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Asthma/Reactive Airway Disease

jo4janetjo4janet member
in Special Needs

Hello everyone,

I wanted to see what your experiences are with asthma. My DD who is 2 was diagnosed with reactive airway disease, which is apparently a form of asthma, about 3 weeks ago. She will be 2 and 1/2 next month. We took her to a pediatric pulmonologist who confirmed the diagnosis, along with the pedi and an urgent care MD. She was very sick around the time and I thought it might have been pneumonia. She got a chest xray and it also confirmed. Just wondering what other people have dealt with with their LO having this diagnosis. I was devastated because we don't have a family history that I know of and I don't know much about asthma. She has had chronic croup from infancy and is ALWAYS sick with some kind of cold throughout the winter with a hacking cough, especially at night. TIA for sharing your experiences. PS She is allergic to dogs, cats, and dust. We have a beagle and the pulmonogist said that there is no sense getting rid of him since she is also allergic to dust. It is likely that the dust and not the dog are creating a worse situation for her breathing.

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Re: Asthma/Reactive Airway Disease

  • finsupfinsup member

    My youngest has asthma.  Our situation is relatively mild compared to what a lot of folks deal with and I really only have to worry about him when he gets a virus.

    But, from what I've experienced - its SO much more manageable (and less scary) once you have a diagnosis and a plan of care.  I felt so uncertain and was always at the doctors office pre-diagnosis - but once we got an official dx, then got meds and a good plan of care in place things have been much, much better.  I hope you experience the same! 

    GL! 

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  • jo4janetjo4janet member
    When was your youngest diagnosed and how old is he/she now? i am hoping to have the same experience as you, but i am still nervous because I am learning as I go. Thanks for sharing your experience.
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  • finsupfinsup member

    He was diagnosed at 15 months after a super scary overnight hospital stay.  He's 2.5 now.

    He had a couple of instances before that at around 9 months and 12 months where he received breathing treatments at the dcotors office and at home w/ a neb.  But I never knew what I was looking for - what the signs were and I always felt unsure of what I was seeing.

    Then, as we were preparing for Hurricane Irene, he started to come down w/ a cold and I really thought nothing of it because he was acting FINE.  The hurricane hit overnight and into the next morning and again he seemed fine.  But before I put him down for his nap right around lunchtime he seemed to take a bit of a turn, but I wasn't sure.  Then when he woke up he was very obviously struggling.  Wouldn't eat and was having all the classic signs.

    I couldn't give him a neb treatment because the power was out.  It was 3pm and the storm had just finished and our town was a WRECK.  I knew calling the doctor would be useless because unless they had slept in their office through the storm, I highly doubted the doc would be able to meet me in the office to give him treatment, and I wasn't sure the doc office had back up power anyway.  So, my only choice was go head to the ER while It was still light outside and I could see where I was driving.

    So we loaded him in the car and tried to drive - to make a long story short all of our direct paths to the hospital were blocked by trees or downed wires.  I had to call the police department and they were able to direct me a path out of town so I could get him to the ER.  We ended up staying over night that night in the ICU.  We were able to go home the next morning, but we had a whole new action plan in place and our follow up visits to our pedi they have taken it very seriously.

    The treatment plan we now have in place has been working great.

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  • JoJoGeeJoJoGee member
    My daughter has Reactive Airway Disease.  She was diagnosed this time last year (at just over a year) due to a rash of hospitalizations resulting from colds.  It doesn't seem to bother her much, but she is on a daily regiment of nebulizers.  And, when she is sick, there are other, more powerful, nebulizers we must give her.
               image      image      image
    image
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  • ppantsppants member
    My twins were Dx with RAD at 10 mo old. They started neb breathing treatments then. They are almost 7 and still see an asthma dr. They are on a inhaler daily, singular, and zyrtec. It is pretty well controlled but if someone gets a cold we often have to increase inhaler use.
    Wendy Twins 1/27/06. DS and DD
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  • jo4janetjo4janet member
    Thanks everyone. It makes me feel better that I am not alone. DD is on singulair, an inhaler, and fluconase nasal spray (switched from nasonex because it was so expensive). We are going back to the pulmonologist at the end of this month, beginning of next month so that the doctor could take her off the singulair, if she is doing well. Her nasal congestion has improved tremendously from the singulair. Her chest congestion is much better too (knock on wood). She hasn't coughed much in several days. It was a daily thing for her, hacking cough at night, but that has improved tremendously, as well.
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  • J+MSJ+MS member

    imagejo4janet:
    Thanks everyone. It makes me feel better that I am not alone. DD is on singulair, an inhaler, and fluconase nasal spray (switched from nasonex because it was so expensive). We are going back to the pulmonologist at the end of this month, beginning of next month so that the doctor could take her off the singulair, if she is doing well. Her nasal congestion has improved tremendously from the singulair. Her chest congestion is much better too (knock on wood). She hasn't coughed much in several days. It was a daily thing for her, hacking cough at night, but that has improved tremendously, as well.
    i don't understand why they would take her off the singulair if its helping? A lot of the asthma patients I have seen in the ER with exacerbations were caused because they stopped their long term meds. There is a lot of misinformation about RAD/asthma. Educate yourself. 
    "Seriously, mommy forum people are some crazy ass bitches." New Year New You
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