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Parents of kids with asthma - after you've gone through the entire arsenal available to you, do you still send your kid to school with a persistent cough?

Allergies are going bonkers here, and DD has been coughing all night. I've been badgered by Crazz and the school that coughing's "not going to kill her" and I can't keep her home forever. She seems so uncomfortable, but she's still functional. I just don't know where to draw the line between how much anxiety it causes ME and how it affects DD. (ie - each cough feels like a hammer hitting my head and an electroshock at once - that's what happens when you hear it over the monitor every 15 minutes all night long.)

Without going over the laundry list, we are trying anything and everything. We are under the care of a pediatric allergist.

If you're doing everything possible and they're still coughing, do you just suck it up and send them to school? We pay an insane amount for this place, and she was home two weeks ago for a week, not to mention most of the month of January.

Part of me says I need to get over thinking this is as big of a nightmare as I'm making it out to be. The other part says that as soon as I ever let my guard down I regret it.

I think for me it would depend on your DD.

DH was very responsible for his asthma at a young age. He knew his boundery as to when he needed help or just to slow down and use his rescue inhaler or his machine. He played football and ran track and his asthma is horrible.

If you think that she can handle herself at school, to know when it needs serious medical attention, then I would think about letting her go.

Thank you for that, Undefinabl3. I feel like I need to fill up my "She's going to be ok" bucket so I can start letting go. There's a sprinkling of people trying to gently tell me this in different aspects of my life, so I'm trying to incorporate it as best I can.

She really is strong and healthy it's just this rassafrackin cough that shows up and disrupts everything.

I'm going to Houston on Thursday (!) and historically I would have called off the trip. I'm going to instead use this as an exercise in trusting that Crazz can take care of her, and trusting that she's not deathly ill or frail and can handle being without me for a few days.

FWIW, my sister is 28, has asthma and a persistent cough. At its worst, it sounds like a deep dog bark and it scares the bejeezus out of me. She has been that way for as long as I can remember. Different doctors in different cities in different states with different levels of treatment and none of it really made a difference. My mom worked full-time and only kept us home if we were almost dead. My sister had an inhaler at school with specific instructions for the 'responsible adult'. I don't ever remember there being a big issue. I can totally understand your anxiety, but I think you should let her go and see how she does. Maybe start with half days and work into being comfortable.

Mother of two asthmatics, and teacher here. One son weezed, the other coughed constantly. It sounds like here asthma is not well controlled yet. I hope you can get that happening. I understand the frustration. What helped for my cougher was to immediately start nasal steroids at the first sign of an URI. But my experience is ten or more years old.

I'm with the send her to school camp generally with some concerns. That staccato cough can be very disruptive in a classroom. Is there anything that helps? Sips of water, lozenges? If so, make sure she is allowed access to that.

Both my kids are much healthier as adults although they still have flare ups. Neither require the level of care or medication they did as kids. Both were on quite a lot of prophylactic meds a one time.

Hugs. This too shall pass!

She's how old and this is pre-school we're talking about, yes?

She's probably going to be just fine, but what I don't understand is why the preschool is pressuring you so much for her to be there... It's not like she's missing out on academics for some high stakes test....

FWIW - my son got sick a lot in preschool and had asthma and allergies... we did keep him home a lot when those things flared up...

But once he hit Kindergarten he had outgrown most of the problems and had perfect attendance thru all of elementary school. He's only missed one day of middle school so far in two year and it was because of a cough.

[This message edited by jrc1963 at 3:41 PM, March 11th (Tuesday)]

Missed that, too. Preschool? Don't sweat it, follow your instincts. If you think she is well enough to go, send her, if not, let her stay home to heal.

Sorry for the t/j, but I've worked in preschool. If the school is an NAEYC accredited center, they have to meet 10 very broad standards to maintain their accreditation. There is a yearly report and also accreditation renewal every 4 years. Student assessment is one of those standards and is extremely hard to provide evidence for if student attendance isn't good. This could be why there is pressure from the school to have the child attend. Plus, these centers have actual implemented curriculum (even in infant rooms) and it is confusing and frustrating for children when they are gone often and miss information from prior lessons.

I'm not asthmatic, but I have a number of siblings (and XWH) who are.

The ones with uncontrolled asthma coughed/wheezed constantly. They went to school/work with their respective coughs/wheezes.

((( Jrazz and Razzlette )))

Mom of 2asthmatics and living with a grand baby susceptible to URIs. I sent mine to school if they were functioning. I do the same thing with DGD. DD pays a nice chunk of change to this place, DGD loves it. She's probably happier there when feeling 'off' than sitting home with me!

Hugs,

K

Mom of 2asthmatics and living with a grand baby susceptible to URIs. I sent mine to school if they were functioning. I do the same thing with DGD. DD pays a nice chunk of change to this place, DGD loves it. She's probably happier there when feeling 'off' than sitting home with me!

Hugs,

K

FWIW - my son got sick a lot in preschool and had asthma and allergies... we did keep him home a lot when those things flared up...

But once he hit Kindergarten he had outgrown most of the problems and had perfect attendance thru all of elementary school. He's only missed one day of middle school so far in two year and it was because of a cough.

Praying that this is the case for us.

We got the call to pick up DD today - coughing more than breathing. Eyes and nose running. I was ready to go to battle if someone had a comment about sending her to school. They were actually apologetic. I told them we'd see them next week when she's off the prednisolone.

I know there is no cure for asthma, but I'd like to share my story with you.

When I was a child, I had asthma. It was horrible. It started when I was a toddler. In one year I was hospitalized 7 times because of it. I still remember how severe the attacks were. It was so scary. I remember my sister praying over me, when I would have an attack, because she thought I was going to die. This was 60 years ago, so they didn't have the meds for asthma that they have now. Our family doctor was an old guy, and an excellent doctor. When I was 9 years old, after trying everything he could think of to help me, (including chiropractic), and nothing helped, he told my parents to buy a chihuahua. So they did....and I never had another asthma attack since the day the dog was brought into our home.

True story!

You know, ww, sometimes I feel like the coughing is exacerbated due to stress about coughing. We tried to have fun and distract her tonight... and for a while it seemed to work. We stopped to brush teeth and it all came tumbling back.

I'm really glad your magic Chihuahua helped, though. I'll talk to Crazz about getting one. Our two pugs obviously aren't pulling their weight around here.

He certainly was a magic chihuahua. And he was the sweetest little guy you'd ever meet.

Google chihuahua and asthma cure. Some agree and some don't. All I know is it certainly cured my asthma, when all else failed.

ETA: Some say it's not the chihuahua that cures asthma, it's just that the child outgrows the asthma. Maybe in some cases, IDK. But I can tell you that the day Beano was brought into our home, I never again had an asthma attack.

[This message edited by weeping willow at 2:00 AM, March 12th (Wednesday)]

So we're still home.

5 days of prednisolone, so no school.

Cough has calmed, she can sleep.

Wheezing with every deep breath and still a mucus fountain even though we're on Singulair and Zyrtec right now.

Have a call out to Allergist. Trying to keep positive. I know that DD isn't going to have to stay home for the rest of her life, but right now it feels like it. There may or may not be a trigger in the house (we keep clean and dusted, have an air purifier in her room, inspect for mold, use Claritin pillowcases and mattress cover) but I know that every time we step outside it takes her 5 minutes before her eyes start weeping and nose to start leaking.

This is so freaking hard. She's crunch-coughing as I type.

I wish we had answers. I wish we had something that would help her. (albuterol and budesonide neb this morning did nothing for the wheezing and cough)

Just venting. So sad for my sweet girl who deserves to be outside playing with her friends at school.

(((((little razz))))))

(((Little jrazz))) Poor little girl...its no fun being this sick I sure hope you can find some answers soon.

No kid but me and my brother both have severe asthma so I can give you the prospective for the eyes of the kid.

I had days (spring and fall mostly) where I would cough until I gagged myself and threw up. I'm very aware.

If your child is coughing to the point that they are going to be a distraction and not get anything out of class there is no point in sending them. Anything beyond that, they will get through it and missing school isn't going to help anyway.

When I was a kid I used to call days like that my "running colds" because it was like a cold where I could do just about anything but run.

When my asthma is really bad, I will run the shower at just warmer than lukewarm for the steam. I put essential oils in the shower too. Peppermint, (only a few drops) rosemary, eucalyptus, and camphor. I will breathe in the steam for about 8 minutes. I don't have a nebulizer at home, and this helps for opening up my airways. This is not in place of her medication, but it does help some asthmatics like me. I hope she is feeling better soon!