Hi, I'm new, desperately looking for answers for my 2yr olds asthma!!

HI I am new to this forum in search for some answers for my little two year old boy....I have been to a couple doctors and am going to ENT on Monday.

For the past year my heart has broken for him for his constant suffering and having inconsistent issues and the only thing the doctors can put their finger on is it is "probably" asthma. If anyone has had anything like it or has any advice, I would  appreciate it. Here are his symptoms

#1 The main problem; He coughs maybe once or twice and then can go into an immediate attack where he grabs his neck, his eyes widen and he can't breathe. He does not have audible wheezing that I can here and there is hardly any warning. The albuterol helps in this situation, scares me to death.

#2 He coughs on food sometimes and sometimes not but this can also send him into an immediate attack. The doctors are somewhat ruling out acid reflux and food allergies for sure because of the symptoms and the medication isn't helping.

No one really knows what is going on but from what I've seen in asthma, this is not typical and I just want to see him make it through the day without the fear of having to take him to the ER...

Thank you!

Welcome to Healing Well, Mommy!

We unfortunately can't give medical advise, as we are not doctors. However, we can speak from personal experience. As a mother myself, I do understand your fears and helplessness. I have many medical problems, and many things come into my mind both as a mother of an asthmetic/special needs kid, but also as my very poor health and my employment.
Have you considered other doctors besides ENTs? Perhaps an Pediatric Pulmonologist? A Pediatric Rheumy? A Teaching Hospital? You also said it probably wasn't acid reflux (gerd) or a food allergy due to medications not being effective. A true food allergy would have more symptoms than coughing. For example, I am allergic to bees. If a bee stings me, I have 20 minutes before I start losing oxygen. I have to inject an epi-pen in my thigh. I also break out in head to toe hives, turn red as a lobster (no joke, I even became a medical case on students because of how red I turned in the ER). I swell up too. I also am allergic to pollen, I itch and break out in hives. For allergy reactions, one has to have some sort of an ana pfft someone please finish the word I cant spell. You know that one ingredient in Benedryl (now that I can Spell uh maybe.) In my case, I win an epi injection with 60mg of benedryl loading dose, then 20mg every 4 hours til symptoms disappear.

Have you considered xrays of his/her sinus cavities to see if something is wrong? Have you tried an allergy test for common allergies? Like pollen or nuts, so on.

Intolerances. Have you considered writing down everything he eats, drinks, medications daily? For example, I am lactose intolerant. If I have icecream I gas, not any gas, but almost as bad as a skunk or the ole' gas room training in the military! I have been known to run kids out of the room. It is also a perfect cover when the kids don't listen.. I pull out the icecream and grab a bowl, put some in it and start act like I'm gonna eat it and say "Would you like me to sleep in the same room as you tonight or would you rather listening to me?" Works like a charm...When they behave I pick a winner on who eats it. Now I hardly grab the icecream cuz I have them feared for their noses LOL. Some people get stomach aches, gas, sharp pains, cough, vomiting, so on for an intolerance.

Pulmonology. Well, basically its a breathing specialist. They cover asthma, copd, so on. They can run tests to see if it is asthma. A few key triggers in my son is when he is coming down with something, he tends to cough more and have more attacks. Mold is a big trigger, so is running. Is there something your child does routinely before this happens?

Sinuses. I have a friend who have to have her sinuses reconfigured. She breathed really hard til her surgery.

Rheumy doctor. They cover a wide range of auto immune diseases. Some auto immune diseases such as Ehlers-Danlos syndrome can cause those symtops. How I know, sometimes I cough on my food as a result as it. I take extra small bites to lessen the chance of choking when I eat now. I also sometimes have food go down the wrong pipe.

Teaching Hospitals. I love the teaching hospital I go to. They cover head to toe. They don't give up on you either. My favorite - they try to treat the problem not just symptoms.

It is extremely RARE for minor heart diseases to cause coughing like that too, however, it could happen. My grandmother was one of the one in million people to suffer, sadly, she passed on from dementia and old age last year.

Acid reflux. Bananas are evil to me, especially if I eat them at night. I love them too! They give me coughing and acid reflux. I get the same problem with oranges, cucumbers, tomatoes, a lot of fruits and veggies. I have news for those fruits and veggies - they better still run, cuz my mouth is gonna get them. I love my veggies and fruits. I'll suffer with the consequences. I had two choices, give it up or suffer so I chose to suffer. I'd be 10 feet under before I give up bananas and tomatoes.

THank you so much for this great information and great questions I had never even thought of or heard of!!!! :) I'm going to look into a lot of this and hopefully be able to start nailing down what could be going on. We are currently on a naval base in Japan but when I come back to the states I will be able to see more specialist type people because they don't have a lot of them here.

Mommy, they do have more than you think in Japan. How I know? Well I am semi fluent in Japanese, as well as frequently call Japan from the States. Not to mention my other half being Japanese. You'd love him, he cooks and cleans hehe. He was born and raised in Japan, didnt come state side til he was about 16. A lot of this information is from his mouth lol.

I, as a Gold Star, do thank you so much for serving to our country. I really appreciate the freedom given by our soldiers and their families, the freedom as we know it. As you probably notice, the women where you reside this moment, are more quiet, and follow more than man's lead than themselves. It's a culture thing actually, as women do not have as much freedom in Japan.

Japan has an Embassy that can help you line up the doctors in Tokyo. There is alo the Japanese Medical Society that are actually American based doctors that are bilingual. I reckon their website is jmsa.org I guess I should mention that my other half is Japanese and is yakking in my ear all this information LOL He also says that if you contact a teaching hospital in the states, they might be able to assist from afar due to your location. I would first ask your CO about teaching hospitals near where you are stationed and see if your medical insurance covers it. That twit LOL Here's a list of all teaching hospitals in Japan LOL

Hokkaido
Asahikawa Medical College Hospital w:ja:旭川医科大学附属病院
Hokkaido University Hospital w:ja:北海道大学病院

Tohoku
Tohoku University Hospital w:ja:東北大学病院

Kantō and Shin'etsu
National Defense Medical College Hospital w:ja:防衛医科大学校病院
The University of Tokyo Hospital w:ja:東京大学医学部附属病院
Keio University Hospital w:ja:慶應義塾大学病院

Tōkai and Hokuriku
Nagoya University Hospital w:ja:名古屋大学医学部附属病院
Nagoya City University Hospital w:ja:名古屋市立大学病院
Gifu University Hospital w:ja:岐阜大学医学部附属病院

Kinki
University of Fukui Hospital w:ja:福井大学医学部附属病院
Osaka University Hospital w:ja:大阪大学医学部附属病院
Osaka City University Hospital w:ja:大阪市立大学医学部附属病院

Chugoku and Shikoku
Okayama University Hospital w:ja:岡山大学病院

Kyūshū
Kyūshū University Hospital w:ja:九州大学病院

Men, you can't live with them or without them. I better go feed him, he'll stop talking my ear off when I feed him. My night to cook lolol

This can also be an allergic type reaction. It may not be "classic" or "true" but could still be immune mediated via a non-IgE/Type 1 process. Unfortunately, allergy tests are not perfect and can miss many things.

A food-symptom diary (note date, time & all ingredients of every meal & liquid ingested, then note date & time of this choking behavior) may be the only way to figure out if this is a food allergy or not.

Also consider achalasia, dysphagia, esophageal spasms, Eosinophilic Esophagitis, Vocal Cord Dysfunction, and what is suggested above.

Might need to consult a Gastroenterologist to check for esophageal issues, as an ENT may not be willing to run tests for some of these disorders.

Don't forget to list drinks Mommy. It could be a real simple thing. It could be something so simple, like milk or juice. Your welcome on the thank you. We deployed 2 and 1 SSD to Iraq. SSD and 1 of my brothers were KIA by IED in 07. I became an active military supporter after realizing it would be exactly what Kory would do if alive. 2 years is a time for orders, I'm glad you were able to go with your husband. You might also talk to the Spouse groups you have there. It is better to try to get all the medical attention you can get now instead of waiting til your back over here. I always say the ole saying.. Its better safe than be sorry. Also, I believe from what I've heard from my surviving brother, Okinawa, Japan has Camp Lester and it is the largest US Naval Hospital in the World. I'd go there if I were you because I know larger means more specialists, more medical training, more current technology.

Mommylife, I had another thought about your toddler this morning - has his pediatrician checked the size of his tonsils and adenoids? Sometimes tonsils can be so large they can cause choking.

Also should check thyroid...an enlarged thyroid can also cause choking/difficulty swallowing.

I'm just seeing these, thanks very much for the suggestions!

Thank you for the thoughts, we are actually going back to the states very soon for a visit and I am going to be referred to a pulmonology (I think) specialist which we can see in either San Diego or Hawaii and his ped here thinks he needs to get looked at quickly. NOthing came back from ENT so they are thinking this is mainly a lung disorder. I just really don't want my little guy on steroids but they do seem to help a bit.