baby with asthma?

[Guest guest]

Hi -

My son is 7 months old. He had RSV at 2 days old, was hospitalized for 2 days

and sent

home with a nebulizer for xopinex. Since then, he has had a few times when I

have used

teh neb - he has a pretty chronic cough. The doc calls his condition - reactive

airway

disease. He tested negative for all of the allergies that the allergist tested

(about 10).

Apparantly babies rarely have allergies. he got a little virus last week and it

his his lungs.

He was coughing and crackling a lot.. The pedi added pulmacort to his neb

treatements

and said to use the xopinex every 4 hours. The allergist added singulair

powder. He is

definitly breathing better and coughing a lot less - much less crackly. The

singulair seems

to be working well. Anyway, the pedi now wants to test him for cystic fibrosis

just to rule

that out. I am worried sick. I was upset enough that he was likely to have

asthma, but the

possibility of CF is terrifying. Does anyone have similar stories? Is his

case typical for

early asthma sufferers? or does it seem like something more.

Thanks,

Nora

[Guest guest]

My son was like that when he was born in Florida. We moved to Spokane, WA and he isn't as bad here.

Char

baby with asthma?

Hi - My son is 7 months old. He had RSV at 2 days old, was hospitalized for 2 days and sent home with a nebulizer for xopinex. Since then, he has had a few times when I have used teh neb - he has a pretty chronic cough. The doc calls his condition - reactive airway disease. He tested negative for all of the allergies that the allergist tested (about 10). Apparantly babies rarely have allergies. he got a little virus last week and it his his lungs. He was coughing and crackling a lot.. The pedi added pulmacort to his neb treatements and said to use the xopinex every 4 hours. The allergist added singulair powder. He is definitly breathing better and coughing a lot less - much less crackly. The singulair seems to be working well. Anyway, the pedi now wants to test him for cystic fibrosis just to rule that out. I am worried sick. I was upset enough that he was likely to have asthma, but the possibility of CF is terrifying. Does anyone have similar stories? Is his case typical for early asthma sufferers? or does it seem like something more. Thanks,Nora

[Guest guest]

My DD has a similar story. Hospitalized for three days with Pnuemonia.  After

a lot of continuous ER visits and wheezing, etc, she has since been diagnosed

with asthma.  She uses a nebulizer daily with various medications including

Albuterol with Pulmicort. She also takes Singulair and Zantac. Initially,

she was also tested for CF.  They said it was something they routinely do to

rule it out b/c the treatments for asthma and CF are totally different.  CF is

inherited and I believe both parents have to be carriers for the genes. Even

then, your child still has only a 1 in 4 chance of developing it.  I

remember the DR  also saying that children with CF have certain " body

types " but he didn't elaborate.  What I read later was that children with

CF tend to have swollen hands?  So take all that info into consideration and

unless it runs in your family, I wouldn't be too concerned. Good Luck and feel

free to email me.

[Guest guest]

DD had a very similar start to life. She was hospitalized w/ pneumonia

for 3 days when she was 7 months old. Started on liquid albuterol and

liquid prednisone whenever she had a cold or any stuffiness to help or

hopefully prevent the asthmatic gasping and cough that always came with

it. 16 years ago there were no steroids for inhaled use. When she was

18 months old, after 3 asthma related hospital admissions, she was

started on neb treatments with intal (again, this is what there was at

the time). She stabilized for the most part, but a cold of any type

pretty much guaranteed an ER trip. When she was about 4 she started on

inhaled steroids (beclovent) and we had our first winter without any

hospitalizations. Over the years she's stabilized, and was lucky enough

to have the remission that often happens as a teen. She's still very

susceptible to illness, and the slightest thing will set off the

asthmatic

reaction and she's back on all the drugs and may end up in the hospital.

edieowenmom wrote:

> Hi -

>

> My son is 7 months old. He had RSV at 2 days old, was hospitalized for 2 days

and sent

> home with a nebulizer for xopinex. Since then, he has had a few times when I

have used

> teh neb - he has a pretty chronic cough. The doc calls his condition -

reactive airway

> disease. He tested negative for all of the allergies that the allergist

tested (about 10).

> Apparantly babies rarely have allergies. he got a little virus last week and

it his his lungs.

> He was coughing and crackling a lot.. The pedi added pulmacort to his neb

treatements

> and said to use the xopinex every 4 hours. The allergist added singulair

powder. He is

> definitly breathing better and coughing a lot less - much less crackly. The

singulair seems

> to be working well. Anyway, the pedi now wants to test him for cystic

fibrosis just to rule

> that out. I am worried sick. I was upset enough that he was likely to have

asthma, but the

> possibility of CF is terrifying. Does anyone have similar stories? Is his

case typical for

> early asthma sufferers? or does it seem like something more.

>

> Thanks,

> Nora

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

The cystic fibrosis gene (CFDR, there are ~3200 different mutations) is an autosomal (not on the x chromosome) recessive allele, which means that a child has to have two copies of the gene to have CF. If you are a carrier of the CF gene, you have a 50% chance of passing that gene on to your child (making the child a carrier). If the other parent is a carrier as well then they have a 50% chance of passing that gene on to the child, thus the child has a 25% chance of having CF (0.5 x 0.5 = 0.25). How CF effects a person depends on the types of mutations their CFDR genes have. Some children/adults have both digestive and respiratory symptoms, while others only have respiratory symptoms. The symptoms can be mild or severe, which is why some adults with mild cases are being diagnosed with CF these days. The 'body type' some people with CF have is usually due to some of digestive problems they have (mainly the

pancrease does not function correctly because the ducts are blocked with thick mucus, and they can not produce digestive enzymes) which make it hard for them to absorb nutrients and gain weight. The swollen hands, called clubbed fingers, develop as a result of long term oxygen deprivation. As someone else mentioned testing to make sure you are dealing with asthma and not CF is crucial when treating such a young child. The treatment is different because of the impact CF has on digestion (which can be partialy treated with supplemental enzymes at meals), and the abnormal mucus in the lungs which help infections take hold. Treating CF as early as possible helps prevent early loss of lung function due to infections and ensures the child gets the proper nutrients needed for development. It can be a scarey diagnosis, but they are making leaps and bounds in treatment options. It used to be children with CF did

not live past age 10, and now the average lifespan is well into the 30's. Brittney _________________________________________________________________________________________________ Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. --Ralph Waldo Emerson

Be a better Globetrotter. Get better travel answers from someone who knows.Yahoo! Answers - Check it out.

[Guest guest]

Thanks - How old is your daughter now? Was she always crackly as a baby?

My

sone crackles more than he wheezes. While the thought of asthma doesn't thrill

me, it is

is a whole lot eeasier to swallow than CF. I sure hope teh sweat test is

negative. Were you

worried while waiting for your daughter's results?

peace, nora

>

>

>

> My DD has a similar story. Hospitalized for three days with

> Pnuemonia.  After a lot of continuous ER visits and wheezing, etc,

> she has since been diagnosed with asthma.  She uses a nebulizer daily

> with various medications including Albuterol with Pulmicort. She also

> takes Singulair and Zantac. Initially, she was also tested for CF. 

> They said it was something they routinely do to rule it out b/c the

> treatments for asthma and CF are totally different.  CF is inherited

> and I believe both parents have to be carriers for the genes. Even

> then, your child still has only a 1 in 4 chance of developing it.  I

> remember the DR  also saying that children with CF have certain " body

> types " but he didn't elaborate.  What I read later was that children

> with CF tend to have swollen hands?  So take all that info into

> consideration and unless it runs in your family, I wouldn't be

> too concerned. Good Luck and feel free to email me.

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

This sounds a lot like Owen - his asthma seems to be triggered by illness.

Thanks for your replies!!

> > Hi -

> >

> > My son is 7 months old. He had RSV at 2 days old, was hospitalized for 2

days and

sent

> > home with a nebulizer for xopinex. Since then, he has had a few times when

I have

used

> > teh neb - he has a pretty chronic cough. The doc calls his condition -

reactive airway

> > disease. He tested negative for all of the allergies that the allergist

tested (about 10).

> > Apparantly babies rarely have allergies. he got a little virus last week

and it his his

lungs.

> > He was coughing and crackling a lot.. The pedi added pulmacort to his neb

treatements

> > and said to use the xopinex every 4 hours. The allergist added singulair

powder. He

is

> > definitly breathing better and coughing a lot less - much less crackly. The

singulair

seems

> > to be working well. Anyway, the pedi now wants to test him for cystic

fibrosis just to

rule

> > that out. I am worried sick. I was upset enough that he was likely to have

asthma, but

the

> > possibility of CF is terrifying. Does anyone have similar stories? Is his

case typical

for

> > early asthma sufferers? or does it seem like something more.

> >

> > Thanks,

> > Nora

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

[Guest guest]

Actually the funny part is is that before she got sick with pnuemonia, she

never had any problems whatsoever. they told me in the pulmonary clinic that

because of my family history, she was predisposed to it and it took getting

really sick to kickstart it. = (  We are having a tough time keeping it in

check b/c we are waiting for insurance approval (HMO nightmare) to give the

green light for her to see various specialists.  She is now 20 months.  My son

on the other hand is 4years old and he has always been the " crackly "

one. Straight from the get go whenever he got sick he always sounded like he

had rice krispies in his chest and was always on antibiotics.  They said he had

Reactive Airway Disease.  But he has never had an asthma attack in the

traditional sense like my daughter has.  All the medical professionals have

told me that each individual's asthma is as unique to that person as a

fingerprint.  Go figure!Quoting edieowenmom

:> Thanks - How old is your

daughter now?  Was she always  > crackly as a baby? My> sone

crackles more than he wheezes.  While the thought of asthma  > doesn't

thrill me, it is> is a whole lot eeasier to swallow than CF.  I sure

hope teh sweat  > test is negative.  Were you> worried while

waiting for your daughter's results?>> peace, nora>>>>>