisol...

Well, it seems that we were wrong about the Atrovent. The consultant was really quite down on it for use in one so young and seemed to think that the potential short term side effects were not worth it. I think perhaps that the reason that we've been disillusioned with the consultant appointments in the past is that he's extremely blunt about the fact that there really isn't anything they can do for viral induced asthma, and that's really not what worried parents want to hear. We can throw preventative drugs at it, or not, and the likely outcome will be the same. He cited a couple of research papers both of which looked at giving prednisolone to children with acute respiratory distress, one paper focused on parents administering it at home and the other in hospital. Half of the children in each study were given a placebo. Imagine that!? You think that you're pumping evil steroids into your child because it's your last resort, you're worried to death and you ...

Happy New Year! I very much hope that Christmas and the New Year finds you well and asthma free. Tomorrow we are back at the respiratory outpatients clinic at the hospital. Not entirely sure what we're hoping for, but perhaps at least some clarity on the issue of when to give Prednisolone and some insight into whether A's daily preventer medication is likely to be doing anything at all given that she only has asthma attacks after colds and no symptoms whatsoever in between. In the past these appointments haven't been entirely helpful, we'll see. We've had a fairly good run since the last cluster of attacks. No colds for just over a month and as such life without asthma for a bit. I know I'm speaking too soon, it always happens that way, but you've got to enjoy the good bits however short they are. Just after Christmas A started on one puff twice a day of Atrovent   to see if it might be useful. I am concerned about throwing another drug randomly at the...

Since A's first asthma attack we have met some truly exceptional healthcare individuals who have helped us more than they probably know, (we've also met some shockers, but perhaps I'll leave those and their 'helpful' comments for another post when I'm feeling a little less charitable). Instead, here are just a handful of the brilliant ones. After A was first discharged from hospital I remember feeling really quite isolated in terms of what we do next and who to turn to both for her medically and to some extent for me mentally. Our local GP practice have been superb, but the turning point came when they made an appointment for me and A to see the specialist asthma nurse. She really has been an incredible support, she introduced me to the Personal Asthma Action Plan , suggested new medications for A and has always found the time to ask about us and how we are coping with the stress and strain of being asthma parents. A likes her too, (at least she did until sh...

...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 pre...