been missing

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-04-2007
been missing
15
Tue, 02-06-2007 - 3:44pm

Hi everyone!! I haven't had alot of time to be around here. I am still doing well on my weight loss, I am down 42lbs. Things have deffinatly slowed down but are still moving in the right direction. My eating hasn't always been the best but its working to keep me losing around 1.5lbs a week.

My 8 year old daughter was diagnosed two weeks ago with Asthma and some severe allergies. As we are adapting to that and all the medicines and environmental changes for her, she gets sick. SHe has been sick since Sunday morning, including a major asthma attack. One of her meds lowers her immune system as a side effect, so this virus is just not going away for her. Had her into the dr. yesterday and she is swollen in the face from all the backup in her sinuses, and she has lesions in her throat. Her head hurts really bad all the time and she is running a temp. I feel so badly for her and just want her to be healthy again. So it has been rough going for us here. But the good thing is I am not turning to food, I am actually learning to make a game out of testing my will power, and loving the fact that I am a strong woman!!

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
In reply to: mom2gkandd
Tue, 02-06-2007 - 4:19pm
You ARE a strong woman! Sorry to hear that your DD has been having such a hard time. How lucky for her to have you in her corner and as such a good example. I really admire your perseverence and continued loss! All the best, Annie
A
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-25-2006
In reply to: mom2gkandd
Tue, 02-06-2007 - 5:25pm
Do they have her on corticosteroids?? that does lower the immune system. I suffer from all the problems you listed on a reg basis so it breaks my heart to hear of a child feeling like that as I know EXACTLY how that feels. I wish you the best of luck learning to cope and adjust.

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Angela

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iVillage Member
Registered: 01-04-2007
In reply to: mom2gkandd
Tue, 02-06-2007 - 5:52pm
Thanks Annie, its amazing how we don't really know how strong we are until we allow ourselves to be tested, and persevere.
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-04-2007
In reply to: mom2gkandd
Tue, 02-06-2007 - 6:04pm
Angela--Thanks. It has been hard. I delt with alot of mommy guilt because the symptoms have been there for a year and a half and we let them go. But I am over it now and moving on to making her life as easy as we can. She is allergic to cats, not a big deal, but also dogs, which we have 4 of, and dust mites. So we are trying a month of environmental changes to see if we can keep the dogs and her still do ok. She has a hepa filter in her room and she takes nasonex daily, we also had to do dust mite covers on her mattress and pillow. We also bought a baby monitor after this last bad asthma attack, she had to wake up her little sister to get us because she was having such a hard time breathing, now we can hear whats going on. She is on Pulmicort, which is an inhaled steroid, as well as the nasonex and she also carries a rescue inhaler. Her sleeping has improved amazingly just form the filter and covers which is wonderful. Her dr. is debating on weather she should have her tonsils out, they are large and he is worried about a low lying sinus infection causing lots of problems. Anyway, thats what all we are dealing with. Honestly she is adapting to it better than we are. I think she is willing to do the meds, as nasty as they are, because they make her feel so much better. I can't imagine going through a few years of having a hard time breathing and then being able to breath clearly, its got to be great.
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-25-2006
In reply to: mom2gkandd
Tue, 02-06-2007 - 7:35pm

LOL Wish I could know that feeling but so far nothing has really worked for me.


I too am allergic to dustmites but would be up the creek if they told me I had allergies to cats/dogs. LOL I have 3 cats and 2 dogs.


I feel your pain as my son has allergies/asthma and is only 2. We have been battling this for a yr and I couldn't get dr's to listen to me at first even though I knew the symptoms. Nasonex is a steroid as well. I can't do the nasal steroids due to the fact that they cause MASSIVE instantaneous migraines with me. but the pills, and the inhaled I have tried. The covers/filters etc didn't help me but we are hoping this move does as we will be away from a lot of the plants around here that seem to aggravate me. Also we are living in a 30 + yr old trailer at the moment and hopeing moving to a house will hlep.


I feel for your poor little girl having to go through this. At least when I started having trouble I was old enough to research and explain myself better. I hate to see kids struggle through such things. IF she gets her tonsils out and it helps let me know as no one has ever suggested that to me before I would be interested in finding out if it helps. Maybe something to look into for myself as I keep sinus infections.


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Angela

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iVillage Member
Registered: 02-06-2007
In reply to: mom2gkandd
Tue, 02-06-2007 - 7:36pm
So sorry to hear that your daughter is ill! My daughter has asthma too,and was often quite ill when she was younger.(She is nearly 18 now)Her asthma is allergy related.Her pediatrician suggested her drinking gatorade when she was younger as a fluid to help flush her system when she was/is ill with virus or sick, and now everyone in my family does when they feel ill.Sipping it hydrates and it has electrolytes,and it seems to be easier to keep down than water sometimes.My daughter also took alot of medications as well,and still does as needed.I hope your dear daughter feels better soon! bh
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-04-2007
In reply to: mom2gkandd
Tue, 02-06-2007 - 8:56pm

Angela--WOW, we have alot in common!! We are currently in a 50 year old trailer and her dr. told us to move asap. Thankfully she isn't allergic to mold which we have issues with, but this pedeatrician has done so many studies on allergies and asthma and he said that children with asthma do much worse living in trailers. Unfortunatly we are still a ways out from being able to move, like possibly a year, but we are hoping by next fall.

I would get rid of the dogs if I knew that it would help her out, but, she would be so upset if we had to do that. She loves animals sooo much. SHe has wanted a cat her whole life, but the dr. said absolutly not, dogs you can get by with, but not cats. So I am just hoping for her sake that we can keep them.

What the dr. said about the whole tonsil thing is that you can be walking around with a low lying sinus infection back there for months and it be low grade enough you just don't really notice and it can cause serious issues with inflamming the airways ect.. I will keep you posted.

I can't even imagine having to go through this with a two year old. It must be hard. If any of my kids had to deal with it, Kailey is the one, she is just so easy compared to the rest and seems to adapt well.

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-04-2007
In reply to: mom2gkandd
Tue, 02-06-2007 - 9:02pm
bh--Thank you!! I didn't even think about the gatorade. We let her go to the store and pick out some juice boxes, my weird little girl actually picked out 100% juice, LOL!! I will have to remeber to pick up some gatorade. I did put her in the bathroom today with the hot shower running and steamed her and she felt much better for an hour. I am thinking that she is still young enough that she just may not even remember any different. Her asthma is affected by her allergies, but her asthma also flare froms activity too. Her dr. said that children with asthma have a 80% chance of growing out of it if they don't have allergies, but only a 20% chance if they do have allergies. So we are probably in it for the long haul.
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-25-2006
In reply to: mom2gkandd
Wed, 02-07-2007 - 9:56am

Tiffi had asthma but hers was never bad, now that she is 6 she doesn't have any trouble at all with it. Blade on the other hand has scared us a couple times. Me cuz I know so well what it feels like and dh becuz he freaks out over the whole breathing issues anyways. I have trained myself to control my breathing during an attack and slow it down so that I can get it under control enough to get to my meds. We have inhalers lying everywhere so I don't hav eto keep one on my person at all times. I have one in my bedroom, my purse, my van...LOL You get the point. The steam really does help a LOT, but sometimes, and this is a big shocker to most, sometimes the cold air helps me too. I am the exception to the rule there I guess. Usually cold makes some worse, but my neighbor said it helps his sometimes too. I am allergic to everything under the sun pretty much and cats, well they bother me sometimes but I love them too much to get rid of them unfortunately. I think/hope it is the dust on them more than anything because they were going in and out but once we move they will be indoor only cats (all 3) so I am taking them to the vet and havign them bathed and groomed, and the long haired one shaved when it gets warm and hoping that will help as well. The dog has bothered me some since we started putting her outside during the day while at work so again I think it is dust/pollen issues there. Mold/Mildew I am allergic too as well and we have a problem with that in our old trailer as well so again the move should help. I have kept respiratory infections so badly the past 2 yrs and the dr and I agree that the burning that takes place around our place is a big part of that so the neighborhood/city we are moving to has a no burn ordinance inside the city limits so that should help. My dad thinks the huge cedar tree just outside our trailer played a part in it as well so no cedar trees where we are moving to either. Hoping all this will help as my breathing has gotten increasingly worse over the last few years and I have had 2 dr's tell me that if somethign don't give I will be on oxygen by the time I am 40 well that is only 9 yrs and I REFUSE to let that happen.


Another peice of advice to give you for your daughter is to tell her to always stay active. This will help combat the weight gain issues with the steroids and help with the asthma. When I was diagnosed, my ped told my parents that if they let me continue with sports/etc I would die from the asthma so they snatched me out of everything. They had done lost one child and was petrified when she told them that. I was a cheerleader/majorette, and wanted to join track at the time. I wasn't even having any real problems. Didn't have any real problems til I had Kaiti when I was 17 then a few days later my first MAJOR attack hit and it went downhill from there. I truly hope that your daughter's improves. I was 12 when diagnosed so they said I would never grow out of it. From my research I have decided that you don't outgrow it anyways, it just gets to the point it doesn't bother you anymore but it is still dormant and can come back at any time. Dr's still say you can outgrow it though so who knows.


Anyways, I got long winded and since I am here at work I really better stop now. LOL


I do hope that your daughter gets better soon. And if you want when I get my new email set up I will give you that address and you can email me anytime you want to talk.


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Angela

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iVillage Member
Registered: 01-04-2007
In reply to: mom2gkandd
Wed, 02-07-2007 - 6:13pm

Angela--Don't worry about being long winded, I love all the information, so powerful to hear other peoples opinions and stories. It is amazing how dr.'s change the way they think about things over the years. Kailey gets worse with the cold, so living in AK kinda sucks, but they aren't outside alot in the winter.

Kailey is very active with soccer, both indoor and out, and we are members of a gym so she goes and plays basketball, climbs on the climbing wall, swims, and excercises in the family room. Summer we are more active, with biking and hiking and the kids love to jump on the trampoline. I am very deptermined that my children will be healthy active kids. Its much easier to raise them that way than to try and break the bad habits as an adult which is what I am stuck with.

Kailey was home sick again today, but she will be back at school tomorrow. Gavin was home today too, he caught the same virus, so I am just waiting for the little one to get it now.

Congratualtions on moving, I bet it will do you a world of good to get into a house and into a healthier neighborhood.

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