Can Croup be mistaken for asthma?

[Suz5]

My 10 year son was just diagnosed with asthma. In the beginning of August he had a fever.
2 days later the fever went away, and he played basketball with his team. The next morning at 5am he was gasping for air. When I called the ped. she told that he had croup and  to put him under a steam shower for 20 minutes. After about 10-15 minutes the breathing was better. When we went to the docter, he had an ear infection in each ear and sinusitus. She gave him antibiotics. After he took the med. for the 10 days,he still had a bad cough for a long time that wouldn't go away, and he was having coughing fits. When he was rechecked he had bronchitis. He was given amoxicillin,and a neubulizer with Zephonex to be administered 3 times a day, but he still was having coughing fits. At this point I asked our ped for a referral to an allergenist, because I felt like there had to be something else wrong. The docter happened to also be an asthma docter. All the environmental allergy testing can out negative, but after being on the steriod inhaler for 10 days, the docter determined that my son had asthma. We also have had a major water leak in our house in April with a lot of damage to the house. I had the house tested for mold and all the environmental hazards. Everything can out normal. I can't help to think that the day my son developed the asthma on the day he played the basketball game. I have alot of regrets!


I also have 2 other children. One also developed a fever around the time my son did but the other didn't. They both ended up with bronchitis, but nothing else. It's 3 months later, and everyone is still coughing, but much better. What did I do wrong? Could the bronchitis and asthma been prevented?

[hava]

This will help the boys control the asthma and grow out out of it.
Build up your timing gradually.If you feel tired or dizzy, stop and resume after one minute.
Anulom Vilom –
Close your right nostril with thumb and deep breath-in through left nostril  
then – close left nostril with two fingers and breath-out through right nostril  
then -keeping the left nostril closed  deep breath-in through right nostril
then - close your right nostril with thumb and breath-out through left nostril.
This is one cycle of anulom vilom.
Repeat this cycle for 15 to 30  minutes twice a day.
Children under 15 years – do 5 to 10 minutes twice a day.
You can do this before breakfast/lunch/dinner or before bedtime or in bed.Remember to take deep long breaths into the lungs.You can do this while sitting on floor or chair or lying in bed.
Drink warm water and no cold drinks.

[Victoireh]

Bronchitis presents very similar to asthma and so he could have been misdiagnosed with the bronchitis, which was actually the asthma flaring up. Or he got bronchitis on top of the asthma that was already there, which once again causes it to flare up. Bronchitis doesn't cause asthma, otherwise most of the world would have asthma. Viruses are one of the triggers for asthma. And kids get a lot of viruses, so this won't be the last time he will need to use inhalers.

These days asthma treatment has come a long way, and the prognosis for asthma sufferers is actually very good. Another fact is that boys tend to outgrow their asthma more so then girls do, and so he has a good chance of losing his asthma symptoms some time in his teens.

[Suz5]

Thanks for your response. Are you sure the bronchitis didn't lead to the asthma? If he didn't get the bronchitis, he wouldn't have developed. Asthma.

[Victoireh]

No, asthma can't be prevented entirely. If there is a genetic predisposition for it, then he only needs the right trigger to set it off. Not to worry, I had mild asthma as a kid that my parents weren't even aware of. Out grew it in my later teens, then it came back far more severe with pregnancy. With kids and even adults it can be harder to diagnose and often presents initially as bronchitis. After a few bronchial infections a lot of doctors figure out that there must be an underlying lung disorder. I too was given an inhaler initially after a number of so called bronchitis infections, and it made a huge difference in my breathing and how I felt.

You did the right thing to test for molds in your house, as that is a common asthma trigger along with dust mites. You can measure his peak flow numbers to get an idea what his best peak flow number is during good times, so then you can see when his asthma is flaring up based on peak flow numbers that are under 80% of his best peak flow number. You can buy a peak flow meter from your local pharmacy.

If you are still in doubt of his diagnosis, you can ask the doctor to do a lung function test or a methacholine challenge test. For that the later one they give a drug that commonly induces a reaction in those who have asthma. A positive reaction in this test indicates asthma. Also a positive reaction to inhalers also is indicative of asthma.