Finally an answer

As many of you know we have been dealing with what we thought was allergies with Paige for quite some time. She has a nagging cough at night and has for at least a year and half. Some nights she coughs a lot and other nights not at all. We have had her on Singular and Clariton for years. She has also had numerous ear infections that last forever. I finally made an appointment with an ENT, Ear, Nose and Throat doctor, without our pediatrician suggesting it. We went to him several times just to discover her ears were not the problem. Every ear infection she has gotten has been able to clear completely even though it takes a while. He said her ears are draining and she has no hearing or speech problems, therefore; it would not be necessary to put tubes in her ears. I cried several times with the ENT out of frustration. I am tired of this and want an answer. My baby should not have to be up all night coughing with no avail.

He suggested we make our way to an allergist. I got the name of one through our pediatrician and made an appointment. On our first visit he said he thought we were on the right track considering her symptoms. We made an appointment for a scratch test to evaluate her allergies and see what was needed to help her. The test was on March 22nd and I was so nervous. I made Dallas take off that morning and go with me. I remember my little brother's scratch test when he was little and it was not a pleasant memory. They have come a long way since then and the test was not bad at all. Paige did not like the sticking of course but she calmed down from it almost instantly. We laid her on the table and had to keep her from touching any of the testing area. We brought Christmas Dora with us and she laid there watching it with no problems.



The nurse came back in to evaluate the results and to our surprise she was not allergic to one damn thing! Are you kidding me! The doctor explained that she still definitely had allergies but none were so bad that they needed extra care or medicine. Well then what is wrong with my baby? His answer was surprising to me, asthma. Both my brothers had asthma growing up and I remember taking care of my little brother all the time. Paige did not sound like he did or have many of the signs of asthma. No wheezing, no difficulty breathing just coughing. The doctor said it was Cough-Variant Asthma.

The main symptom of CVA is a chronic, non-productive cough. These asthma patients have cough as the main or only symptom of their asthma. These patients are a small percentage of total asthma patients. CVA patients are, however, a distinct group rather than merely being thought of as 'coughing asthmatics.'

I was relieved to have an answer and optimistic that her future nights would no longer be nightmares. He sent us home with a nebulizer and prescriptions to start immediately. Paige was not fond of the idea of wearing the mask and sitting still while that loud machine spit water in her face but she has been a trooper. For the first week we gave her both Pulmicort and Xopenex every day and then we were supposed to use them as necessary. The first week Paige responded very well to the treatments. We both actually got some sleep that week. By the second week she had started to cough a little more but we persisted with the treatment. By the third week she was really coughing and gagging at night again so I called for help. The doctor informed me that I could give her the Xopenex which is the new generation Albuterol every four hours. Well that would have been nice to know up front but what are you going to do.

I increased her treatments to twice a day or more depending on how she was doing. She was starting to do better when she got an infection. We are pretty sure she got the viral cold that Ethan had and an ear infection on top of that. Her month check up with the Allergist/Asthma doctor was last week and he upped her dosage of Pulmicort to twice a day instead of once and told us to be patient. BE PATIENT! Oh this has been the most frustrating thing yet. He said she is doing well but any illness at all will make her asthma 10 times worse. That explains why every single time Paige gets sick she is sick for a month. We are now sending her nebulizer to school with her and she is taking treatments there as well as home. Although Grammie bought her a cool dinosaur mask for her treatments she does not like them at all. I don't think she minded as much at first but now that she seems to spend half her day hooked up to that machine she hates it. Who could blame her! Poor thing!

As of this week, I have had to give her a breathing treatment every night between 12:30 and 3am. During her sickness the last few weeks I have had to take her in the steam shower for 20 minutes at a time to calm the coughing. It really is a tedious process but hopefully we will get the medications correct soon and she can have some relief. The doctor says as soon as the summer heat sets in it will kill a lot of the pollens off that have been making her cough so much. We will continue to try and help her but I think we have a long road ahead of us. On a positive note the doctor says they usually out grow it by age 6. Great only 3 years to go... shoot me!