How to solve a medical problem?

johnny asks: What medication can I use for my 2-year-old boy suffering from difficulty in breathing?

Hi johnny –

I love compliments.  I absolutely adore them.  I get so happy when dogs sniff me all over, or when people hug me super-tightly and coo “Oh Shirelle you’re so soft!”  Or when people write me letters saying how much they like what I write.

But there’s such a thing as being too complimentary.  No one should vote for me to be the Secretary General of the United Nations, since I can’t speak.  No one should put me on an Olympic ski team, since I can’t fit in ski boots.  And no one should use me for a doctor, since I absolutely lack the education for it.

So while I love your question, I’m also going to tell you that I can’t begin to answer it.

I hear about medications for asthma that are simply miraculous, whether pills, injections, or inhalers.  I hear about methods to help allergies – antihistamine pills, treatments that use acupuncture and/or homeopathy and/or chiropractic techniques, or just moving to less-allergenic locations.  And I’ve heard about using deep breathing or singing to help breathing too.

But I don’t know which ones work best, and even if I did, I wouldn’t know which worked best for your son.

My friend, my best advice (my only advice) is that you consult with a professional, and do so very soon.  You might even want to check with different sorts of doctors, since some non-medicinal methods (such as what I described above) can work very well with these problems.

But what matters the most is that you talk with someone who’s looked at your son and seen his symptoms, and has the knowledge to help him with what’s truly wrong.

Thanks again for the compliment, though!  I hope some other time you’re able to ask me something I can actually help with.  Like maybe, “Now that he can breathe fully, my young son is an unstoppable ball of energy.  Can you recommend some fun games we can play together, so he gets exhausted as soon as I do?!”

 

All my best,

Shirelle

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