children with asthma

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During our family Christmas gathering on Dec.29th my nephew seemed out of it. He is 11 years old and usually jolly, cheerful, rambunctious, bossy, into everything, and just an all around fun kid. That day he kept complaining of a side ache and even got teary eyed. When one of my daughters got to tickling him to make him laugh after he had a terrible coughing spell. It was a deep cough too. And he just layed on the floor curled up in a ball. I had heard that kind of cough before and seen that behavior. I told my sister-in-law to take him to the doctor a I nd said he either has bronchitis, asthma or pneumonia. My nephew called yesterday and the doctor says he has asthma. He had a breathing treatment and they gave him an inhaler and showed him how to use it and talked to him about when to use it. This is one time I wish I had been wrong. I recognized the signs though becasue my granddaughter had asthma at an early age and luckily she has mostly outgrown it now. My oldest daughter, my husband and I all have asthma too. My husbands is due to having COPD, mine snd my daughters is bronchial asmtha. Came about after a severe bought of bronchitis. Watch for those chest cold symptoms and don't let them get so bad that the child is complaining of a side ache. The side ache was actually his lungs hurting and the coughing was trying to catch his breathe. I know most of you would agree it's always best to imagine the worst and take the kid to the doctor after a few days if we can't knock out these things at home. He had had a bad cough for weeks but the parents just assumed it was a bad cold. His sister from a different mommy has severe asthma, developed it as a child. We encouraged him and told him he would be fine and would learn what he can and cannot do and when to take a rest. He's a cubscout and thought he'd have to quit, I told him "no way". We'll just be sure they know he has asthma and that he always has his inhaler with him.