offtopic Asthma peak flow meter

[Guest Guest_efgh]

For those who are conversant with asthma , peak flow meter, etc...

 

HOw many of you use a peak flow meter for asthma? If so, I have a clarification in this regard.. My son who is asthmatic is almot symptom free for the past one year. he does good sport, swimming, etc and yet his asthma symptoms are under control. He has not been on daily inhaled steroids for asthma for more than 2 years (before he used to). After the onset of tics, I am more careful about what I give him (may it be food or medication). His asthma doctor did a check up last week and mentioned that he is symptom free with regard to asthma his peak flow values are pretty low. Is it possible that the symptoms are not pronounced but the peak flow values are low? Or is it constitutional that his peak flow values are generally low (in fact, though I am not an asthmatic, my peak flow values are so low!). The doctor advised that I restart the inhaled steroids and ventolin for him.. I am not convinced on this and hence this post...

your thoughts please

[Guest Jean]

Efgh,

 

Interesting. My son is on the same boat as yours, our Ped. said the same thing as your doctor, and I have the same feeling as you do. Our ND suggested the homeopathic remedy Unda#35.

 

Jean

[Guest Guest_efgh]

Jean

 

Really interesting that your doctor too mentioned the same thing..

 

Do you have a peak flow meter ? How regularly do you check the peak flow values? How are your son's peak flow values?

 

My doctor says that even though his asthma symptoms are under control , since his peak flow values are low, we need to continue asthma medication. He says otherwise there will be more problems later on..

 

How are your son's tics now?

[mmazz]

Strange enough my son had a blinking issue only attributed to anxiety. In October he received medication for croup, which included a round of steriods and asthma meds. This brought on more blinging. In December he had the croup again and I treated it with asthma meds for a day or so which brought on more and more tics, but he was also stressed due to school and Christmas play etc. I wonder if the meds brought on the tics or if it made them worse. If so does anyone know if tics brought on by meds can be reversed through time?

 

Marie

[Claire]

Marie,

 

Steroids and/or antibiotics both can cause elevated yeast issues. Many alternative doctors, and many parents on this board highly associate yeast issues with tics. Some, like Heather and Phyl, have found tremendous improvement/reduction of tics with subsequent treatement of the yeast. Yeast is tricky though, we have threads on dealing with it.

 

Scan the archives for the yeast saliva test I have posted that you can do at home to give you some indication.

 

---

I read your other post, what a horrifying story. (((( Certainly for any child, such a horrible trauma and ongoing fears could upset both their nervous and immune systems over time and create problems that may never have surfaced in a lifetime. It is more than a child should be expected to handle.

 

What you are doing for family healing is great. It seems to me that if there was some 'event' which could mark in his mind that there was no longer reason to be fearful, then he would move forward more easily.

 

We (and others here) have found that limiting TV can have family benefits. Some kids read more, but mostly, once the habit is broken, there is wonderful family time. We play a lot of card games, and dig in the garden during the day. When he has friends over, they PLAY, they don't sit in front of computer games/TV. Surely these children will be more fit from more activity, and families can be closer.

 

Was the woman ever brought to justice in the end?

 

Claire

[mmazz]

I did try the yeast thing. First spit in the AM, if it floats he's fine right? I am kind of out of answers right now on how and what to do. I feel if I take him to any more doctors that he will think there is something wrong with him. When I am having clear thoughts, I tell myself that it took time getting here i.e, poor diet and the electronic babysitter, etc. It will take time to undo these things. Slow and steady wins the race ...right?

[ad_ccl]

Hi Marie,

 

Yes...I do think slow and steady wins the race - but the race seems to take WAY TO LONG for my liking. The ups are so great and the downs, seem devastating. I think your son and my son essentially started with supplements and no tv around the same time so I have to keep reminding myself it really has only been a few weeks. From all I have read it can take many months to see the full effect of the supplements. Hang in there. I think I am going to hold off on the homeopathic stuff for now as I am seeing progress with what I am currently doing- this week has been so much better than last week - the only changes being soya and reduction of exposure to flicker at school. I have my fingers crossed that pick up today and tomorrow will be nothing like the end of last week.

 

By the way - in response to your visit to the eye doctor, we had gone to an eye doctor a year or so ago when my son was doing a weird eye thing - he checked his eyes, said they were fine and told my son to stop doing weird things with his eyes as it was stressing his mother out. Now...looking back it probably was some kind of eye irritation causing a tic - as once we started antihistamine drops the weird stuff stopped. Just like this last week when his chapped lips resulted in him doing something that presented as a tic. Once the face/lips healed the tic was gone.

 

So sorry for all the your family has gone through with your crazy neighbour. What a horrible experience. Congrats on the new puppy - puppies always bring so many smiles. I am sure it is good therapy for the whole family.

 

Keep us posted!

[Claire]

Hi Alison and Marie,

 

Another poster's child had an eye irritation mistaken for a tic. That's my concern with some of the dry coughs--they can definitely be a throat irritation, as so many of these kids also have allergies. Tough to decipher sometimes.

 

Re dragging your kid around. I did a minimum of this. Our DAN doctor did phone visits, or with me alone after the first visit. The treatment was based on tests, and all but one could be done from home. I don't like the idea of kids thinking they have a revolving door to the doctors'. It has kept us away from some treatments that I might have liked to try. Sometimes it just can't be helped.

 

As for the photosensitivity, my fingers are crossed Alison that the rest of the week goes well. Please be careful with daily soy, I hear time and again that kids develop a reaction to soy with daily intake. The gluten free board on Braintalk is big on that. Also, soy is one of the common allergens in milk. We are milk-free also, and do soy no more than once a week or so, even though my son isn't sensitive to it. Your son may never have this issue, but please watch for it over time.

 

IRLEN

 

I have old posts on Irlen syndrome--told to me by the site editor here. It is a kind of light sensitivity, but they are only sensitive to certain light frequencies. I don't have time to go through it again, but if you google on Irlen on this site, you will find my posts. Or go to irlen.org I think it is. Anyway, for $30, they have these colored overlays you can buy and test at home. My son used to have a color preference, but it went away as we got rid of mercury and his photosensitivity went way down.

 

Claire

[Guest Guest_efgh]

Claire

 

Is your son totally free from milk, curd , cheese and butter? I vaguely remember you mentioning that he was not allergic to dairy. Are you pretty strict about "no dairy"? Does that help him? Since he was anyway tic free with NO TV , what additional benefit did you see from no dairy?

 

thanks.

[Guest Jean]

Hi Efgh,

 

My son doesn't usually use the peak flow meter. Once a while I'll check the value for him. The last check was in my son's doctor office a month ago. The value is a little over 200 that is in the lower end of his age/weight group range. It's a taugh decision. But my son said he's fine. He usually is good at telling me if he needs the medicine.

 

Jean

[Claire]

I had a ton of respiratory allergies.

 

But in my early 20's my doctor said that I had 50% more lung capacity for my age/weight. I think it was something like a peak flow meter that I breathed hard into.

 

We discussed it, and I sometimes wonder whether, with all my respiratory allergies, if I avoided having asthma because my lungs were so well developed. The doctor credited my lung capacity to my level of aerobic exercise. I was running 5 miles a day for years.

 

I still do get my aerobic exercise--though more from indoor exercise equipment these days.

 

My indirect point: Would upping the amount of aerobic activity that your children get, help their levels? I don't know much of anything about asthma, so sorry if this is an ignorant question--you know it is well-intended!

 

On Braintalk, one mother gave supplemental oxygen and said it greatly helped her child's neurological system. One foundation I know of does this to treat epilepsy and claims good results. I also have wondered whether oxygen levels have an impact on the neurological system.

 

Claire

[Guest Guest_efgh]

Jean, Do you have a peak flow meter in your house ? If so, where can we buy it and how much does it cost?

Claire, as I mentioned in the previous post to you, is your son totally dairy free now?

[Claire]

efgh,

 

Sorry I missed your question.

 

My son has had no milk for almost 10 months since we found out he was sensitive. I believe that this is what cleared all the phlemme in his throat. He had 2 'accidental' exposures and got terrible stomach aches--something he never had with it, and I wonder whether he is also a bit lactose intolerant now also. I haven't had milk for 8 months (I think?) and my exposures definitely gave me stomach aches.

 

However, I have never been successful in getting him off cheese. So I give him the Houston Nutriceuticals peptizade enzymes with it in the last 3 months. But I have never noticed direct symptoms from the cheese. It doesn't mean that they aren't there--you never know what they would be like without it unless you eliminate it. But just like you allow some TV even for the trade-off, this is where I bend the rules.

 

I would however love to see what would happen with no cheese for a week. Someday I will pull this off, but I haven't found substitutes, since he doesn't like meats.

 

Claire

 

ps Did you child's recent increase in tics settle back down when he returned to school? I hope so. I meant to ask, do you use an LCD TV? If so, what size? I remember you said he used to react to a larger one.

[Guest Guest_efgh]

Claire

 

thanks for your prompt post (as usual!). What is this Houston Nutriceuticals peptizade enzymes ? Can you elaborate further on that..

 

My son is not a cheese lover. The only form of cheese he takes is through pizza (which is very rare). As I mentioned in my earlier posts , for the past 6 months he has been doing pretty well (very minimal tics, in fact virtually absent) even with milk, TV (not LCD, normal TV screen), natural salicylates etc. There has been a mild increase the past two weeks. I have stopped milk and TV this week. He seems much better now.

[Guest Jean]

Hi Efgh,

 

We got the peak flow meter from our doctor.

 

Hi Claire,

 

Very good point, i.e., aerobic exercise, oxygen. Umm, now I'm wondering if his tics are also something to do with his (possible) "low oxygen" due to his asthma. More to learn... thanks!

 

Jean