RSV And RAD

My son is 10.5 mths old, for the last 12 weeks he has been suffering from RSV...for the first month we were give a bronchodialter, which helped for 2.5 weeks....finally after much persistance the pediatrician pegged him as having Irritable Airway Disease as well. Is this RAD? We have him on a few inhalers...what should we be looking for or is there any other treatment available? He has all of the symptoms of RSV...they did the mucous test and said he has moderate case and that the ventolin and cortisone inhaler will help make him comfortable, although I am losing faith in his Dr. since I was the one that was showing the most concern for an answer. We have been in to see her once a week for 12 weeks...he has ran 2 very high fevers that lasted days each one, along with crying when coughing...is this a true diagnoses or is she covering her tracks for treatment? He is wheezing some, but its mostly a crackling sound.
We do have a very good Children's Hospital here...I'm thinking of going for a second opinion.

Lana

[National Jewish]

Respiratory Syncytical Virus (RSV) is not a 12-week illness. What may have started as RSV may be something else right now. Reactive Airways Disease (RAD) is a state when a child has been wheezing and the cause is not necessarily defined. When this is short term associated with a particular virus, it is RSV. When this lasts for a longer period, it is often called asthma.
The medications used most often for the treatment of this problem are bronchodilators (ventolin is one of these) and steroids. Using inhalers in 10-month-old children is very difficult. They do not inhale very well and thus the medication is not delivered very well to the lungs. If the wheezing continues to be a problem, I would suggest seeing a specialist who will most likely recommend using a nebulizer.