Asthma/respiratory probs - 10 month old

S

sherwes

Registered User
Hi, I was hoping that some other mums of babies with respiratory problems or asthma could provide me with a little advice.

My son had a few wheezy days when he was 5 months old. This was diagnosed as very mild croup and cleared up by itself after a few days. Interestingly this occured when we were packing up the house for our move to HK (dust, anyone???).

At 9 months old he was short of breath again (quite bad this time). He was diagnosed with bronchitis and given antibiotics and put on a nebulizer (pulmicort, ventolin).

6 weeks after that the wheezing returned. It is very mild and he is not distressed by it. I put him on the nebulizer again for a couple of days and it got better. Now, 3 days later he is wheezing again.

My doctor has basically said I should buy a nebulizer (this was after only seeing him once when he had the bronchitis) and give it to him when ever he is wheezy. I am concerned about him being over medicated but on the other hand I obviously don't want to go against the advice of our doctor!

My questions/concerns are:
1. I am conerned about him having steriods too often. His wheezing is mild and doesn't distress him. Do other mums have "happy wheezers" who are otherwise thriving and are unmedicated?
2. Have other mums been given specific diagnostic tests for childhood respiratory illness? So far, he's has a chest x-ray for the bronchitis and otherwise the doctor has just listened to his chest. Are there other tests? For instance peak flow meters for babies etc??
3. Is there a specific clinic run by one of the hospitals that offers specialist opinions in these sorts of cases?
4. can anyone recommend a specialist doctor for a second opinion?
5. has anyone used the infant spacers? Did you find them easier than the nebulizer.
6. anyone used essential oils or Vicks etc for wheezy babies? I presume you can't put Vicks on the baby (too strong??) but could perhaps a little on the front of this gro suit when he sleeps so that he inhales it.

I was an asthmatic child but my asthma was bad and distressing and the steriods provided me with great relief. My son is a happy little chap who just gasps and wheezes a bit now and then.

Any thoughts appreciated!
 
I just took my daughter to Dr. Adrian Wu today for allergy testing, although she is not asthmatic, just with eczema. However, Dr. Wu is specialist in Immunology and Allergy and his practice is the Centre for Allergy and Asthma Care. He was recommended to me by a friend and he was very helpful. I think he maybe able to help you, word of warning, he is not cheap. If you are interested, he is on 14th floor Prince's Building and his no. is 28180180.
 
Thanks AndreaY. Can I ask how Dr Wu diagnosed what was causing your daughter's eczema - i.e. did he do skin prick tests or did he just take a verbal history of diagnose that way? Did you find that following his advice helped her eczema?

By the way, I have a friend who saw a reduction in her little one's eczema when she switched to soy baby formula. Maybe that is something to discuss with Dr Wu if you haven't already...
 
I'm all for natural medicine. try Dr. Sonal at IMI. She's a homeopath & will be able to help you with your problem. can check her our at imi.com.hk first.
 
Tried everything, various hypoallergic formulas, soy formulas and goat's milk, putting her back on 100% breastmilk to find out whether it's the formula. Restricted her range of solids in an attempt to curb the eczema. Tried so many creams, lotions, washes etc that my bathroom looks like a Mannings counter.

We had the skin prick test done yesterday and within 10 mins found out it's not any of the foods we fed her, it was our beloved 10 year old cat who is causing it! The prick from "cat" caused a raised red patch the size of a 50cent coin and nothing for the rest. Since she never had a runny nose or respiratory problem and the cat is in the kitchen most of the time and is never in contact with her, we never thought it could be that. Goes to show how much we know!

So, it's good that we finally know what it is, but sad that we will have to say goodbye to our cat.
 
Hi sherwes,

my son had wheezing problems whenever he catched a cold when he was between 1 year and 2 and 1/2 years old. The wheezing was really bad each time. Once he was hospitalized for 1 night and 1 day. That was a nightmare and absolutely not necessary. I switched doctors several times. I found Hong Kong doctors easily give antibiotics and lot's of medication. I am now with Dr Thorndup who is not cheap but was really helpful. He agreed with me on having the kids home rather in the hospital is better for everybody and that in my son's case antibiotics don't help. He gave us the kids spacers that you can use easily.

My son was on steroid for about a year. I was told by different doctors that first of all the steroids nowadays don't have the bad side effects anymore. Second that it is necessary to give it on a regular basis to avoid new wheezing episodes and especially to avoid lasting damage of his lungs. I hate giving medicine to my baby so I tried to give the steroid only when he was sick but I realized that it then was too late. So he had steroid every day and ventolin as soon as he started a runny nose. This was the only way to avoid bad wheezing whenever he had a cold. Still there usually was one night we spent with him on the sofa to calm him and keep him upright. But at least we could avoid the wheezing which was really really horrible and heartbraking. He is off medication and without problems since spring. Dr Thorndup said we might have to put him back on medication during winter. But he is very supportive in minimizing medication.

I also avoided dairy but it did not help in our case though I heard of several cases where dairy was the problem. Essential oils and vick can make things worse. I tried homeopathy but in the end was too scared to stop the steroid.

As he only developed wheezing when he catched a cold we avoided indoor playrooms as you easily catch viruses there. We gave him vitamin C to boost up his immune system. Whenever we saw other kids we first checked if they had a runny nose. Whenever we saw a drop dripping from our son's nose we felt panic. I really hope that he grew out of it by now. Because all this was not funny at all!

Sorry for writing so much but when I read the thread it all came back.

So if your son is happy and the wheezing is not bad I would check with a doctor whom you really trust what the minimum is you need to do to avoid lasting problems.

All the best to you and you little one!

Veronika
 
Hi sherwes,

Sorry to hear abt your son's condition. I am afraid I can't offer any suggestion on his wheezing but I do have a daughter with severe allergies - she develops rashes no wheezing though. My husband, a bad allergy sufferer, wheezes since birth.

I would definitely seek as many opinions as possible since wheezing can be due to so many things and ranges in severity. Is it really wheezing? does he just have a cold? Hubby said his wheezing was so loud you could hear it in the next room, and they lasted long and he is very bothered by them.

My husband's wheezing, and later asthma, was allergy-induced. So, I would definitely recommend the suggestion of seeing an allergist to get a skin prick test done. Afterall, there is no guesswork if your child comes back with a positive result or eliminate allergy as a cause if the test is negative, all within 30 minutes. My husband reacted with a >50mm weel ie very severe allergy to ..... cockroach so we now call him the walking cockroach detector (especially bad wheezing in hotel rooms).

Our daughter has been to see Dr Adrian Wu. He was helpful BUT I do not find him as gd as our Australian Paed. Allergist. However, he is probably the best one to see in Hong Kong in terms of qualification. Our Australian allergist said Dr Wu had over-interpreted some of the skin prick test results eg weel sizes of less than 3mm shd be considered a negative and that Dr Wu had restricted some foods unnecessarily.

Can't stress enough though that there may be other causes of his wheezing perhaps relating to other organs (eg my second baby was born with a heart condition and I was told to watch out for shortness of breath symptoms).

I would recommend Dr. Richard Chiu (Melbourne Plaza). He sees my daughter and to me is better than many HK doctors cos he doesn;'t prescribe medicine readily. I have also heard that Dr Thorndup is good.

My heart goes out to you and your little one. Best best best of luck and may he never get another wheezing episode again.
 
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