3 year old has asthma (newly diagnosed)

My 3 year old son was just diagnosed with asthma today. This go around it started a couple of days ago with coughing at nighttime then started coughing when outside in the cool air. Last night the wheezing starting and then coughing and more wheezing this morning. He wouldn't eat, was coughing so much he vomited, and was very lethargic so I rushed him to the pediatrician. After 2 breathing treatments and a steroid shot, the doctor diagnosed him with asthma. Now I am staring at several different medications and thinking 'Now what do we do?!'. Does any parents have any advice for me of how to handle this and what to watch out for with my son? He's on Advair, which is suppose to control his symptoms, ProAir inhaler, Prednisone, and Albuterol. It seems like a lot, but considering how awful it was this morning I know it's necessary. Luckily I stay at home with him so I don't have to worry about them handling it at school. Thanks for reading :)

[Victoireh]

The prednisone is meant to get control of his asthma quickly. He mostly likely was given a short course of it (5 days?) The Advair has steroid plus the long acting bronchodilator. That will take a few weeks to kick in and is generally used over the long term regularly. However in your son's case the doctor has started him high and once the symptoms are under control then he will be weaned down to the minimum amount required to control his symptoms. When my daughter was young, the doctor would have her only on the inhaled steroids during winter for a few months at a time at most. Generally it was during her viral infections that I had gave her the inhaled steroids. Albuterol is a short acting bronchodilator used when eh experiences sudden attacks of shortness of breath/wheezing. I live in Canada, so I"m not familiar with ProAir. Oh, Sometimes the drug companies give different names to the same product, depending on where you live. I just looked it up and and is essentially an albuterol inhaler. I've noticed that many americans use nebulizers, I guess they are easier to use in order to get the maximum benefit from the drug. I used for my daughter when she was little one of those handheld chambers that capture the mist from your inhaler, this way it ensures the child is getting their medicine in and they don't require a lot hand to mouth coordination. Plus it was easier for her daycare caretakers to administer her inhalers.

When my daughter reached 9 years of age, I finally resorted to seeing an allergies as I felt like I was stuffing her full of medicines all the time. She started doing allergy shots then, which helped tremendously for her allergy symptoms and even improved her asthma. She still gets them now at 15 and we're quite pleased with the results.

Just keep an eye on his symptoms, if he starts coughing a lot due to colds etc, you can bring him in to the doctor who can listen to his chest for wheezing. It becomes easier after a while to gauge from their symptoms as to starting up or increasing treatment again with inhaled steroids.

[FaithfulMom2]

Thanks so much! We haven't had to do the nebulizer treatments since we were at the doctors yesterday. You're right, the prednisone is for 5 days so I am glad we will at least get rid of one of the medications. We also have the same air chamber for his inhaler and it works great. It is funny you mention allergies as well because last year at the age of 2 we took him to an allergist because he had played with a cat and his eyes swelled. They did a skin allergy test and concluded he was allergic to cats, dogs, pollen, oak and pine trees. It seems like when the weather changes he starts having problems.

[exhalednitricoxide]

I have my 4 year kid with asthma and every year we end up in the hospital with something that has been complicated by asthma.We have attended the asthma clinic and learned ways to prevent attacks, what triggers attacks etc. I thought I was on top of the asthma until our emergency visit and then I started thinking there was probably a lot more to learn than I knew.This is such a terrible thing for anyone to have, especially children.I want this to stop and I don't want to feel like I am the only one that this happens to.Please give your suggestions and tricks on how to decrease the asthma symptons.
I think that people should be more aware of it and I like to give useful information about asthma so that it's helpful to everyone suffering from asthma.

[Victoireh]

I don't think having asthma as an adult is any less miserable then it is for kids. I've had asthma most of my life, that has not always been controllable. These last 12 months have been some of my worst asthma, of which most days I walked around short of breath and coughing up mucous daily and at the same time working full time and raising a teenager. I don't consider that fun at all. And then because there is so much extra mucous in my lungs, I get nasty lung infections that take many weeks to recover from, and I only missed 1.5 weeks of work, although I do regret not having taken more time off. And you know what the boss says about missing too much work for illness, which just leaves me feeling guilty on top of everything. And I won't start on how much steroid inhalers I have to live from just to get decent quality of life, as I have to "live" with some of my daily symptoms. Just venting my frustrations...

[Victoireh]

oops the posting was addressed to exhalednitricoxide.

[exhalednitricoxide]

Hi,

I'm sorry to hear about your asthma condition.I know it's a very terrible disease that anyone could have.All asthma patients suffer very badly. It is very difficult for all the asthma patients to live a normal life.Everyday is new battle with asthma for survival. But with proper medication and proper care, asthma may not cured permanently, but it can be controlled. I pray that you find relief soon.Take Care.