Hello...Tomorrow my 2 1/2 yr old daughter is going to take a sweat test. I thought CF was ruled out a year ago after having a blood test but just recently after a visit with a pulmonary specialist I was told that the sweat test should be taken. My daughter has asthma and was finally diagnosed with it when she was around one. Whenever she gets a cold her asthma will kick in a day or two later. We have learned to deal with this and give her pulmocort at the first sign of a cold and continue on 2x a day for 7-10 days. She also takes Albuterol or Xoponex as needed. She has all the food allergies imaginable except the wheat allergy. She was born premature 6wks and today weighs 22 pounds. She's never been hospitalized. She's a very happy little girl with high energy all day long. A few months ago I had an appt with our Ped to talk about her stools. I've noticed that she goes frequently at least 3-4 times a day. Sometimes the stool is loose and smells foul and other times it's more solid. We've tried cutting out the juice in her diet and/or really watering it down to see if that helps. I think it has but I'm still not sure. My concern to the doctor was if this was normal? He completely blew it off and felt that she was a very normal and healthy toddler given the fact that she does have some food allergies and asthma. He was also comfortable with her weight gain of 2 lbs in 5 months. So, it didn't go any further than that. A few months after the Ped appointment iI made an appt with a pulmonary specialist just to check her out. That is when I felt the shiver go through my body. He went over question after question and seemed to think everything was fine until I told him about her stools. He asked me to lick her skin and I did. And yes, it tasted salty. I could really judge if it was salty salty or just salty. He suggested getting the sweat test as the blood test does not rule out CF. I have some knowledge of CF as I work at Genentech where we make Pumozyme. Also, many years ago I studied Respiratory Therapy for awhile in college before getting my BS degree. I've been looking online to find out more about signs and symptoms of CF and what I am feeling is that my daughter has all the s & s's. MY husband thinks I am really overreacting. He's looked them over too and cut out more than half the symptoms she does not display. Is it possible that she displays some symptoms because she has asthma and food allergies? Just wondering if anyone has any thoughts or suggestions? I know now that you have to be very proactive with doctors and seek out the information you need rather than just going by what one person tells you. I was at work today when I saw this site. I ended up leaving work early very distraught and caught up with emotions(not because of the site). I feel better now and ready to deal with whatever it is that comes our way. We love our little girl so much. We also have a healthy 7 year old daughter that is also such a joy.
Thanks for listening.
Thanks for listening.