Guest guest Posted June 27, 2004 Report Share Posted June 27, 2004 In a message dated 6/27/2004 7:33:20 AM Central Standard Time, asthma writes: Doctors are the worst. they are trained to treat an illness after it occurs, not allot of time on prevention. >>> I agree. And I have a question about diagnosing asthma. My son, 8, has bad allergies (mostly dust mites) and he reacts very strongly to strong smells like exhaust. He has had a few attacks that look more like asthma than allergies in the last couple of months. One was after being outside all day--the attack was at bedtime. He suddenly started coughing and crying and saying he couldn't breath and his chest hurt. The other was after my daughter melted plastic toys in the microwave and the smell was awful. He had the same type of reaction to that. He recovered both times within half hour or so. We took him to the allergist. He was congested (like allergies) and when he blew into the machine, he had trouble with the narrow tubes you blow into--the Dr. said his airways were narrowed. He gave us Nasonex and Singulair to try for a few weeks. Then he said he couldn't say if he had asthma or not. The next time something happened we were to take him to the ER and they could tell us. That was that. Where's the prevention in that? Is that the only way to find out if you have asthma? Now if he did have it, it must not be too bad, but still--don't I need to know that? He did improve on the medications.....BUT I don't want to give him meds every day if no one can tell me if he does or doesn't have asthma! Sigh..... Dee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 27, 2004 Report Share Posted June 27, 2004 In a message dated 6/27/2004 7:33:20 AM Central Standard Time, asthma writes: Doctors are the worst. they are trained to treat an illness after it occurs, not allot of time on prevention. >>> I agree. And I have a question about diagnosing asthma. My son, 8, has bad allergies (mostly dust mites) and he reacts very strongly to strong smells like exhaust. He has had a few attacks that look more like asthma than allergies in the last couple of months. One was after being outside all day--the attack was at bedtime. He suddenly started coughing and crying and saying he couldn't breath and his chest hurt. The other was after my daughter melted plastic toys in the microwave and the smell was awful. He had the same type of reaction to that. He recovered both times within half hour or so. We took him to the allergist. He was congested (like allergies) and when he blew into the machine, he had trouble with the narrow tubes you blow into--the Dr. said his airways were narrowed. He gave us Nasonex and Singulair to try for a few weeks. Then he said he couldn't say if he had asthma or not. The next time something happened we were to take him to the ER and they could tell us. That was that. Where's the prevention in that? Is that the only way to find out if you have asthma? Now if he did have it, it must not be too bad, but still--don't I need to know that? He did improve on the medications.....BUT I don't want to give him meds every day if no one can tell me if he does or doesn't have asthma! Sigh..... Dee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 27, 2004 Report Share Posted June 27, 2004 In a message dated 6/27/2004 7:33:20 AM Central Standard Time, asthma writes: Doctors are the worst. they are trained to treat an illness after it occurs, not allot of time on prevention. >>> I agree. And I have a question about diagnosing asthma. My son, 8, has bad allergies (mostly dust mites) and he reacts very strongly to strong smells like exhaust. He has had a few attacks that look more like asthma than allergies in the last couple of months. One was after being outside all day--the attack was at bedtime. He suddenly started coughing and crying and saying he couldn't breath and his chest hurt. The other was after my daughter melted plastic toys in the microwave and the smell was awful. He had the same type of reaction to that. He recovered both times within half hour or so. We took him to the allergist. He was congested (like allergies) and when he blew into the machine, he had trouble with the narrow tubes you blow into--the Dr. said his airways were narrowed. He gave us Nasonex and Singulair to try for a few weeks. Then he said he couldn't say if he had asthma or not. The next time something happened we were to take him to the ER and they could tell us. That was that. Where's the prevention in that? Is that the only way to find out if you have asthma? Now if he did have it, it must not be too bad, but still--don't I need to know that? He did improve on the medications.....BUT I don't want to give him meds every day if no one can tell me if he does or doesn't have asthma! Sigh..... Dee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 27, 2004 Report Share Posted June 27, 2004 You can have him tested for asthma. I think it's called the methacoline challenge or something to that effect. Basically, they will take your sons peak flow, then they will introduce something into his body which will trigger an asthmatic to have an attack. Then if your son has an attack, they will treat your son with albuterol via nebulizer to get him breathing again. What's good about doing it this way is you will know for sure whether or not it's asthma and how severe his attacks are. I hope this helps. Angie > In a message dated 6/27/2004 7:33:20 AM Central Standard Time, > asthma writes: > Doctors are the worst. they > are trained to treat an illness after it occurs, not allot of time > on prevention. >>> > > I agree. And I have a question about diagnosing asthma. My son, 8, has bad > allergies (mostly dust mites) and he reacts very strongly to strong smells > like exhaust. He has had a few attacks that look more like asthma than allergies > in the last couple of months. One was after being outside all day- -the > attack was at bedtime. He suddenly started coughing and crying and saying he > couldn't breath and his chest hurt. The other was after my daughter melted > plastic toys in the microwave and the smell was awful. He had the same type of > reaction to that. He recovered both times within half hour or so. We took him to > the allergist. He was congested (like allergies) and when he blew into the > machine, he had trouble with the narrow tubes you blow into--the Dr. said his > airways were narrowed. He gave us Nasonex and Singulair to try for a few > weeks. Then he said he couldn't say if he had asthma or not. The next time > something happened we were to take him to the ER and they could tell us. That was > that. > > > Where's the prevention in that? Is that the only way to find out if you have > asthma? Now if he did have it, it must not be too bad, but still-- don't I > need to know that? He did improve on the medications.....BUT I don't want to > give him meds every day if no one can tell me if he does or doesn't have asthma! > Sigh..... > > Dee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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