It always began with a cough. Only it wasn't just your typical cough, it was different. Teachers told me "He's fine", my parents said "Maybe he's just congested" and even the school nurse at the time added her two cents of "You know that whooping cough is going around"..... A mother knows. A mother knows that the cough isn't just a cold or a behavioral thing or even something that is typical of a younger child at school. A mother knows that when your child is coughing until they are almost vomiting and they are exhausted because they haven't slept well that there is something behind it.
It took us 6 years to get a correct diagnosis of asthma for my son. He went through cough medicines, menthol on whatever body part I thought would ease the cough, baths and showers, a nebulizer and finally a trip to the Emergency Room that resulted in 30+ albuterol inhales. All because we were not told the correct information and all because our doctors didn't listen as closely as they could have.
My son has multiple food allergies but he also has pollen-induced asthma. I am extremely grateful that we finally got the medical attention that he needed. Looking back, there were many times that his breathing was labored and his chest was heaving in and out at a horrific rate and I could have lost him all because the term asthma was not introduced. Earlier diagnosis would have saved my son additional sickness, reactions to medications, loss of his time as a toddle and the simple act of breathing well.
Do You Need Help? I am happy to share that recently the GAAPP (Global Allergy and Asthma Patient Platform) began the campaign Define Your Asthma in partnership with member organizations. The mission of this campaign is to make sure that those with allergies and asthma have a forum where they can share and learn. By educating more people at an earlier stage, Define Your Asthma aims to reduce the time it takes to diagnose a patient and introduce optimal management for each patient. As shared on their website "By defining your asthma you don't need to suffer in silence- if your treatment for asthma isn't working for you, it might be because you have a different form of the condition." When it comes to being able to breathe, there is no option than to find out what type of medical assistance your condition needs to keep you as healthy as possible.
Join the group today at https://www.facebook.com/DefineYourAsthma/
YOUR experiences may help someone!
It took us 6 years to get a correct diagnosis of asthma for my son. He went through cough medicines, menthol on whatever body part I thought would ease the cough, baths and showers, a nebulizer and finally a trip to the Emergency Room that resulted in 30+ albuterol inhales. All because we were not told the correct information and all because our doctors didn't listen as closely as they could have.
My son has multiple food allergies but he also has pollen-induced asthma. I am extremely grateful that we finally got the medical attention that he needed. Looking back, there were many times that his breathing was labored and his chest was heaving in and out at a horrific rate and I could have lost him all because the term asthma was not introduced. Earlier diagnosis would have saved my son additional sickness, reactions to medications, loss of his time as a toddle and the simple act of breathing well.
Join the group today at https://www.facebook.com/DefineYourAsthma/
YOUR experiences may help someone!
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