Does it sound like asthma?

[sickChild]

My 4 year old boy has been suffering with a severe cough for 12 days.  At first they thought it was a viral infection from looking at a chest x-ray.  However, a week later he presented with a high fever, wheezing, rattling sound when breathing and they diagnosed bacterial pneumonia.  They gave him albuterol nebulizer treatments and zithromax.  The next day we were back at the doctor and he had been experiencing severe coughing fits that led to vomiting and sweating, as well as clammy skin, and he was continuing to have a lot of wheezing sound in his lungs, despite the albuterol treatments.  The DR then prescribed a 5 day treatment of oral prednasole because she was beginning to think that he may also have asthma due to the wheezing and the sound of his cough.  Does this sound like symptoms of children's asthma?  We have another appointment tomorrow to check him out (after 3 days of the steroids with the antibiotic) is there anything I need to ask my doctor?

[National Jewish Health]

Bacterial or viral lung infection can precipitate asthma with wheezing in a person genetically predisposed to asthma.  Treatment of the presumed asthma, aside from treatment of the infectious pneumonia, is appropriate.  So, this could be asthma, superimposed on pneumonia.

Your son could have whooping cough, despite immunization against it.

If his fever and sweating with clammy skin has subsided, it is probably a sign that the antibiotic therapy has been effective and the pneumonia is clearing.  You should ask his doctor if she believes him to truly be clinically improved, with signs of recovery.  If there is any doubt about this, you should request a blood count and a repeat chest x-ray to confirm that the pneumonia is resolving.

If your son has asthma, he may have to remain on asthma therapy for an indeterminate period of time.  It may well be that his asthma will have been clinically evident only with a serious infection and shortly thereafter, or having been precipitated by the infection, may remain active for a longer period of time.  There is no way to predict what will happen.  But, know this, if the asthma persists, it is a very treatable disease and he will be able to live a perfectly normal life, with optimum therapy.

Good luck.

[medhelpn_o_1]

well after childhood pneumonia your child may develop asthma however i think in order to see if your child has asthma they need to use a peak flow meter and see if there is more than a 15% difference between morning and evening readings . You also need to wait until your child is cured from pneumonia as it can produce asth alike symptoms such as breathlessness and a cough. I personally have severe asthma and am currently suffering from pneumonia. The symptoms you have described sound like those of pneumonia and not of asthma