pinkmint Posted February 1, 2016 Share Posted February 1, 2016 Does anyone have experience with asthma/ reactive airway disease in very young children? My youngest is 22 months old. We are not supposed to call what's happening with him asthma, because apparently they will not diagnose it at his young age, but it looks like asthma. They call it "reactive airway disease". His first incident was in October, so about 4 months ago. Since then he has been in the ER about 5 times, and hospitalized twice. Very rapid breathing, wheezing and low oxygen when they test him at the ER. He is currently on Albuterol as needed and nebulizer steroids daily until further notice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spryte Posted February 1, 2016 Share Posted February 1, 2016 (edited) Yes, we've dealt with this here. DS is 12 now, with asthma. DD is still too young for the diagnosis, so we're in the same boat you're in, with her. Finding and minimizing the asthma triggers has helped a lot. Also, if you don't have one - I like having a pulse oximeter on hand. Amazon had one with 5 stars and 4,000+ reviews for $20 last week. Sometimes it helps make the call between riding it out at home and the ER. I'm so sorry. It's nerve-wracking. Let me know what else you'd like to know. If you haven't, make an appt with an allergy/asthma doc - they can help with allergy testing to find triggers. Even at 22 mos. Edited February 1, 2016 by Spryte Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinkmint Posted February 1, 2016 Author Share Posted February 1, 2016 Thank you, ladies. What kind of flooring do either of you have in your home? We have gross wall to wall carpet that we suspect is a trigger. We're currently trying to get the landlord to approve us putting in laminate flooring and paying for it ourselves. We haven't had a chance to get an allergist appointment yet but we will get going on that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinkmint Posted February 1, 2016 Author Share Posted February 1, 2016 Also, our son's pediatrician told us not to bother with an oximeter at home because it's not enough to determine if he needs emergency care or not. We definitely thought about buying one though. So, I don't know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted February 1, 2016 Share Posted February 1, 2016 Pulse oximeters are not reliable with very young children. Even when my 5 year old was on oxygen (she was chronically ill) at home, it was difficult to get reliable readings. That same daughter was diagnosed with asthma at 18months and was put onto QVAR. Her siblings were diagnosed at later ages with asthma--around age 4 for most of them. We now live in a carpet free home with leather furniture and other hard surfaces that can be easily kept clean. My one kid with a ++ mold allergy has not had a single asthma attack ...almost five years now....since we got rid of carpet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravelingChris Posted February 1, 2016 Share Posted February 1, 2016 My one child who has asthma as an adult started with reactive airway disease at age two or three. Fortunately, she didn't have it bad and didn't really have problems with asthma until she was in her teens, THen asthma roared back again. NOw she is on advair and has to use albuterol everytime she gets sick which has been three times in her first semester of college. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spryte Posted February 1, 2016 Share Posted February 1, 2016 Thank you, ladies. What kind of flooring do either of you have in your home? We have gross wall to wall carpet that we suspect is a trigger. We're currently trying to get the landlord to approve us putting in laminate flooring and paying for it ourselves. We haven't had a chance to get an allergist appointment yet but we will get going on that. We've had ten years of trying to eliminate triggers. It's been a slow process. We now have cork flooring upstairs (bedrooms, halls, etc), tile in bathrooms. Main living area is hardwood. Downstairs is a combo of slate tile, cork, and laminate in one room. But... We bought this house recently, in part because of the flooring! The previous little girl had allergies and asthma, too. They did a lot of the work for us, and it showed when we walked through the first time. Our last house - we replaced all carpet with laminate. That helped a lot. Though it was tricky at first. Laminate outgasses VOCs, which are a trigger for DS (his blood has tested high for VOCs, so we have evidence to back this up). Once we caught on to that, we bought an air purifier that filters VOCs. Needs to have a special, charcoal filter. Huge difference. If it turns out that's an issue for your kiddo, be careful of all home improvement projects. All linens, pillows, stuffies, bedding is washed weekly on hot. Curtains, too. Get rid of mini blinds and put up smooth rolling shades - less dust collection. Reduce knick knacks. Get a HEPA vacuum. Kiddo shouldn't be around when you're vacuuming, but do it often. Dust mite covers for pillows and mattresses. And - allergy testing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinkmint Posted February 1, 2016 Author Share Posted February 1, 2016 We've had ten years of trying to eliminate triggers. It's been a slow process. We now have cork flooring upstairs (bedrooms, halls, etc), tile in bathrooms. Main living area is hardwood. Downstairs is a combo of slate tile, cork, and laminate in one room. But... We bought this house recently, in part because of the flooring! The previous little girl had allergies and asthma, too. They did a lot of the work for us, and it showed when we walked through the first time. Our last house - we replaced all carpet with laminate. That helped a lot. Though it was tricky at first. Laminate outgasses VOCs, which are a trigger for DS (his blood has tested high for VOCs, so we have evidence to back this up). Once we caught on to that, we bought an air purifier that filters VOCs. Needs to have a special, charcoal filter. Huge difference. If it turns out that's an issue for your kiddo, be careful of all home improvement projects. All linens, pillows, stuffies, bedding is washed weekly on hot. Curtains, too. Get rid of mini blinds and put up smooth rolling shades - less dust collection. Reduce knick knacks. Get a HEPA vacuum. Kiddo shouldn't be around when you're vacuuming, but do it often. Dust mite covers for pillows and mattresses. And - allergy testing. Based on what the things listed here, our home is probably one big asthma trigger :crying: I somewhat knew this, but we need to start dealing with it. We live in a run down rental that you can tell the landlord doesn't care much about. The positive is that the rent is low but it has things like the nasty carpet that I mentioned, plus mini blinds that are so old and busted, it's not even possible to clean them. We have an old, cheap (no fancy filter) vacuum too. But I appreciate your feedback and experience, it is helpful as I try to navigate this new road. Neither of my other 2 kids have asthma/ breathing issues, and this little one has it bad. We did buy an allergy air filter for the boys room, and replaced the toddler's ancient hand-me-down mattress. One thing at a time, and hopefully we can get this under control. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spryte Posted February 1, 2016 Share Posted February 1, 2016 You'll get this. It takes time. One thing at a time. One idea: if you can take down the mini blinds, soak them in a tub of water with some bleach. Give them a scrub. Then vacuum them weekly. Really, though, an allergist can help you identify the triggers so you can focus in on where to put your energy. I'll try to come up with more ideas that are easily doable. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted February 1, 2016 Share Posted February 1, 2016 We have had a mix of hardwoods and ceramic tile in our home. It took us several years to be able to afford to do all that we needed to do, as we didn't want to go into debt over it. When we moved this past year, we moved into a home that already had tile and laminate in it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katy Posted February 1, 2016 Share Posted February 1, 2016 Some landlords will negotiate and let you do things like replace the blinds, or replace old carpet with laminate and reduce the rent in exchange for the receipts. They know they'll get a higher rent out of the next family. If you decide to do that, you should see if there are any Habitat for Humanity ReStores near you. We've found laminate and tile there for $1/sq ft, and engineered hardwood for less than $3/sq ft. Some varieties have the padding built into the strips so you don't even have to purchase that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ikslo Posted February 1, 2016 Share Posted February 1, 2016 My son's asthma completely went away once we found his trigger. For him it was soy. Have you considered keeping a journal to track when he has flare ups to see if you can narrow down either a food or environmental trigger? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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