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KackyK
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| Posted: Jan 27 2009 at 9:51am | IP Logged
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My 4yrold dd has pneumonia. She had it when she turned 1 and then at 2 she had a bad cold that resulted in what the pediatrician called an over-reactive airway response (this has happened a couple of times actually) and last year she had a really bad croup incident that sent us to the ER. Now with this pneumonia diagnosis the pediatrician is saying that it may be time to visit a pulmonologist and to call her asthmatic. I have asthma. I wheeze around dogs, cats and during allergy seasons. My dd seems to only have these issues when she gets ill. Her only other possible symptom would be her all over eczema.
So I'm not sure what can the pulmonologist do? Can he help to prevent illnesses to become these lung events? Anyone have any experience with pulmonology stuff???
Oh and the pediatrician even mentioned that she could have reflux, the pulmonologist would be able to tell and that may be the cause...that sounds odd to me. (But would that explain why she is the pickiest eater we have ever had and doesn't eat any meat but chicken nuggets, and no fruit or veggies, it's amazing she grows!)
I'm clueless, any help would be greatly appreciated!
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KackyK
Mom to 8 - 3 dd, 5ds & 4 babes in heaven
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PDyer
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| Posted: Jan 27 2009 at 11:35am | IP Logged
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My daughter had an apnic episode with bronchiolitis at four months, and we were in and out of the hospital for about six weeks. She had a couple more wheezing episodes shortly after that, and our family practitioner suggested we see the pulmonologist.
The pulmonologist was able to give us a definitive plan as to what to do to head off, or make easier on our daughter and us, any future wheezing episodes. I believe in our case her problems resulted from a combination of (1) reactions to dairy products in her diet (through my breast milk) (2) her itty bitty broncioles and (3) a general tendency toward pulmonary reactions to allergies inherited from her loving father.
You may want to consider food allergies, given her colds, wheezing, pickiness and exzema. Our daughter had gastrointestinal troubles with dairy as well as general snotty-ness. I also had trouble with dairy as a child, so I was watching but I apparently didn't move fast enough.  Once we got dairy out of her (my) diet, she was a different kid.
It's very rare that she has wheezing with colds. She's never had another apnic episode, thank God. The first one just about did both of us in. 
If she does end up being diagnosed with asthma, the pulmonologist would coordinate her care her primary care doc to keep her lungs functioning optimally.
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Patty
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KackyK
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| Posted: Jan 27 2009 at 11:43am | IP Logged
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Thanks Patty.
She has actually be food allergen tested and nothing showed up. We didn't do environmental because the allergist just assumed she is allergic to environmental agents and we just use Zyrtec when needed.
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KackyK
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PDyer
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| Posted: Jan 27 2009 at 11:49am | IP Logged
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I shouldn't have said food allergies, I should have said food intolerances.
I understand many food intolerances don't show up in allergy tests because the body doesn't have an *allergic* reaction. There's a particular chemical or some such thing the allergy tests look for. Sorry I'm not up on what they are precisely....
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Patty
Mom of ds (7/96) and dd (9/01) and two angels (8/95 and 6/08)
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JodieLyn
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yes, I've just heard that the allergy tests only look for one type of reaction. And many intolerances that can cause behavioral issues won't show up in traditional testing.
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Angi
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A few things:
- we have seen a pedi-pulminologist who looked at dd4's old x-rays. He claims that pneumonia is over diagnosed, and in our case, this was true.
- He plans to do another x-ray in a few weeks to compare to the one he did at our initial exam - leading up to a potential asthma diagnosis. I and one of my older daughters have asthma.
- Food allergies can occur without showing up on skin and blood tests. 4 of us in my family have food allergies, with anaphylaxis, that do not show up at all on the tests.
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KC in TX
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My 3 year old dd has been referred to a pulmonologist. She's had pneumonia 3 times in 12 months. The second time she ended up in the hospital for 3 days (very scary). She had pneumonia a couple of times before that so the frequency is increasing. The pulmonology referral is to see what is going on with her lungs and find out if there might be abnormality. She has never had trouble otherwise, and I'd be shocked if she's diagnosed as asthmatic. My second dd does have asthma and is on preventative medicine.
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Kathryn UK
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KackyK wrote:
| Oh and the pediatrician even mentioned that she could have reflux, the pulmonologist would be able to tell and that may be the cause...that sounds odd to me. |
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I had problems with asthma and a persistent cough during pregnancy. Even when the asthma was controlled the cough continued and I was referred to a pulmonologist. He gave me medication to suppress stomach acid - no more coughing  ... and no more heartburn  . Apparently the nerves that are affected by heartburn and the nerves connected to the diaphragm are the same, or so close that they trigger each other, or something. I guess that would be where the reflux comes in.
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4Real Forums : Our Lady of Good Remedy and Care
Topic: to see a pulmonologist or not
