Guest Author - Amy Anaruk

Because BellaOnline is an informational site rather than a blog network, I tend to write more about asthma in general and less about my personal experience with the disease. Today is a departure because of some news I got last week.

My younger daughter, the kindergartener, got a prescription for her own inhaler on Friday. While our pediatrician is not making an asthma diagnosis yet, my daughter definitely needs albuterol to get over a very persistent, very asthma-like cough she acquired at the onset of this allergy season.

I'm kind of shocked, although I probably shouldn't be. My 5 year-old has always had allergies and mild eczema, and her older sister's asthma raises her risk factor. In addition, certain shampoos make her skin break out, and she can't eat MSG. With this sort of allergic profile, it would actually be kind of amazing if she didn't end up with asthma.

Still, my younger daughter has always been the healthier one. She didn't end up in the ER for every single cold or virus as a baby the way her older sister did and has never been hospitalized or had trouble breathing.

In fact, even throughout this month of coughing, my kindergartener has maintained peak flow levels in the green zone. She doesn't have a personal best number, but I based her readings on her 8 year-old sister's zones, figuring they would leave me a large margin for error. (Peak flow zones for children are based on age, gender, and height.) Her resting breaths remained slow, deep, and even despite the coughing; and her lungs are clear.

For now, the pediatrician is simply saying my daughter is experiencing asthma-like symptoms brought on by her allergies. I don’t know if the doctor is holding off on a diagnosis because she does not suspect true asthma at play or if she is simply waiting because--in my experience, at least--pediatricians and pediatric specialists are cautious about diagnosing asthma until they see a pattern of flares emerge.

So now I wait. Do I have one daughter with asthma or two? I hold out hope that if my younger one has to deal with this horrible disorder, her case will be milder than her sister’s severe (although getting better) one. The pediatrician very cautiously supports this opinion based on her previous good health.

I've written this article today to highlight one of the more frustrating issues of raising children with asthma: the way symptoms and severity can be so different for each patient. What proves true for one asthma sufferer does not always hold true for another, and you can see enormous variations in triggers and flares between 2 children, even from the same family.

If you read through my two daughters' medical histories, you'd never guess that my younger one would go on to develop asthma, but that may be exactly where she's headed.


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"Smile, breathe and go slowly." -Thich Nhat Hanh



This article is not written by a medical professional, and information on this page should never be substituted for your physician's advice. If you have any questions about your asthma and/or allergies, you should always contact your physician first.