lung problems in kids

[Mrs Mungo]

We went in for my son's checkup to see how he was doing since changing his asthma meds about a month ago. We didn't see the doctor he'd seen last time and the doc we did see was a resident. He didn't have our records or anything. I explained as much history as I could but in all was a bit annoyed about the whole thing. However, when the resident went to have his supervisor sign off on everything (basically, just re-prescribing the meds he's been on) we had a surprise. His supervisor for the day was a pulminologist. Long story short-after a long day of tests and x-rays-the puliminologist doesn't think my son has asthma, he thinks he has a lung disease. He gave me 3 possibilities: obstructive lung disease (the most likely, according to the doc), restrictive lung disease or cystic fibrosis (the least likely but still possible in this case, according to doc). My son is now on oral steroids for the next ten days, he will get a sweat test before the 14th (to check for cystic fibrosis) and then a follow-up visit on the 14th. Anyone have any experience with this? I don't even know what kind of information I want or need at this point. :confused:

[battlemaiden]

Whoa. You must feel socked in the gut. I hope it turns out benign.

 

Prayed.

 

jo

[JennifersLost]

Don't panic yet. I don't have info about this particular thing, but I've been in the situation where a child had to be tested for the "worst" stuff to rule it out before they could figure out what really was the problem. Let's hope in this case that these tests will do the same thing - rule out the serious possibilities so you end up with a clear diagnosis that you can act upon.

 

I'll be thinking about you and your ds. Hugs!

[Barb_]

Long story short-after a long day of tests and x-rays-the puliminologist doesn't think my son has asthma, he thinks he has a lung disease. He gave me 3 possibilities: obstructive lung disease (the most likely, according to the doc), restrictive lung disease or cystic fibrosis (the least likely but still possible in this case, according to doc).

 

Well, okay. This must have been a terrible shock, because I didn't really even see it coming in your post. I googled obstructive lung disease because the only obstructive lung disease I've ever heard of is chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and that's usually associated with the elderly and with emphysema. So here's the thing...according to Medline: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000066.htm obstructive lung disease is a general heading for any disease that causes a decrease in the exhaled air flow caused by a narrowing or blockage of the airways. It's more of a type of lung disease than a disease itself. Asthma, chronic broncitis, and emphysema seem to be types of obstructive lung diseases. So I'm not sure what the doc was getting at?? I'm sure by now you've started Googling. Other than treating the underlying condition (either asthma or bronchitis), is there a way to treat an obstructive or restrictive lung disease?

 

CF is something altogether different and I agree with Jennifer that they are ruling out the most serious condition first and working backward. Don't even let yourself go there.

 

Barb

[Jenny in Atl]

:grouphug:

[Jennifer in MI]

Oh - I'm so sorry.

 

My ds went through these types of tests before he got his asthma diagnosis. Perhaps the new doc just has a different take on things, KWIM? Some docs are so quick to diagnose asthma and he's ruling out other things. How old is your ds?

 

:grouphug:

[CookieMonster]

But I do have a friend in my local mom's group who is walking the same path - two actually. Their kids were diagnosed with asthma, but after repeated problems they were referred to a pulminologist. For the one lady, it turns out her daughter's problems with her lungs are being caused by her heart. I don't remember what, but their treating that now and it's working.

 

The other lady has just started down the road of seeing a pulminologist about her son with asthma who keeps getting hospitalized even though he's being treated for the asthma. She doesn't have any results yet, but she also was shocked that the diagnosis and treatment had taken this turn.

 

What a total sucker punch for you!

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

Mu daughter went through that. From age 4 to age 6, she had a total of six week-long hospitalizations, plus a number of visits to the ER. The very first hospitalization, they did a battery of tests, including cystic fibrosis, xrays, blood tests, etc...

 

It really was asthma.

 

After the sixth hospitalization, and the second collapsed lung (always the right one) she was put on Singulair, and we've been free for the last 18 months. Not a single attack. I don't know why it took so long to prescribe Singulair, but it's working !

 

Anyway, don't worry too much about all the extra testings. They are somewhat standard when important asthma is detected.

[Brigitte]

Wow, what a shock you had! But, just think how lucky you are that the attending physician was a pulmonologist and that you had a resident working with you who needed his sign-off.

 

Brigitte

[Chris in VA]

Ds has asthma, and my db has CF. He had a lung transplant 6 years ago, and will be 50 next week, so I have lots of experience with CF. The dr. is just ruling things out--hang tight and try to be patient with them as they have to "go there," but you don't, unless you get the diagnosis.

 

Ds' asthma started as reactive airways, and we pushed for a diagnosis of asthma so we could get more aggressive treatment planned.

 

If you want to know anything more specific, I'll try to answer what I can.

 

Hugs!

[Pajama Mama]

I don't know as much about the other 2 mentioned but my ds has restrictive lung disease. It sounds really scary but it's not that bad. Restrictive lung disease(RLD) in my son means that he does not fully use the lower lobes in his lungs. I guess he's a shallow breather. He has other medical issues that cause the RLD. My son used to get pneumonia alot. We now give him a daily breathing treatment with a steroid--he gets more treatments if he has a cold or flu. He has not had pneumonia since. That's all we needed to do to keep his lungs healthy.

[Mrs Mungo]

Well, my son had the sweat test today and it was negative. That's great news! However, apparently the main thing the pulminologist was apparently interested in was how small he is. Now, he has passed us on to an endrocrinologist and gastroenterologist. I realize he's covering his bases and they want to eliminate any possibility that there is something *wrong* with him. However, I went through this SAME THING (minus the lung and breathing problems) with my middle daughter. I got sent to doctor after doctor right down to FULL genetic testing. What came of it? NOTHING. SHE'S JUST SMALL! Honestly, I can't blame the doctors. My kids *are* small. I know they are. I feed them extremely well, honest! I was 5'1" and weighed 95lbs when I got married. Hubby is 5'6" and weighed 125 (one of his many nicknames as an Army LT was "buck twenty-five." Are they supposed to be big with those genetics? It just drives me a little crazy. I know, I should :chillpill: and let them do their thing but it's bothersome.

[Tutor]

I am so happy to hear that the sweat test came back negative! That must be such a relief. (Too bad the doc couldn't let you enjoy it before piling on more stuff to worry about. :001_smile:)

 

My kids *are* small. I know they are. I feed them extremely well, honest! I was 5'1" and weighed 95lbs when I got married. Hubby is 5'6" and weighed 125 (one of his many nicknames as an Army LT was "buck twenty-five." Are they supposed to be big with those genetics? It just drives me a little crazy. I know, I should :chillpill: and let them do their thing but it's bothersome.

 

I hear ya on the small thing. All my kids are small. I'm small. Dh is small. (In college, a friend of ours told us we'd have cute kids because of the "garden gnome" factor. :D) Only ONE ped (and we've moved a lot, so we've had a few) got that our kids were small because WE were small. ONE! Ugh. The nurse commented on how she was concerned because my dd's height and weight were below the 5th percentile. The ped looked at her, pointed at me, and said, "Look at Mom and use common sense. You're probably not going to see a 95th percentile kid with a 5th percentile mom. Just not likely." :D I loved that man.

 

Ever since, I have had to fight with doctors about what I'm feeding my kids and if they get enough exercise. Especially my 9yo. She is small and stick thin... just like my sister at that age. They could be twins (separated by 20 years). I explain that it's genetic. My sister was exactly the same body type then sprouted up a bit and filled out when she hit puberty. I'm aware of my dd's build. I'm not worried about it. Thank you for mentioning it. Yet, they insist on making an issue of it every time she goes for a check up. Our last doc assumed that since my dd was petite, skinny, shy and homeschooled that something was mentally wrong with her and recommended that I investigate special ed options. I just started laughing and couldn't stop. :lol: This dd, who was about 6yo at the time, was reading on a 6th grade level and in 3rd grade math. She read an average of 30 books a week (mostly dinosaur encyclopedias at that point). She was, and still is, a voracious learner.

 

We moved in June, and we haven't gone looking for a new doc yet. The younger ones will be due for checkups this summer (fortunately the older two, including skinny minnie, aren't due for another year). I am not looking forward to finding a new doc. I am praying that we find another like that ped with common sense. In my experience, the medical community could use a little more of that.

[Mrs Mungo]

I am so happy to hear that the sweat test came back negative! That must be such a relief. (Too bad the doc couldn't let you enjoy it before piling on more stuff to worry about. :001_smile:)

 

 

 

I hear ya on the small thing. All my kids are small. I'm small. Dh is small. (In college, a friend of ours told us we'd have cute kids because of the "garden gnome" factor. :D) Only ONE ped (and we've moved a lot, so we've had a few) got that our kids were small because WE were small. ONE! Ugh. The nurse commented on how she was concerned because my dd's height and weight were below the 5th percentile. The ped looked at her, pointed at me, and said, "Look at Mom and use common sense. You're probably not going to see a 95th percentile kid with a 5th percentile mom. Just not likely." :D I loved that man.

 

Ever since, I have had to fight with doctors about what I'm feeding my kids and if they get enough exercise. Especially my 9yo. She is small and stick thin... just like my sister at that age. They could be twins (separated by 20 years). I explain that it's genetic. My sister was exactly the same body type then sprouted up a bit and filled out when she hit puberty. I'm aware of my dd's build. I'm not worried about it. Thank you for mentioning it. Yet, they insist on making an issue of it every time she goes for a check up. Our last doc assumed that since my dd was petite, skinny, shy and homeschooled that something was mentally wrong with her and recommended that I investigate special ed options. I just started laughing and couldn't stop. :lol: This dd, who was about 6yo at the time, was reading on a 6th grade level and in 3rd grade math. She read an average of 30 books a week (mostly dinosaur encyclopedias at that point). She was, and still is, a voracious learner.

 

We moved in June, and we haven't gone looking for a new doc yet. The younger ones will be due for checkups this summer (fortunately the older two, including skinny minnie, aren't due for another year). I am not looking forward to finding a new doc. I am praying that we find another like that ped with common sense. In my experience, the medical community could use a little more of that.

 

I'm so glad that there's someone else who can relate. It's so frustrating! I had one ped insist that she couldn't see my kids *at all* until I saw a nutritionist and borderline accused me of neglect. My middle daughter looks *just* like my mom's mom. She had 9 siblings and the ones who are still living talk about on how skinny she was growing up. None of my kids are even on the freaking growth chart. I hate that thing. My eldest didn't start catching up until she was 10. She started growing in these huge spurts. She once grew 3 shoe sizes in a month. I was always *tiny*. Even my cousin wore my sixth-grade hand-me-downs to kindergarten (and we're the same size now). But I didn't start my period until I was 15. he whole thing is driving me maaaaad.

[Apiphobic]

Wow, scary. It's good that they're being so thorough. I'm sure it's very nerve-wracking for you though. I hope it goes smoothly for you and you get good news.

 

I don't know how much this will relate to your situation, but I'm pondering my ds' asthma, where we've lived, how that's changed his treatment plan and how the changes in treatment have affected his growth rate. It's amazing how connected it all is, and I've wondered if doctors are good about sharing this information with parents. We're a military family so the standard of care is different from the civilian world, and maybe that's why it took us so long to learn a lot of this stuff.

 

Anyway, he was born in Spokane, Washington, and for the longest time had eczema. We moved to Misawa, Japan (which is way up north and can get very humid), where he was diagnosed with allergy and asthma. When we went to England, it got worse. They had him on a very high dose of Advair (250/50 at age 9 - 51" tall and 60 lbs) and he continued with Claritin and Flonase (with albuterol as needed). We moved back to the States a couple of years ago, and the asthma doctor dropped him to a lower dose of Advair (100/50) and added Singulair.

 

We're living in a much dryer climate now and he's been able to discontinue the Claritin and Flonase, and his peak flows have soared. We were hoping to be able to either discontinue the Advair or Singulair at our last six month check-up, but his cardiopulmonary function tests weren't as good as he would've liked. Through discussions with this civilian doctor, we've learned that the best places for ds to live would be Alaska or Arizona.

 

And I don't know whether this is puberty or not (ds is 12), but he seems to be shooting up in height. I thought I'd read somewhere that the meds for asthma can affect growth, so now that his meds are being reduced I wonder if that's why he's sprouting.

 

So, I think I read that you were unpacking. Maybe the changes in the climate are affecting his asthma or lung function? It just seems like every time we moved we had to adjust his medication. But it doesn't sound as serious as your ds' situation. We've had nebulizer treatments and one hospital admission, but I think we've been pretty lucky with his asthma.

 

Well, I'll be hoping for good news! Hang in there, Mrs. Mungo, who's not related to Plaid Dad who used to be Mungo. ;)

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

Oh my! My DD who also had lung problems is also very petite! She is indeed below the 5th percentile. But she's a gymnast! She fits perfectly with the other gymnasts! :lol:

 

I never had a problem with the ped though, related to DD's weight and height. However, we are investigating the fact that in a whole year, she didn't put on any weight, although she did grow a tiny bit. (She's following the growth curve, only at the 5th percentile)

[Chris in VA]

I'm so glad for you, re: the neg sweat test.

[Mrs Mungo]

Wow, scary. It's good that they're being so thorough. I'm sure it's very nerve-wracking for you though. I hope it goes smoothly for you and you get good news.

 

I don't know how much this will relate to your situation, but I'm pondering my ds' asthma, where we've lived, how that's changed his treatment plan and how the changes in treatment have affected his growth rate. It's amazing how connected it all is, and I've wondered if doctors are good about sharing this information with parents. We're a military family so the standard of care is different from the civilian world, and maybe that's why it took us so long to learn a lot of this stuff.

 

Anyway, he was born in Spokane, Washington, and for the longest time had eczema. We moved to Misawa, Japan (which is way up north and can get very humid), where he was diagnosed with allergy and asthma. When we went to England, it got worse. They had him on a very high dose of Advair (250/50 at age 9 - 51" tall and 60 lbs) and he continued with Claritin and Flonase (with albuterol as needed). We moved back to the States a couple of years ago, and the asthma doctor dropped him to a lower dose of Advair (100/50) and added Singulair.

 

We're living in a much dryer climate now and he's been able to discontinue the Claritin and Flonase, and his peak flows have soared. We were hoping to be able to either discontinue the Advair or Singulair at our last six month check-up, but his cardiopulmonary function tests weren't as good as he would've liked. Through discussions with this civilian doctor, we've learned that the best places for ds to live would be Alaska or Arizona.

 

And I don't know whether this is puberty or not (ds is 12), but he seems to be shooting up in height. I thought I'd read somewhere that the meds for asthma can affect growth, so now that his meds are being reduced I wonder if that's why he's sprouting.

 

So, I think I read that you were unpacking. Maybe the changes in the climate are affecting his asthma or lung function? It just seems like every time we moved we had to adjust his medication. But it doesn't sound as serious as your ds' situation. We've had nebulizer treatments and one hospital admission, but I think we've been pretty lucky with his asthma.

 

Well, I'll be hoping for good news! Hang in there, Mrs. Mungo, who's not related to Plaid Dad who used to be Mungo. ;)

 

My son was born in Germany. We had mold issues and stuff in the housing we were in and I *do* wonder if that contributed to his breathing problems. We then moved to North Carolina where he did OK except for in the winter and when the pine trees threw off their pollen. He's acutally doing *much* better here in Hawaii. One of his main triggers for problems is the cold (both times he was hospitalized it was in December). My mom just dug out my growth chart and called to tell me that I was the same height at the same age. I'm having her mail it to me along with pictures of me at that age. I need to call my MIL and see if she has anything that tells hubby's height and weight at that age.

 

Cleo, my kids aren't even on the growth chart, that's the problem. However, he gained 4 lbs in the last year. He's been growing all along in a line that parallels the growth chart, he's just off the bottom of it.

 

Thanks, everyone else for the good wishes.

[Barb_]

I'm so behind on the boards, but I wanted to respond. I hope you see it! First of all...great news on the negative test. Big sighs of relief all around. Second, as you obviously know, there are just some docs who want to find problems in order to fix them. I want to recommend a book that addresses this and other types...it was soooo interesting to me: http://www.amazon.com/How-Doctors-Think-Jerome-Groopman/dp/0547053649/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1207630563&sr=8-1

 

Third, I also have tiny kids. My 11yo is finally climbed up on the growth chart since hitting her puberty growth spurt. Yet, she's only 54 inches and 62 pounds in the *middle* of her growth spurt. That's the 3rd-7th percentile. My 13yo has topped out at 5 foot, 1/4 inch and Emily will be very lucky to see 5 feet. People routinely guess my kids' ages 2-3 years younger than they really are. What can I say? We're an itty, bitty family.

 

Barb

[Mrs Mungo]

I'm so behind on the boards, but I wanted to respond. I hope you see it! First of all...great news on the negative test. Big sighs of relief all around. Second, as you obviously know, there are just some docs who want to find problems in order to fix them. I want to recommend a book that addresses this and other types...it was soooo interesting to me: http://www.amazon.com/How-Doctors-Think-Jerome-Groopman/dp/0547053649/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1207630563&sr=8-1

 

Third, I also have tiny kids. My 11yo is finally climbed up on the growth chart since hitting her puberty growth spurt. Yet, she's only 54 inches and 62 pounds in the *middle* of her growth spurt. That's the 3rd-7th percentile. My 13yo has topped out at 5 foot, 1/4 inch and Emily will be very lucky to see 5 feet. People routinely guess my kids' ages 2-3 years younger than they really are. What can I say? We're an itty, bitty family.

 

Barb

 

Yes, I see what you're saying. I have now made my entire family make copies from their baby books. I will return to the appointment well-armed. We'll see how it works out. Thank you for sharing in my annoyance.:)

[Alice]

Totally second the book that Barb recommended (How Doctors Think by Jerome Groopman). It's a great book, and as a doctor I found it fascinating (and at times very challenging to my own weaknesses.)

 

Also, it's never good to make diagnoses over a message board...but it sounds to me like your kids have "constitutional delay" which is just a stupid name for the familial pattern you are describing. In some families people tend to go through puberty later which generally means having a growth spurt later. Going through puberty is what causes your bones to close and your growth to stop. So some people (me) were the tallest in the class in 6th grade but then stopped growing. Some people are small and then have their growth spurt later in the teen years...and for some boys that's even college. A very simple test if they haven't done it is a "bone age". It's just an X-ray of a wrist and it tells you the "age" of the bones. A bone age that is "delayed" is consistent with this kind of growth pattern and is generally reassuring that there isn't something more going on.

 

Also...a good formula for determining ultimate height:

 

For boys: Take Mom's height in inches and add 6. Average with Dad's height in inches. That's the median point, two inches on either side is the "expected growth potential". So for your ds you'd expect an ultimate height of 5'4 1/2"- 5' 8 1/2" given the heights you gave for you and your dh.

 

For girls: Take Dad's height and subtract 6. Do the same as above.

 

**This doesn't always work...but it's a good estimate to see if someone is where we would expect genetically.

[Barb_]

Totally second the book that Barb recommended (How Doctors Think by Jerome Groopman). It's a great book, and as a doctor I found it fascinating (and at times very challenging to my own weaknesses.)

 

Also...a good formula for determining ultimate height:

 

For boys: Take Mom's height in inches and add 6. Average with Dad's height in inches. That's the median point, two inches on either side is the "expected growth potential". So for your ds you'd expect an ultimate height of 5'4 1/2"- 5' 8 1/2" given the heights you gave for you and your dh.

 

For girls: Take Dad's height and subtract 6. Do the same as above.

 

**This doesn't always work...but it's a good estimate to see if someone is where we would expect genetically.

 

Know what's crazy? My dad is 5-7 and mom is 5-2. When he was little, my brother used to say he was going to be 6 feet tall. Of course everyone laughed--except now he's over 6 foot 3. He robbed my branch of the family of our height gene.

 

Barb

[Mom2GirlsTX]

Know what's crazy? My dad is 5-7 and mom is 5-2. When he was little, my brother used to say he was going to be 6 feet tall. Of course everyone laughed--except now he's over 6 foot 3. He robbed my branch of the family of our height gene.

 

Barb

 

Definitely can happen, my mom was 4'10" and my dad 5'7" and I am 5' 7 1/2"..

I am the tallest of the six kids though.

[Mrs Mungo]

Totally second the book that Barb recommended (How Doctors Think by Jerome Groopman). It's a great book, and as a doctor I found it fascinating (and at times very challenging to my own weaknesses.)

 

Also, it's never good to make diagnoses over a message board...but it sounds to me like your kids have "constitutional delay" which is just a stupid name for the familial pattern you are describing. In some families people tend to go through puberty later which generally means having a growth spurt later. Going through puberty is what causes your bones to close and your growth to stop. So some people (me) were the tallest in the class in 6th grade but then stopped growing. Some people are small and then have their growth spurt later in the teen years...and for some boys that's even college. A very simple test if they haven't done it is a "bone age". It's just an X-ray of a wrist and it tells you the "age" of the bones. A bone age that is "delayed" is consistent with this kind of growth pattern and is generally reassuring that there isn't something more going on.

 

Also...a good formula for determining ultimate height:

 

For boys: Take Mom's height in inches and add 6. Average with Dad's height in inches. That's the median point, two inches on either side is the "expected growth potential". So for your ds you'd expect an ultimate height of 5'4 1/2"- 5' 8 1/2" given the heights you gave for you and your dh.

 

For girls: Take Dad's height and subtract 6. Do the same as above.

 

**This doesn't always work...but it's a good estimate to see if someone is where we would expect genetically.

 

Thank you for the input. It definitely makes sense. My mom is 5'5" but she is super-tall for that side of the family. She's taller than most of her male cousins. All of my aunts are 5'1". According to my dad's baby book he was shorter at 11 than my 12 year old daughter, he's 5'6" now, still short for a man. We have big personalities in the family though, nobody thinks of us as being short. ;)

[Barb_]

Definitely can happen, my mom was 4'10" and my dad 5'7" and I am 5' 7 1/2"..

I am the tallest of the six kids though.

 

Were you always tall or were you a late bloomer? My brother stayed pretty close to the midrange of the growth curve and then grew almost a foot the year he was 13. He looked like he was a victim of a terminal disease, he was so skinny. I was really ticked off since I couldn't intimidate him anymore :D

 

Barb

[Alaska Mom]

I don't know enough about your family and your son's illness, but you may want to ask your doctor about Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency. It's also commonly called "alpha-1". It can be easily diagnosed by blood test.

 

It's not a disease, but a genetic condition or disorder that increases the RISK of developing disease, particularly of the lungs and liver. It's genetic, so it means an individual with "alpha 1" is someone who inherits two abnormal AAT genes, one from each parent. People who inherit only one bad gene (from one parent instead of both) are classified as "carriers" - two carriers then can pass it on to their kids not even knowing it. There's alot of research being done on this and they are finding it to be a probable link between why some people have lung issues and other don't. Most doctors are aware of this, but still some are not. Your son may have already been tested, but it'd be worth asking about. Usually problems don't show up until later years (if ever), but environmental conditions (exposure to smoking for instance) can cause problems to start earlier.

 

Good luck to you, I wish you well.

[Laura Corin]

a

For boys: Take Mom's height in inches and add 6. Average with Dad's height in inches. That's the median point, two inches on either side is the "expected growth potential". So for your ds you'd expect an ultimate height of 5'4 1/2"- 5' 8 1/2" given the heights you gave for you and your dh.

 

 

Hobbes is on a growth line to end up about 5'8" which is precisely on the median. Calvin, on the other hand, is heading for 6' tall, like one of my elder brothers. Genetics are fun.

 

Edited to add: we get grief at the doctor's because Calvin is so skinny: off the bottom of the BMI charts. He's had various blood tests at different times, but, again, he's just a copy of my brother, who is still as thin as a rail at fifty.

 

Laura

[Lolly]

Well, my son had the sweat test today and it was negative. That's great news! However, apparently the main thing the pulminologist was apparently interested in was how small he is. Now, he has passed us on to an endrocrinologist and gastroenterologist. I realize he's covering his bases and they want to eliminate any possibility that there is something *wrong* with him. However, I went through this SAME THING (minus the lung and breathing problems) with my middle daughter. I got sent to doctor after doctor right down to FULL genetic testing. What came of it? NOTHING. SHE'S JUST SMALL! Honestly, I can't blame the doctors. My kids *are* small. I know they are. I feed them extremely well, honest! I was 5'1" and weighed 95lbs when I got married. Hubby is 5'6" and weighed 125 (one of his many nicknames as an Army LT was "buck twenty-five." Are they supposed to be big with those genetics? It just drives me a little crazy. I know, I should :chillpill: and let them do their thing but it's bothersome.

 

My sons asthma turned out to be GERD. The acid from his stomach was burning his esophagus and airways causing them to spasm. He actually does not technically have any lung problems. He is only borderline on being asthmatic when tested. By controlling his stomach acid, we control his breathing problems which it turns out are mostly in his throat.

[Storm Bay]

Yes, I see what you're saying. I have now made my entire family make copies from their baby books. I will return to the appointment well-armed. We'll see how it works out. Thank you for sharing in my annoyance.:)

 

 

This is just what I was going to suggest. Plus, to mention that one of my brothers was never on the growth chart & had a number of tests done to see why he was so small. His birth family wasn't big, but he was smaller. He had constitutional growth delay, and grew until his early 20s to 5' 8.5". No asthma problems, though, so he didn't go through that other testing. My dc are all skinny, and one, who is not quite as skinny as I was, is 65th percentile in height & 30th percentile in weight. However, as soon as I tell him both my mother & I were very skinny, & that dh, who he's met, was skinny, he doesn't worry about it.

 

An interesting height predictor that factors in parents as well as kids age, height and weight is at this link http://www.teengrowth.com/index.cfm?action=growth&type=height It's not 100 percent accurate, because I was 5 ft tall and about 65 pounds when I was 11 (how's that for a bmi? My 13 yo was 83 pounds when she was 5 feet and people thing she's skinny), and when I put that in with my parents' heights it predicted I'd be 5' 8", and I'm 2 inches taller, but that's within a decent margin of error.

 

My brother's dd is also tiny (skinny and very short, like db was) and had to go through some testing as well, but mostly due to low energy, which was directly related to wheat at that time. She's back on it now, but I'm not sure why.

 

You're over 3 inches taller than the nearly 15 yo dd of friends of ours, who can't possibly be on the charts with her height. She just reached it, too, because a few weeks ago they thought she was still 4' 9", and now she's 1/4" shy of 4' 10".