Re: Excessive Phlegm question

[Guest guest]

What are you giving her for the asthma? We had this problem alot with Grace until she started the inhaled steroids (Pulmicort). I have also heard that there is another medication that is mixed with Albuterol to decrease the phlem. I cannot remember it's name though, sorry. I may be inquiring about it too, Grace has had a horrible time with her asthma this week. It is also a double whammy because she fights the aerosol treatments. I think she knows that they are going to make her jittery. (We do Pulmicort after she falls asleep.) Best Wishes, I hope she is better soon.

[Guest guest]

Darla, I deal with this with Chelsea. Somedays she is a snot factory! And it does cause a lot of problems. She has been on various meds for asthma/allergies which helps to control the secretions, but not eliminate them. Currently, she is on Flovent and Rhineqourt Aqua (nasal spray), and phenchlor (aten is the brand name, I believe, it is an antihistimine and a decongestant) twice daily. She also takes albuterol and Atravent (another nasal spray) as needed. I find that I have been using the 2nd nasal spray more often than not. She also gets chest PT twice daily with her meds, this helps to keep her lungs clear of what she can't get out on her own. I also suction her as needed. When her nose is runny and she gets gurgly and has trouble breathing, it is a great help. She used to have a much harder time with manging her secretions, especially after her pneumonias and tube placement 4 yrs ago. Fortunatly, she has gained a lot of strength and now can cough up and, most of the time, spit out her secretions. Although, she still needs suctioning to help from time to time. Chelsea is pretty sick her self right now. She started coughing mon nite and coughed straight thru tues, non stop. Somewhere around tues morning, her secretions got very thick and tacky and she had trouble coughing them up. Well, she must have aspirated, because yesterday morning she was very croupy and wheezy. I took her to the dr, and sure enough, she has pneumonia=( Fortunatly, she is already on the mend, keeping up with the nebs and chest PT + antibiotics always helps her.

I see you already have lots of responses, which I am interested to read. But, alas, it's time for another neb treatment! Duty never ends=)

e, Chelsea's mom(nonspecific mito)

[Guest guest]

Darla:

We went the asthma route w/ Brenna and it didn't help any. Then we went through all kinds of different med for reflux until they decided to do a PH Probe, Bronchoscopy, Endoscopy last June. All the results that day looked normal, but when they got the bronc results back from the lab Brenna had a very high amount of lipids in her lungs. It was the highest they had ever seen before. It made them say that yes she was aspirating, but yet she showed no acid reflux. The GI said that she could have non-acid reflux. They tried her on 2 new med for the reflux given together and her junky cough, sound and gagging stopped. She did miss a dose the other night and had very bad nights on Tues & Weds then a 105 fever early this AM. We just got in from the MD and she is on amox for a few days because the description of what happened sounds like aspiration. She didn't have the weight gaining problems like Zipporrah though.

Kerry

Excessive Phlegm question

I was wondering if anyone has had to deal with excessive phlegm problems in their kids, what caused it, and how to deal with it. Zipporrah has been dealing with the issue for a couple months now. Viruses make it worse, and she does have asthma issues (possible allergies too?) so I know they can worsen the symptoms but my hubby and I are concerned as it causes her so much distress. She gets so gunky, especially after feedings and then vomits all her feeding up. She really struggles to get it all out and to breathe again. There are always large globs that hang out of her mouth until more liquidy vomit gets it out. That on top of already having reflux is causing problems. We are treating her asthma symptoms proactively but she is still struggling to keep feedings down. She lost over a pound before the NG-tube was placed and thankfully she hasn't lost any since placement, but isn't gaining either. Any advice appreciated. Darla: mommy to: Asenath (4) Mito, brain vasculitis, strokes, migraines, seizures, g-tube, disautonomia issues, hypotonia, heat/exercise intolerance, oxygen use, asthma... Zipporrah, (5 mon.) Mito, stroke episodes, sensory issues, feeding (NG-tube)/breathing issues...

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[Guest guest]

Darla,

What are they treating her asthma with ? Albuterol is Just a bandaid to the inflamation problem. It takes Pulmicort via nebulizer WITH a face mask (for infants) to ensure they are getting all of it. Even then, you don't get it all, as our pulm. explained.

Pulmicort actually TREATS the inflamation. Carsen had the exact same problems as Zipp. until pulmicort. It's litterly saved his life. His O2 was dropping and he was struggling to breathe before it! He also has a swallow problem where his liquids enter the airways...and is on Erythromycin for motility and has worked wonders! He also takes Omeprozole for severe GERD. This combination of treatment has practically made his symptoms disappear. Recently, he's been having a bit of gunk in his chest but very little we do chest therapy just to losen him up. He has laryngotracheomalacia. His laryxn and trachea are floppy causing asthma symptoms. The mucous builds up in his chest and causes tons of problems. Is Zipp. seeing a pulmonologist or who treats her asthma? Our reg. dr was givng Carsen Albuterol which worked for about a minute and that was it. We were SO thankful to have finally gotten him in to Pulmonology. His lungs were staying hyper expanded and he was unable to expell air out of them efficiently due to the inflamation.

I would "guess" that Zipporah's problems are much the same as Caresn's in that her asthma is triggered by her swallowing problem. I bet if you got rid of the gunk in her chest she might hold things down better. Let me know if I can be of any help. I know we begged for help for months before we got anywhere. When his ammonia started going up high (275), and his O2 was dropping we finally got taken seriously.

Krystena s

Caden 5.9 yrs GAIICarsen 10 mths GAII

Excessive Phlegm question

I was wondering if anyone has had to deal with excessive phlegm problems in their kids, what caused it, and how to deal with it. Zipporrah has been dealing with the issue for a couple months now. Viruses make it worse, and she does have asthma issues (possible allergies too?) so I know they can worsen the symptoms but my hubby and I are concerned as it causes her so much distress. She gets so gunky, especially after feedings and then vomits all her feeding up. She really struggles to get it all out and to breathe again. There are always large globs that hang out of her mouth until more liquidy vomit gets it out. That on top of already having reflux is causing problems. We are treating her asthma symptoms proactively but she is still struggling to keep feedings down. She lost over a pound before the NG-tube was placed and thankfully she hasn't lost any since placement, but isn't gaining either. Any advice appreciated. Darla: mommy to: Asenath (4) Mito, brain vasculitis, strokes, migraines, seizures, g-tube, disautonomia issues, hypotonia, heat/exercise intolerance, oxygen use, asthma... Zipporrah, (5 mon.) Mito, stroke episodes, sensory issues, feeding (NG-tube)/breathing issues...

and the gang...Please contact mito-owner with any problems or questions.

Get more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com