Tears in Patience : Nabeel's battle with Asthma

Patience(As-Sabr) is essential and rewarding when difficulties arise. I had to be patient in understanding my son's condition and accept that its fatal if not treated.Though my son's Asthma is categorized as moderate not severe. Last week's asthma episode was scary.

Nabeel,my 5 year old intelligent handsome boy was very sick recently. He is incredibly active and naughty like any kid his age, but some days are tough for him. He was excited about full-time Kindergarten. Had a wonderful start ,he was quick in learning every classmate's name with spelling and was enjoying his outdoor activities .But seasonal allergies have started kicking in with the change in weather. Was it the seasonal change or unhealthy snacking at school or exposure to germs or irregular exercise routine or his mom's bad decision to stop his daily asthma medicine ?one or all of these could have triggered his worst asthma symptoms. Looked like a bad cold the night before he had the asthma flare-up .Next morning we could not bear the sight of him gasping for breathe and very restless due of lack of oxygen in the body. His quick relief medicine wasn't helping . We had to rush him to the Emergency Room, quick injection of Steroids and oxygen , was assuring that he was in safe hands. He was soon out of danger(Alhamdulillah)! .He is home now after 2 days in hospital.
Nabeel's asthma nearly changed our lives since he was diagnosed with it when he was 4. No doctor tells us to watch for his diet , they just prescribe the medicines. But I learned from health books, diet change is essential along with the medicines to cure a condition like Asthma(or any inflammatory conditions like heart disease,arthritis,allergies and even cancers). I put him on restricted diet with no candies ,processed foods,sugary buttery foods or juices and eating mostly health foods .He does Yoga and some breathing exercises with me to keep active. He absolutely loves ice-cream,candies like any other kid, but sadly , mommy never buys those for him. We almost never eat out, eat mostly home-made food .
Nabeel loves the baked breads , muffins ,goodies i bake besides the spicy Indian food. He is the inspiration for starting this blog about health foods.
Blueberry Almond Banana Muffins is one his favorite muffin he packs for lunch to school.

Asthma can be diagnosed at any age, common in children 3-8 years. Some grow out of it ,which is called childhood asthma. We hope and pray(Inshallah) Nabeel grows out of asthma like most kids do.

Comments

maimoona said…
Indeed u need patience and strength to see ur child in such condition.
InshaAllah by your efforts and prayers he will overcome it soon.
May Allah bless Nabeel with good health.Ameen!
Anonymous said…
Yasmeen, do not worry, Inshallah our prayers are with your little son. He will very soon get perfectly alright inshallah. Even my hubby used to suffer from asthama during his childhood, but now alhamdulillah, it no longer troubles him. I suggest you think about ayurvedic treatment also besides dietery treatment.
Anonymous said…
Yasmeen, I read your post feeling your pain as a mother. I do hope your little boy will overcome asthma soon. Very soon. Hugs to you and your little treasure.
lubnakarim06 said…
It is a big relief to know that Nabeel is back home. Inshallah he will be fit and fine soon. U take care dear.
syeda said…
alhamdulillah Nabeel is fine now.
if you dont mind u can go through the duas herehttp://www.scribd.com/doc/955314/Duas-and-Cures-From-the-Holy-Quran
بنت بيتر said…
assalamu alaykum :) am so sorry to hear about your son, may Allah guide him, protect him, and make him a healthy and strong addition to the muslim ummah, ameen!

I hope you dont mind, I added your link to my new blog at http://healthymuslimah.wordpress.com

I really love it, ma shaa Allah!
Yasmeen said…
Jazakallah khair for all your well-wishes.
Mona , we are also trying alternate treatement of Homeopathy .
Syeda, thanks for the link ,I'll check it out.
Umm Travis ,thanks for adding my link to your blog.
Cynthia said…
Yasmeen, the steriods are not going to have an effect in the long term would it?
Yasmeen said…
good question cynthia,
Inhaled steroids which nabeel takes everyday have minimal side effects such as decreased immunity. But prolonged use of oral steroids can have adverse side effects such as osteoporosis or decreased growth rate. Nabeel rarely takes the oral steroids(only in emergencies like the last weeks episode).
Jaishree Iyer said…
Iam so sorry to hear about your son,He will very soon get perfectly alright.I feel homeopathy is gud for asthma..
Anonymous said…
Salaam Alaikum. Reading you blog was really a wake up call. Though I try to be healthy, I often become lazy in my food choices.

May Allah finish your son's asthama problem. I?nsha'allah Khair sis.
Sameera Ansari said…
Oh dear!I can imagine the ordeal you went through.Thank God he is fine now.Indeed,dietary habits go a long way in modifying and overcoming asthma.

Inshallah,let's hope it's childhood asthma and that he outgrows it :)

Take care.God Bless!
Dershana said…
Yasmeen, my heart goes out to te little darling and of course to you. Will definitel say a prayer for him too. glad to know he is better, my dear friend. And, yes like you , I too strongly believe that doctors should also take a little time off to explain all those tiny but important things to us. My dad was one of those rare species and I miss him in almost all doctors I've encountered.

The very best to you and Nabeel.
Anjum said…
Asak yasmeen really sorry to haer abt ur son's health,u hav shown lotz of courage in this incident.May allah accept all our prayers for nabeel and bless him with health n gud life.
Nidhi said…
I really hope that Nabeel can grow out of Asthma, Yasmeen.
I understand how testing it would be to see your little loved one go thru this at such a young age. May God bless you and your family with all the strength.
Anonymous said…
I know how hard it is for parents to see their kids in pain,being a mother of 6 yrs old,i know how it feels !
Regarding ur comment on my blog for calcium in jowar,then pls note that jowar in itself has about 25 mg calcium per 100of jowarflour,but when it is ate with yogurt /curd,the combination works wonder for calcium intake
Hugs for ur kid,pass on lots of love to him on my behalf
take care
Yasmeen said…
thank you maimoona,mona,farida,lubna,
syeda,Umm Travis,Cynthia,Jaishree,
m,Sameera,dershana,anjum,nidhi and alka, for all your caring comments.
Sum Raj said…
its good that now nabeel is ok...will pray to god for him yasmeen..dont worry...he will overcome soon...
Anonymous said…
May Allah cure his problem!
Yasmeen said…
Thank you Suma and Umm Abdullah for your kind prayers.
Bharti said…
Hi Yasmeen
This is my first time visiting your blog. Your post is so heart wrenching. God bless ur little son, I hope he outgrows it very soon. I have 2 little ones and know what it's like. My first born had chronic ear infections when she was a baby and the doctors wanted to put in tubes for her. I did a lot of research and found out that chiropractors might help. After finding a recommended one, I did take her there and the infections disappeared. I've heard they do help for asthma too. Also another non-invasive alternate therapy is craniosacral therapy. It's supposed to work really well on kids with out any side effects.
Hope this helps in some way. Take care, God bless.
Yasmeen said…
Thanks Bharti , for the very useful alternative treatments.
Anonymous said…
Hello, my name is Courtney and my son had baby asthma and still rarely has it as an adult.As far as diet is concerned, you'd want to cut out anything that affects the respiratory system by building the mucus that interferes with the breathe. These were,Dairy, Wheat and Peppers. This was amazingly helpful by itself, but the greatest help was the book "Heal your Body" , by Louise Hay, any bookstore under $10.00 about the mind / body connection. Finding out that Asthma is caused by emotional issues was a revelation. Check it out.
Namaste'
Courtney
Yasmeen said…
Thanks Courtney , for the healthy suggestions. I've read few books about relationship with allergies and asthma(listed under my bookshelf). I've reduced Nabeel's intake of dairy but he does eat wheat everyday.
thanks again in taking interest in my blog and leaving your valuable suggestions.
Anonymous said…
MassAllah he is in very good hands! He is very lucky to have a mother like you!
Yasmeen said…
Thank you NYDelight , I feel i can do much more for him. He's been thru so much at such an early age.
Vibaas said…
Hi Yasmeen, my son recently had a bad wheezing episode too. Just about a month or two before that we took him for the allergy test (panel test) and they did not find anything. They also did a breathing test to see if he has asthma and he did fine. But his wheezing was so bad this time that his doctor started with Asthma medicine. I was sad, but like you i'm hoping that he will grow out of it too. One coincidence i noticed between my son and yours is, his wheezing started within a week of him starting school :( I'm guessing he has some environmental allergy that was not diagnosed. I will pray that your son grows out of it too.

Btw, gr8 job in starting a blog that concentrates on health food. I try to cook healthy food for my boys too and we eat out less. I'll keep checking your blog for healthy recipes :)
Uj said…
Hi Yasmeen,
I know how it must have been for you. I was an asthama patient and was hospitalised at the age of six months. We tried out a lot of medications and finally my parents enrolled me for swimming when i was in 1st Std. From then we have never looked back. Now I dont have asthama problem at all. I am sure your son too will grow out of it :) Take care and hugs to you both
Unknown said…
Yasmeen
My elder one is 9 years old and we went through this from 1 1/2 years. He was on Albuterol spray, Nasonex, Zyrtec for allergies, Cingular everything and even then the change in seasons like Spring, towards fall will be dreadful for us. Literally foam will be coming from his mouth as his nose will be completely blocked and i have cried several nights. We met a God sent Doctor and he asked us to check us couple of things and with few supplements he did much better this winter with any of those medicine i mentioned before. Mine was deficient in Magnesium and when they are they get childhood asthma. Now he is on the following supplements

1) Magnesium
2) Vitamin D for increased immunity as he was low and will have cold, cought for 10 months a year resulting in fluid build up in his ears.
3) Omega 3/6 we go for CHia seeds - 6 tbsp a day as we went for a vegetarian source.

Do more reasearch about Magnesium deficiency and check with your doctor also.

Sadhana

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