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What was the inhaler that you were taking, and what is the name of the new inhaler?
JudyView Thread

Those are just a couple of thoughts running through my head. Hope they help somewhat.
And of course a meeting needs to be held with the school so this doesn't happen again.
Take care & good luck. JudyView Thread

It would probably be a good idea to take him to be seen by a pediatric allergist who may want to tweak his allergy and asthma medications so that these coughing fits don't happen so often. It would be important to determine what he's allergic to so that those triggers could be avoided. For example, if he's allergic to cats and the day care lady has a cat, then that's not the right day care for him.
Finally, it would be a good idea for you to learn about allergies and asthma. There are a couple of good books out there. One is "Allergies and Asthma for Dummies," by Dr. William Berger.
Hope this helps. Take care & good luck. JudyView Thread


When we have an asthma flare, our physician may advise us to take additional doses of our current asthma medications and/or add additional asthma medications in order to get the asthma under control quickly. So if you are just going to take the 2 puffs of Flovent per day, it's very likely that that is not going to do much if anything to get you out of the flare, particularly since it would take about a month to reach full effect if you weren't in a flare. It's a lot like trying to put out a house fire by throwing a few glasses of water on it.
As for your experience with the albuterol, some people are bothered by the new propellant in the inhaler. Since your lungs are so inflamed you might be more sensitive to the propellant than you otherwise would be, or it may be just that anything inhaled is going to bother you a lot right now. That's also a clue that you're doing worse than you think you are.
I'd also recommend that, if you haven't already, you call your parents and let them know what's going on with you and how badly you're doing right now.
Take care and good luck. JudyView Thread

No one on the board, including our medical experts, can advise you whether you need a daily asthma controller medication (such as Flovent). You really need to be examined, and quickly, based on what you are telling us your symptoms are. It sounds like you are trying to tough it out, but when you have asthma that's not a very wise plan as things can get bad, very quickly.
We all want to take the least amount of asthma medication necessary, because let's face it, no one likes to take meds daily. Sometimes, however, we have to take a daily controller med and that's just the way the cookie crumbles. Only your own doctor can advise you on that.
Take care and good luck. JudyView Thread

In fact, last Saturday I got my allergy shots at the same time as my flu shot. The flu shot made my arm ache more! Thank heavens for ibuprofen.
JudyView Thread

Several different classes of reflux medications include proton pump inhibitors (or PPIs, which reduce acid produced in the stomach); H2 blockers (which inhibit histamine-2 in the stomach); and motility agents (which move food faster through the digestive system). Here's a short article from WebMD explaining more: http://www.webmd.com/heartburn-gerd/guide/prescription-treatments
The feeling of heat in your chest -- I have never had that, but could it be heartburn? That would be another symptom of reflux. WebMD has a good heartburn / GERD center that you may want to check out: http://www.webmd.com/heartburn-gerd/guide/
Hope this helps, and good luck. JudyView Thread

Coughing after eating is likely acid reflux; at least it was in my situation. There are various medications you can take to tamp down the acid; are you taking anything right now? Since you mention "euro" you must be in Europe. I'm not sure they have Tums there (calcium antacids), but eating some Tums after your meals can help.
I've also had reflux cause bronchitis as well as worsen my asthma, and cause sinus symptoms that feel like a sinus infection (but look different on a sinus CT scan). The acid that is refluxed can irritate your throat and nasal passages, causing hoarseness and runny nose. Reflux can also cause asthma-like symptoms as the acid irritates the lungs. So these things can be all inter-related.
In my case, it was my asthma inhaler that was causing the reflux. I was taking Symbicort as my asthma controller medication, which contains a long-acting bronchodilator. Long-acting bronchodilators relax smooth muscle, not only in the lungs, but also in the lower esophageal sphincter (LES). A relaxed LES promotes acid reflux.
Once I discontinued the Symbicort (working with my allergist), my reflux has gotten much, much better and I hope that shortly it will be completely gone. The reflux did take about 2 years to develop, so perhaps it may take time to go away.
Other than reflux meds, you may also want to adopt a anti-reflux diet and use other lifestyle changes to decrease reflux. (The Web is full of resources on this.) Foods that may trigger reflux include mint (including toothpaste), chocolate, coffee, milk, citrus or tomato and other acidy foods.
Hopefully sharing my story has given you some ideas to take back and discuss with your doctor, and some practical suggestions that you can try on your own. Take care and good luck. JudyView Thread

The plastic won't have any effect, and who knows what the air scrubbers are. For example, are they HEPA air cleaners? I bet not. And are they big enough or numerous enough for the area to be cleaned? Maybe not.
Folks who don't have asthma tend to minimize things and it sounds like that's what this expert is doing. If he in fact had asthma triggered by mold and gave you reassurances, then I might tend to believe him, but otherwise it's not worth taking the chance of triggering a major attack, especially seeing as you're already having symptoms and have been untreated for some time.
If you absolutely have to go to work, then wearing an N95 rated mask while in the building would certainly help. Your employer should make reasonable accommodation for your asthma under federal law.
Hope my 2 cents' worth helps. Take care & good luck. JudyView Thread
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