Anyone else have an LO with reactive airway disease?

Re: Anyone else have an LO with reactive airway disease?

• offbeatmama

  April 2012

  My DS doesn't have RAD but he does have reactive airways. He has particularly small airways so whenever they get irritated or inflamed he has trouble breathing. Sometimes it's his lower airways and sometimes his upper airways. He's not on a maintenance medication per se but he takes antihistamines daily. If he has stridor / upper airway restriction then I give him steroids to reduce the inflammation. If he has wheezing / lower airway restriction I give him albuterol. If it gets bad he gets an epinephrine breathing treatment (that helps with lower and upper issues) and possibly oxygen.

  He does have trouble when the weather changes. I'm not exactly sure why. What has helped the most has just been experience and learning when to give which meds. We still end up in the doctors office pretty regularly. We're also well known at the local ER. It sucks but there's not a lot I can do based on DS age.
  

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• Brewtowngrl member

  April 2012

  DS has a pre-Dx of asthma.  They don't officially Dx this young.  He mainly has issues with colds.  He is on a maintenance inhaler (q-var) and has a rescue (atrovent). He doesn't respond to traditional meds.  Do you have a pulm for him?  Have they given you a green, yellow and red sheet to give you guidance on how and when to treat or when to go to the ER?  I found the allergy and asthma board on baby center to be a wealth of info.  If you don't have a pulm I would get a referral.  

  
  
  

  
  

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• kendra223

  April 2012

  Brewtowngrl:

  DS has a pre-Dx of asthma.  They don't officially Dx this young.  He mainly has issues with colds.  He is on a maintenance inhaler (q-var) and has a rescue (atrovent). He doesn't respond to traditional meds.  Do you have a pulm for him?  Have they given you a green, yellow and red sheet to give you guidance on how and when to treat or when to go to the ER?  I found the allergy and asthma board on baby center to be a wealth of info.  If you don't have a pulm I would get a referral.  

  Nope, don't have a pulm and haven't been given any guidance info as to when to treat or go to the ER. So far I've just been going off my own instincts. I really do need to look into both of those.

  All the Pedi said is to give Flovent twice a day and to give Albuterol when needed. Now that you mention the pulm and guidance info, I'm surprised she didn't bring any of that up.

  

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• Ardmhs83 member

  April 2012

  My son was diagnosed with RAD when he was about 4 months old.  He gets colds every winter (well the 2 winters that he has been alive) and they are like non-stop coughing.  A cough that lasts for weeks-months.  It is part of the RAD.  Sometimes when it gets real bad the pedi puts him on a liquid steroid for 5 days to kick it.  He also uses Albuterol as needed.  Also during the fall/winter months he uses one vial of Pulmicort (budesonide) a day.  It works wonders and after using it for a little while his cough goes away.  We also use his cool mist humidifier all winter.  We stop using the Pulmicort and the humidifier in the late spring/summer b/c of the temp outside and that I am a school teacher and he is home with me instead of other sick children at the sitters.

   Good luck with everything and I hope your LO feesl better soon.  I know it is a pain in the arse and sometimes scary when you know they are having a difficult time breathing.   

  PPD/PPA Mom...it has been super hard, but I'm making it! Slow steps...
  Mom to Carter (6), and Calianne (1).  
  Proud VBAC, natural birth, breastfeeding, cloth diapering momma!

  
  

  
  

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• Ecomom17 member

  April 2012

  I just want to say kudos to you ladies (including OP) for being on top of your LOs' RAD!  I work with lots of kids with asthma, RAD, and other breathing issues and have seen far too many cases where parents aren't really dealing with it or are in denial (even going so far as to smoke).  So, as far as I'm concerned, you all are awesome for facing it head-on!
  

   

  
  

     

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

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• Ecomom17 member

  April 2012

  kendra223:

  The pedi said my LO has reactive airway disease (RAD) about a month ago. She noticed that LO had already caught RSV twice and has had numerous coughs. She put LO on Flovent twice a day and Albuterol as needed.

  Anyway, I just wanted to ask for those who have LOs with RAD... when the weather changes does your LO have a bad reaction to that?

  The weather has changed here and it's been really windy. Now LO is coughing a lot. It's been going on almost 2 weeks. Last week the nurse said to call if it got worse, but it was getting better. On Friday, I thought it was almost gone. But then on Saturday it got really bad So I've been putting her on breathing treatments every 3-4 hours.

  Another question I had was what do you do when LOs RAD acts up other than breathing treatments? Any different meds to help prescribed by LOs pedi? Have you tried any home remedies?

  LO has been prescribed Trigofen DM Drops or Nasohist... but they don't seem to do anything. So I was wondering if  there was anything else out there to help when they are really struggling with it.

  It's pretty common for weather to be a contributing factor.  Any change in the air your LO is breathing could affect his airways.  So, I think this is normal. 
  If those 2 meds don't seem to be helping, I would talk to your pedi.  Sometimes you need to try several different ones before finding one that works.  This is also common.  Or perhaps the dosage isn't high enough (although in toddlers you obviously want to err way on the side of caution).  GL!
  

   

  
  

     

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

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