Life Threatening
Jul 08 '01
The Bottom Line You should really know all their is to asthma if you have a child with asthma . It could save a life.
Asthma is a serious condition that threatens the lives of many children and adults alike each year . When I was at the age of 16 I gave birth to my first child . He was perfectly healthy and such an angel it was hard for me to understand the gripes people had with raising babies . I have never had asthma so it came as a complete shocker to find my son had inherited it from my husband .
At the tender age of 4 weeks old my perfect baby became a sickly infant whom had to be watched like a hawk . It was extremely hard on me to cope with this . At 16 you find that not only do the family , friends , and strangers put little trust in your capabilities , the doctors do not either .
One night at around 3 in the morning I got up instinctively to put his bottle in a warm glass of water to heat . At the time he was sleeping in the same room as my husband and I , but in a crib . When I came into the room to wake him and feed him he was a bluish colour . I immediately grabbed him up and shook him a little from fear . He started breathing and his chest was so rattling . A trip to the E.R. proved he had asthma , bronchitis , and was on the verge of pneumonia .
About two weeks and a million antibiotics later , he started to just quit breathing from time to time . I would have to hold him up and blow in his face to make him catch his breath . Then his chest started to rattle again . I took him to the E.R. since it was on the weekend and explained to them all that was going on . I also explained I had to keep him in bed with me or I might not notice his coughing or stop of breath in the night . They listened to his lungs and said they were clear , then gave a huge chewing out for being too young a mother and the dangers of sleeping with your child in bed with you .
The next evening he was worse than ever . I lay in bed with him by my side ( I was afraid he would die in the crib without me there to monitor him ) . I told my husband that we just had to get him to the hospital . We got there and he was admitted with pneumonia that was asthma induced .
A long week later we got to go home with my now 7 week old . For about two weeks he did ok . However , he could not hold down formula of any brand and was losing weight . My doctor said that it was alright for him to do this even after I explained he was projectile vomiting . Three days later .....pneumonia and the hospital again - due to asthma .
We take my now frail baby home ( we are living with my husband 's parents - I needed help ). After much deliberation as to what would be best for my child , I make my on prescription . I put him on whole milk with vitamin supplement drops . I also started giving him diluted baby cereal . About a month later .... it's hospital time again .
So , we go into the Doctor's office . Oh sure they all know me . The 16 year old mom whose baby is always sick . He has pneumonia again . We have been at the hospital a little over 24 hours . My husband whom is 18 at the time is spending as much time as possible with us there . The doctor is keeping my son under a cool mist tent as often as possible , though it is ok for me to get him out if he cries . He is just getting worse . Then the doctor comes in mad that I have been giving him whole milk . He doesn't care that it worked and puts him back on formula . Two days later , he is getting worse still and losing weight again . Sometime in the night a nurse came in to check his vitals . I awoke and saw her undressing him an that was the procedure so I went back to sleep . When my husband and I awoke the next morning there were some 20 people ( hospital staff ) in the room . He had been left uncovered , undressed , and undiapered in a cool mist tent for the duration of the night ( some 4 hours ) . They blamed this on me even though I told them that it was the nurse who had done it and not I . Then I got in trouble for not keeping up with how many times he voided and defacated in a day and filling out the paperwork on it . I told my doctor what was happening and he informed me it was their job after all to keep up with the amount of times he pottied in a day , but didn't believe me that the nurse had left him undressed .
I talked to my sister who is a nurse and she informed me the reason there were so many people in the room was for witnesses . She also told me to wait it out that if I left with my baby they would have just cause to call C.P.S. on me . After 2 weeks he was finally able to come home with a breathing machine , medication , liquid oral steroids , and a cool mist humidifier . All this to keep his asthma under check .
I went in search of a new doctor . After many prospects and failures ( one even told me I was too young for a baby and should give him up or adoption , to someone who could do a better job and trust their doctor ) I found who I was looking for . In this time my son is around 6 months old and has been hopitalised several times with asthma and pneumonia .
The new doctor listened to my story with an open heart and mind . He didn't see my age , only the need to get this baby cared for . He did several x-rays and made him drink berrium to show up better on the x-rays . Come to find out that on top of asthma my son had G.E.R. Which is a type of reflux . The flap in his stomach was weak causing his formula to come up and dump in his lungs that were already stressed from asthma , hence he got pneumonia a lot . Whole milk turned out to be what babies are usually given with this problem as it curds faster and is heavier so it will stay down better . He has only been in the hospital twice since then with asthma relayed problems .
My son is four nearly five now . We have very little trouble with his asthma as he has nearly outgrown it . Some people have to use cool mist humidifiers . Come to find out , they make my son worse . He has to use warm mist humidifiers or he will get pneumonia every time .
Basically the moral of this story is not to judge a book by it's cover , mothers know best about their children , if it seems your child has asthma - take them to someone that will believe no matter what their lungs sound like .
Some of the many things that cause asthma to attack are , birds ( dander of their feathers are bad ) , cool air , smoking , running , and pollens or allergies . For another very helpful review on this opinion I suggest you check out patch3boys I found this opinion better than mine for the general reader .
Thanks for reading - sweetycaroline
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sweetycaroline
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Location: West Texas
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God Bless America
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