Reactive airway? Who has heard of this??

amother

Tue, Jan 28 2014, 3:44 am

PA said this when we went in for a cough yesterday. He prescribed albuterol in a nebulizer for a few days, and then reassessing. Trying to figure out what this means and google isn't really helping. He said very clearly it does NOT mean asthma but the top google results many seem to use it interchangeably. I'm kind of worried. Dh had asthma as a child, hasn't had any symptoms in years but I guess it can run in the family... What worries me most is that there weren't any major visible symptoms. It was actually a DIFFERENT child's cough that brought me to the doctor and I took this one along for the ride because she'd been under the weather too, but I wasn't actually worried about her. Now I'm really nervous thinking that my kids can have breathing problems that I wouldn't even notice! The doctor said she was wheezing pretty significantly, but because the wheeze was in her chest and not throat, it wasn't audible without the stethoscope. Yikes! I never heard of wheezing you can't see or hear! She already has a handful of allergies. I'm feeling overwhelmed at the thought that we could have another medical condition on our hands - I know bH in the scheme of things this is probably mild but when it's your baby nothing is minor, yknow? Am I going to have to monitor for this every time there's any bug going around??

the world's best mom

Tue, Jan 28 2014, 6:53 am

My kids' pediatrician has used the term, and I thought he meant asthma, but dd doesn't have asthma. He used the term "reactive skin" when the kids had eczema, and this when they wheezed. I wouldn't worry though- dd's reactive airway seems to have disappeared. She is fine.

asp40

Tue, Jan 28 2014, 7:13 am

Reactive Airway usually means that when your child had a bad cold, they will cough and wheeze, so yes, you will need to be on the lookout. I understand how scary it can be when you did not think they were even that sick. I had this. My first child was 17 months old and we took him to the doctor, thinking he wasn't so sick. He had 103 fever, RSV and bronchiolitis and was hospitalized. It took me years t trust myself again.

Allergies and Asthma often do go hand in hand as well.

MaBelleVie

Tue, Jan 28 2014, 7:18 am

One of my kids had reactive airways as a baby. Basically, that child didn't fight colds or other viruses easily and it happened fairly frequently that we had to treat them with the nebulizer. Sometimes it develops into asthma, sometimes the child outgrows it.

amother

Tue, Jan 28 2014, 10:52 am

OP here. Yeah, mine has "reactive skin" too - I mean, eczema. Dr. never called it reactive skin. But it does look like she has the full set of related issues now. Are these things associated with other autoimmune problems too?

How old were all your kids when they were diagnosed and when they stopped having it? DD is 3. I don't know if she never had it before or we just never discovered it before Confused

Asp40, that's exactly what's so scary! B"H she had no fever, bronchiolitis, or anything, but I really would not have brought her to the doctor at all if not for the sicker-looking sibling (who was fine) This makes me so nervous! She had some symptoms Friday night but I thought it could wait until morning (she was already falling asleep when I noticed she seemed to be breathing fast) and by the time she woke up she looked FINE. I guess from now on we'll be running to the ER every time one of the kids appears to be breathing funny in their sleep Sad

amother

Tue, Jan 28 2014, 11:24 am

I had this with my baby as well. He's over 2 now and outgrew it for the most part.

My pediatrician defined it as a condition that's triggered by either allergies, pollen, or colds. It basically means that he has an ultra sensitive airway and reacts more severely and is triggered more easily than the average kid. Don't freak out. It will iyh pass.

chavamom

Tue, Jan 28 2014, 12:00 pm

According to my ped many years ago, they will not diagnose asthma before the age of two. And most kids with a reactive airway diagnosis do not develop asthma. But yes, it's essentially the same thing - airway constriction as a reaction to some stimuli. As the child grows and the alveoli get bigger, this is less likely to happen. My daughter who you used to hear wheeze from across the house outgrew it at about 16 months of age and at age 18 hasn't had a problem since.