Nebulizer?
BF's son, almost 4 years old, frequently catches colds and uses a nebulizer. I had never seen a nebulizer before. BF and BM took him to the doctor a lot when he was a baby because he seemed to have trouble breathing when he was asleep. The doctors couldn't/wouldn't provide a specific diagnosis, but they prescribed the nebulizer.
He's not a sickly child per se. He's incredibly energetic and runs around in the yard all day, sick or not. At night, though, I have heard him coughing. He doesn't cough like that during the day. He makes a lot of noise at night, actually. He snores (do kids that young normally snore loudly?) and he often cries in his sleep (he has nightmares, but usually doesn't wake up or remember anything).
It worries me because he tends to roll around a lot at night and he ends up in the most uncomfortable-looking positions that seem like they would make it harder for him to breathe (i.e. head half-way off the bed and pillow under back, creating an arch). His BM took him to the emergency room just a few weeks ago because he was having a lot of trouble breathing at night.
Does anyone else have any similar issues? Any ideas?
Enlarged tonsils and adenoids
Enlarged tonsils and adenoids can cause snoring, breathing problems and other sleep problems. Has he ever had those looked at?
I'm not sure if anyone has
I'm not sure if anyone has looked specifically at his tonsils/adenoids, I just know that there was a lot of general testing done. They ruled out asthma.
This IS asthma. I can almost
This IS asthma. I can almost guarantee it.
I have lived with it my whole life. My child has it and I have dealt with his asthma since before he was one year old. Doctors usually will not diagnose asthma in a child until they are over the age of four years old, but they did with my child. Take him to get a second opinion - he needs to see a specialist. It could also be COPD, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. If anyone in the home smokes, they must stop or the child must not stay in the home. Cold air can also cause problems. Asthma should not be ruled out until the child has seen a specialist, though.
The sleeping position you mention is very familiar to me. That is how I would sleep in order to try and open up my breathing passageways when I was a child. That poor kid has to get on a steroid (an anti-inflammatory) ASAP - I'm not kidding. Not being able to breathe... this is absolute torture. He needs to be on an anti-inflammatory steroid to open up the lung's passageways, which comes in liquid form or as an inhaler called Flovent, and Albuterol nebulizer treatments probably every four hours. And I mean round-the-clock. He might also need to be put on Singulair, which is a preventative prescription. Ask the specialist about it.
This is extremely serious. Asthma is nothing to fool with - he could die. Especially since he's having trouble during the night. God, you have no idea how horrible this is... having to fight for every breath. It makes me want to cry.
I hope he can get some relief soon.
That's really worrisome
That's really worrisome because a lot of people around him smoke. I don't, but both of his parents do, as well as many of their friends. I know the parents limit their smoking to outdoors, but I'm not sure if that matters...
I'll talk to his father about this. I was somewhat concerned, but this makes me much more anxious. I know his mother is pretty nuerotic about taking them to the doc for every little thing, so if he were to be diagnosed with asthma she would be on it about him taking all the proper meds. I'm pretty sure whatever they put in the nebulizer is a steroid of some kind.
Thank you.
I'm glad you're going to look
I'm glad you're going to look into it more.
The meds being used in his nebulizer are most likely Pulmicort, but he should really be taking Albuterol breathing treatments, too. That's what will help him breathe easier. He'll be able to sleep, he'll be able to get the rest he needs, and he'll be able to breathe. He's fighting for air right now. Try to get a pediatrician to call in some albuterol for him. It will do wonders!
The smoking is a HUGE issue. This is one of the main triggers for people with asthma. It doesn't take being around it for long, either. If he lives with people who smoke, he's probably having an extremely hard time breathing MOST of the time. Animals can be a trigger, as well. Cats, dogs, horses, rabbits... if you can get him to an allergist and have a scratch test done, you might be able to find out if he has any other allergic reactions that might be contributing to his breathing problems. But his parents MUST stop smoking. It's on their clothes, in the furniture fabric where they sit, in their cars... he's surrounded by it on a daily basis. They must stop for his health. I cannot impress on you how serious this is.
I'll bet he also complains of his neck, chest and back hurting... I would try so hard to breathe that my neck and chest muscles would become so tense and I'd end up with very sore muscles the next day, or after I was able to find some relief with meds.
Please feel free to PM me if you need anything or have any questions. I'm not a doctor, but I've had years and years of experience.
I hope you can get some answers soon!
Oh wow, he does complain
Oh wow, he does complain about his back hurting sometimes. I've always thought it odd. He gave us a scare one evening when my BF was holding him he just stopped supporting himself and fell straight backward (my BF wasn't holding his back). That was on a day where he had been complaining about his back hurting. I don't think anyone associated the back pain with his breathing, though. Lately he's been complaining that his head hurts, but I'm not sure that's very serious because he's got a cold and he seems to run around just fine about five minutes later.
We don't have animals at our house, but they have a dog and a chicken (his sister does 4H) at the BM's house. He's been around the animals his whole life, so I'm not sure what he's like when he's not around animals regularly.
I'll talk to my BF about the smoking. Honestly, though, I don't think I could convince both/either my BF and the BM to stop on my own without a diagnosis and a doctor telling them that unless they stop they'll seriously harm their son. It's difficult to exert control on this situation as we only have the kids EOWE, and I have no relationship with the BM whatsoever. I'll have to talk to my BF and he'll have to talk to the BM about taking the boy to the doctor--but they have a family doctor that birthed the BM and both her kids, and she only likes to take the kids to him. If he didn't diagnose it before I'm not sure why he would now.
Either way, I'll talk to my BF and see what we can do. Thank you for the information. It's frightening, but it's helpful. I'll let you know what happens.
If he often has trouble
If he often has trouble breathing mainly at night, if you take him outside in the cooler air does he breath better? If he does breath better this is a sign of croup. Croup mainly affects younger kids and I believe they eventually grow out of it, not 100% sure. That is part of the reason the neb will open him up because of the cool mist. Another thing you and BF can look into is asking the dr to do a sleep study, he may have some form of sleep apnea (where he stops breathing while he's asleep) Also one more thought on this would be to get him allergy tested, it could be something as simple as a laundry soap that is affecting his breathing.
Good Luck!! Keep us updated on what the dr says.
I hope it's something as
I hope it's something as simple as laundry soap! I know everyone in the family uses Tide, so that would be a pretty simple solution.
I've never heard of croup, but I will read up on it. I thought about sleep apnea, but as far as I know he doesn't stop breathing completely, he just has difficulty with it.
Thank you for the suggestions. I hope this can get taken care of. My BF loves his son to death, but he's of the belief that "pain is just weakness leaving the body." I think it kills him to imagine his son with any kind of chronic pain/illness, so he doesn't want to consider it as a real possibility.
My XH was the same way.
My XH was the same way. Sickness equals weakness to him. He accused me of Munchausen Syndrome by proxy because I was so insistent that our child be treated for asthma. I KNEW it when I saw it happening. I told my then-inlaws not to take him to a petting zoo because he had been showing some signs of asthma... what did they do? Took him to the petting zoo. Within thirty minutes, he could not breathe. He was not even a year old. And we were seven hours away from home, in a podunk town with no ER to speak of. I was FURIOUS! And even after that was addressed, I was STILL accused of being too protective of his health - he would tell me that I was MAKING our child sick. Our child would be dead if he had been left to care for him.
I'm glad you're doing what you can to help him. This child really needs someone to advocate for him with a respiratory specialist. It's so easy to take care of of and get preventative meds that will change his life. Literally, CHANGE his life.
Good luck to you!
That's awful about your son
That's awful about your son at the petting zoo! At least he has a mother who thoroughly understands. You've been very helpful to me as well, thank you.
You know, now that I think about it (after your story), I don't think that animals have a strong (noticeable) affect on him. We go to the Animal Shelter every so often--we went just last Sunday--and he's never had any negative reaction there. Actually, there was a shelter cat that he was petting for about ten minutes (and he was rubbing his face in its fur), and no reaction from him. I'm fairly sure he's been around horses a lot, too. So thank goodness for that!
I know that his parents would be on it if they had someone diagnose it. His mom especially is super carfeul about the kids' health. It's just getting one of them to take him to a specialist who would diagnose it that's the problem.