Last night started off like any other night; the big kids went to bed, Colby & I played a couple rounds of golf on the Playstation, Logan slept on my lap, nothing out of the ordinary! Then about 10:30 we got up to go to bed, I laid Logan down, put my pajamas on, and then curled up next to him. Almost instantly he rolled over and started coughing and wheezing and panicking. He had croup last June and I had some Pulmicort left from that so I grabbed the nebulizer and gave him a dose, thinking that would solve the problem and we’d all get some sleep. Well, I couldn’t find his face mask so I tried using the “blow by” tube and he completely freaked out and wouldn’t let it come near him. I got him to take what I could and he was still wheezing really bad so I sent Colby to the ambulance shed to get a new mask and ask if I could give him Albuterol too.
I turned the shower on hot and steamed up the bathroom while we waited for him to get back. It seemed like it took forever, but really it was only about 10 minutes before he was back and I gave him a dose of my Albuterol. It still didn’t help and Logan was absolutely miserable so I had Colby call the ambulance to come look him over. He was wheezing so bad that you could hear him across the room so when they got here we decided to take him to the emergency room via ambulance. They started an IV and off we went. He got a dose of Combivent in the ambulance and some oxygen and the wheezing was starting to let up. He was finally starting to feel good enough to talk, or rather demand things… “Want Daddy!” “Want Bailey!” “Want Bobby!” “Where Daddy?!” lol!
When we got to the emergency room they gave him a 4th nebulizer treatment and a dose of Prednisolone before the wheezing completely stopped. After he was feeling compltely better he managed to pull out his IV and remove his name bracelet lol so we knew he was going to be perfectly fine and back to normal. We stuck around the hospital until about 2:30, when the doctor came in and said he’d had an asthma attack and filled out paperworkfor us to go home. He gets to take Prednisolone for the next week and we’re going to his regular doctor for a second opinion! We didn’t get home until about 3:15 and then back up to get the big kids ready for school at 6:30… *sigh*
I don’t know what to think about it, I don’t know enough about asthma to know if that’s what happened or if it was something completely different. And of course not seeing our doctor that I completely trust isn’t real reassuring either. Plus, this morning before I woke the kids up he was wheezing a little bit again so he had to have more Pulmicort and Albuterol, and he was so tired that he took a 3 hour nap after the kids got on the bus. Since he woke from it he has felt great, talking and playing and acting completely normal.
For those of you that have dealt with asthma, does it sound like an asthma attack to you? If it is asthma, is this something that I’m going to have to worry about every day and night forever?
I just can’t wait until we get in with his normal doctor!!!
I have had asthma all my life and that sounds like what happens to me. Mine gets set off by environmental things,like dust and pollen. I haven’t had an attack since I cleaned out my vacuum. My 4 year old was just diagnosed as well and right now she is on flovent and has albuterol backup. We are making changes around the house to keep the dust down – new furnace filters, vacuum with hepa filter, washing curtains, etc. We are also researching natural methods for controlling it.
I’ve had asthma since I was 5 years old, and what happened here does sound like an attack to me
poor thing, I know how terrible it feels.
I’ve been on preventatives pretty much my whole life, Serotide, flixotide, ventolin, you name it I’ve probably tried it.
Mine tends to flair up during the colder winter months, the cold air just doesn’t do me any favours, and it requires a little more effort to keep under control during this time.
If it is asthma, methods of controlling it are very easily available and are much better then when I was first diagnosed years and years ago; as long as it’s managed properly, there shouldn’t be any major complications and you can live a perfectly normal life.
I hope it is something just temporary for your littlun though, and that all is back to normal for you soon.
I also have asthma and it does sound like an asthma attack. Asthma is manageable though. ER doctors are wonderful, but they aren’t the same as seeing your regular doctor. Asthma can be scary if you’re not used to it, but then again it’s always scary when one of your little ones doesn’t feel well.
I hope everyone gets some rest and feels better.
sounds like an attack to me, but please get a second opinion.. I took my darlings to respiratory specialists and I am lucky, they have since grown out of asthma.. stay strong!
Thanks for posting about this. My son had a similar episode about a year ago. His seems to be triggered when he gets a cold. Scary, isn’t it? Ugh.