Asthma

So I have finally gathered courage to write about Asthma, it is close to home because a couple of weeks ago, my son was diagnosed with Asthma. A few facts will help build up our story, from my reading online, children who have allergies are more susceptible to Asthma, especially Eczema, which my son was diagnosed with at 4 weeks old. He is allergic to eggs, which often flare up the eczema and dust is not his friend either. I have tried to look through our family history for allergies but the worst I have come with is inflamed sinuses, which both my mum and I have, allergic to dust and strong smells.

My son never had a runny nose or cough when he was an infant; we had our first flu at 13 months old.

So we went to see the doctor because my son had this cough and runny nose for 4 weeks, it started off with fever and a viral infection that caused rushes on his legs, which dried up black and then finally peeled off. The cough and runny nose however, persisted for a couple more weeks, though he was on medication, the nose finally dried but the cough was relentless. After a month, we went to the hospital, he was apparently wheezing and he was put on nebulizer a name he has come to recite to anyone who listens to his stories. ‘Doctor give me nebulizer.’

At this point the doctor said that it was most likely an Upper Respiratory Tract Infection, she however mentioned that most babies who have eczema and URTI are most likely to have asthma later in life. The nebulizer cleared the wheezing and we were given 2 inhalers to use and we were scheduled for a review after 2 weeks. The cough was still persistent, 2 weeks later, his nose runny every so often though nothing to worry about. The cough is worse at night and early morning, during the day you can hardly tell the boy had a cough.

After 3 weeks, we went for another nebulization session. ‘Mama, I don’t want nebulizer’ was the statement he repeated till we left the hospital. The doctor also told us that Mugi has Asthma. From the kind of medication he was taking and how his body was responding, URTI was least likely the problem. I needed a pep talk after that.

After another month on the inhalers (which was 1 week after the 2^nd nebulization) we decided to see a chest specialist, second opinion never hurt anyone. We visited him about 4 weeks ago and he changed one of the inhalers and gave a syrup ventolin to ease the coughing. It worked. He also confirmed that Mugi has Asthma.

Now my son loves swimming and I was afraid we would have to cut that out, but he said, his lifestyle should not change, he should be as active as possible as he already is. The body will learn to fight what you throw at it, his immunity will be stronger, the doctor assured us

Is there anything we could have done to prevent it? Nope not at all, it is in their genes, they are born with it. I never smoked, neither did the dad, he was not born pre-mature (42 weeks =)- preemies are more susceptible to allergies , he was not born underweight 3.845Kgs.

Facts

• Asthma is on the rise in the last decades but it is starting to level out, there is no concrete reason for this yet.
• Asthma can only be managed; there is no known cure at the moment.
• To manage it, reduce/limit exposure to allergens and triggers like dust, cold air, smoke, cigarette smoke, mold, exposure to air pollution, if you have a pet consider giving it up for a while as it might be a trigger.
• The severity and frequency may change as the babies grow.