Male Speaker 1: Every kid who cough and wheezes, isn't always a asthmatic. There are other conditions that can almost look like it. Sometimes the doctor, send the kid to a Gastroenterologist not an asthma specialist for kid coughing. Why is that?
Male Speaker 2: It's a very good question. What we've learned as you have stated is that all that coughs and wheezes is not asthma. It's dangerous to make the assumption that this patient has asthma just because you hear wheezing. If the patient has other symptoms, if the patient does not seem to respond to asthma medicine properly, or if the patient's lung function test do not give you the characteristic picture of asthma, you need to look for other conditions that can look like asthma. One of the most common conditions we see thats look likes asthma is gastroesophageal reflux, sometimes known as acid reflux. This disease is diagnosed both by the pulmonologist, but even more commonly by the gastroenterologist, the stomach doctor. Gastroesophageal reflux is a condition whereby the valve that separates the stomach from the food pipe, doesn't work effectively; and so the acid of the stomach has a tendency to come up into the food pipe, into the back of the throat, into the nose, sinuses and may even leak into the lungs.
Once this acid is in this area of the body, it leads to irritation, inflammation, coughing, and sometimes even wheezing. If we give asthma medicine to a patient with gastroesophageal reflux, it might even make that condition worse. So, it's important that we use the proper medication for the proper disease. Medications for gastroesophageal reflux will treat the reflux, eliminate the acid and allow for the rest of the area to heal, thereby improving the cough and wheezing without even needing other medication.
Male Speaker 1: Are there some kids that kind of have both conditions at the same time?
Male Speaker 2: You absolutely can have both conditions at the same time. Severe asthma can lead to reflux and severe reflux can lead to asthma. So there are cases where you need to be on both asthma medicine and reflux medicine. In that case, it takes expert coordination in order to minimize the side effects of these medications and maximize their benefit.
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