Asthma with Every Cold!?!?!

My granddaughter is now 11 and has gotten asthma with every cold since she was a baby. Still does some times. She is on a daily inhaled steroid (past 2-3 years) which does seem to help her be less prone to asthma attacks and she's had no negative side effects.

The reason a cold triggers an asthma attack is that the cold irritates the lungs membranes which then triggers the asthma attack. The steroid strengthens the bodies defenses.

You have to decide which is the worse of two evils. Asthma attacks damage the lungs. That's a given. So is it better to have the attacks or risk the side affects of steroids?

As an asthmatic and the mother of asthmatic kids, I can tell you that I've never noticed any side effects from inhaled corticosteroids that are used to control asthma. These are VERY different from the anabolic steroids you hear about that athletes & weight lifters use.

On the other hand, the effects of oxygen deprivation on a child's developing brain have a greater effect, especially on learning abilities, at least that's the way it's been explained to me. About the only time I was really, REALLY good about taking my asthma preventatives was when I was pregnant because my doctor explained how depriving myself and my developing baby of oxygen could cause life-long harm to the child. Many inhaled meds have been around for years & have been deemed very safe -- so safe, you can even take them when pregnant.

Also, inhaled steroids are non-systemic. They go right to your lungs, unlike an oral steroid (which, by the way, I've taken in short term courses during severe attack & bronchitis episodes).

Don't be afraid about appropriate use of steroids. Be more afraid of asthma. Good luck.

I went through this with my son. At that age no one wanted to "label" him as an asthmatic so he was treated episodically. When he turned two I took him to an pediatric asthma specialist who finally labeled him and began him on Singulair. For the next 10 years he would suffer from asthma attacks - we have been through 3 nebulizers, rounds of steriods, you name it.

But, he has, for the most part outgrown the asthma. He is 15 and has not had an attack in over a year and the steroids, as monitored, have not affected his growth.

He is also still on Singulair, as its secondary usage is allergy preventive and keeping his allergies under control has gone a long way in preventing asthma attacks.

Talk to you pediatrician - read more about pediatric asthma - and the available medicines on the market. Maybe see a specialist for a more complete work up.

Good Luck

Last winter my daughter had two wheezing episodes and needed oral steroids. She was put on albuterol and bunecod (sp?) for 3 or 4 months. I was also concerned and didnt want to start it. But the pedi assured that steroids inhaled is way better than oral steroids. He also said that asthma attack would do much damage than an oral steroid. Dr.Sears website also has a good article on this.
Did doctor ask you to continue it during summer also??

We have years of experience with this. I am asthmatic and so are my children - only illness-induced.asthma. I honestly had thought the doctors were misdiagnosing me for years until this past spring, when I had a full asthma attack. I have never been so scared in my life and it really reminded me how important my kids meds are when they are struggling.

We have had one son in and out of the hospital for years with breathing problems, another two with lots of nebs the first years of life. We met a lot of families in the hospital with our sick son who weren't keeping up with the meds, and all the docs would tell them was that was the reason the child was in the hospital. We do a lot of nebs in the winter, not near as many in the summer.

We have done albuterol and pulmicort, albuterol by itself, pulmicort and atrovent, atrovent by itself. The inhaled steroids are a lot less severe than the oral ones and can prevent more serious issues.

Hang in there! My boys have all drastically improved after age 3 or 4 and we rarely touch them:)

My older daughter is 23 and she STILL has issues with reactive airway disease -- illness-induced asthma.

Sometimes you have to do the steroid to breathe. It's better than the alternative! We did the steroid thing on and off during cold season through her childhood. I didn't like side effects listed in the package insert either, but I did need her to breathe and that was the only thing that helped.

Having her on a preventive inhaler through the winter months helped as she got older and we didn't need the steroid as much. I can't give you much other helpful advice. It's not a fun thing to have to deal with, and that's about all you can do is just deal with it.

Take your son to an allergist to make sure he doesn't have allergies, which can make the situation worse.

Yep, sounds just like our daughter when she was young.. She finally grew out of it at about 9 yrs old.. Just part of it..

Our daughter is fine and is about to graduate from College, no long term effects.

your baby has illness induce asthma. my daughter has the same thing. she takes pulmicort every day. her dr also said to double it when she is sick.

when my daughter was your sons age she was on pulmicort .25 (.50 when sick). she is now 4 and taking 1.0 everyday.
she also takes albuterol.

we have never changed her medication since she was put on it at 10 months.

Part of Drs jobs is to weigh the benefits against any possible harm. With your child having a cold it irrates his br. tubes. The reason why they would choose to put him on meds is the attacks should be less often and not as bad. If you don't trust your Dr's judgement, please take him to another one. Asthma can come on quickly without warning. Or you can be "used" to your child breathing less without noticing until there is a crisis.

Cold weather is also set off an attack. Make sure that his mouth and nose are covered in cold weather.

Take care
J.

my son is in the same boat. he's about 2 1/2 now. he had RSV when he was a baby and now when he gets a bad cold, he needs breathing treatments. he doesn't have any asthma symptoms any other time of the year except when he gets colds. he has had no side effects at all from the albuterol and since it really does help i just keep doing it when he needs it. if he gets really bad, i call the dr and he gets a presnezone steroid.

if you have an ENT dr in your area, take him there and see what they say. we also found out that my son't tonsils were huge and his adenoids needed removed. he also has tubes in his ears. once the tubes went in and the adenoids were done, the frequency of him getting sick drastically reduced. there may be underlying things happening that are causing this. get a second look from an ENT dr and see what they see.

He could be allergic to cow's milk/cow milk products. I discovered I have a casein allergy four years ago. Stopped using cow/dairy products (use goat, sheep, rice, hazelnut, almond, other alternative milk sources). My allergies, rhinitis, sinunitis, winter bronchitis/pneumonia, nasal and ear touble--everything went away. April 2010 I went off my Advair medication and haven't had ANY problems since, no wheezing, no need for medication, no need for an emergency inhaler.

Worth looking into and trying to wean your little one off cow/dairy products and onto other items (listed above--just stay away from soy. Soy has a lot of endocrine-disrupting issues that aren't good for little ones).