Asthma

[Penguin2]

Not sure if this should be under allergies or health, but here goes.
Ds2 has had a (wet) cough for 10 weeks but is otherwise in good health. I took him to see the practice nurse the other day and she seemed to suspect asthma as he has no sign of an infection. We were given a peak flow meter and have to monitor his peak flow twice daily for the next two weeks. Although all his readouts are pretty good, I have already noticed he has a much lower readout in the mornings than in the evenings. The nurse said that asthmatics are at their worst in the mornings. I can't bear to wait another week and a half so I was wondering if any mumsnetters had experience of this and could advise if they think this sounds like asthma. He does not get breathless at all, but the nurse said asthma takes many forms.

[Penguin2]

Crikey! This is obviously posted in the wrong place. I thought millions of kids had asthma these days.

[suedonim]

Hi, Penguin. All four of my children are asthmatic so I understand your worry. Tbh, I wouldn't get too hung up on whether your ds is diagnosed as asthma or not. The important thing is to get treatment for his symptoms, whatever the label is. Asthma does indeed take many forms and often an exercise test and/or an inhaler test can help a diagnosis. There's also support charity, Asthma UK which is very helpful. Hth.

[twiglett]

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[coppertop]

Ds1 is asthmatic. The first symptom that we noticed was that he used to cough after running around. I think his cough was dry rather than 'wet' though. The GP sent us to the hospital during his first attack but they wouldn't give an official diagnosis of asthma until he was hospitalised for a second time.

Ds1 uses an inhaler in the morning and evening but otherwise you wouldn't guess that he's asthmatic. It certainly hasn't stopped him from doing anything that a non-asthmatic child would do.