Question Best Posts in Thread: Asthma Diagnosis - Appetite Enhancing "Vitamins"

Can you diagnose a child with asthma while he is currently suffering from pneumonia? (This is reoccurring case of pneunomia. Twice in less than 60 days.)

Diagnosing asthma:

Pneumonia symptoms:

The doctor said he had asthma because he was coughing and wheezing....which is kind of expected with a case of pneumonia. Am I wrong to be irritated with this doctor?

I'm no doctor but I think there are other things that are causing the recurrent pneumonia since the kid never has any symptoms of asthma when he is not sick. The child has problems eating and drinking. He regularly gets liquid and food down the wrong hole. I believe this is called pulmonary aspiration and is the most common reason for recurrent pneumonia in children.

After 2 hospitalizations (4-5 days each time because of a 39C temperature ) in less than 60 days....and 3 in the last 6 months....I think the doctor should probably be doing other tests or asking more questions. This "admit him to the hospital and give him IVs and antibiotics" is obviously not solving the underlying issue.

As for the vitamins:
The kid is underweight. The doctor prescribed 90 days worth of vitamin B12 capsules to increase his appetite. This also irritates me as I feel that switching to a healthy diet (by completely cutting out the sweets and junk food the kid is always asking for....and given) and eating more organ meat, fish, eggs, avocados, nuts, etc would give the kid sufficient B12 intake and help him gain some weight. I personally think the vitamin pills are encouraging bad parenting and an easy out for a sh*t diet. (Treating the symptoms instead of the real problem.)

BTW: there was no mention by the doctor of the kid being anemic.

Note: I know doctors hate people like me who think they know something about giving treatments....but I don't think they should be completely left off the hook and operate like a shady car mechanic that doesn't give proper explanation to their customers. (And I consider the average doctor in the Philippines no more trustworthy than a scummy/sleezeball car mechanic....which is why I do so much Googling before/after a visit to one.)

/rant