<s>[INST] My daughter who is 3yrs9mths-14 kgs had a cold/ cough in May 2011(since she joined pre-school in sep 2010, she has had cold/cough in Sep 2010 and Feb 2011). Before going to school, she rarely had cold or coughs episodes. A month ago she started to have stuffy nose and mild morning and evening coughs, which had lasted for some weeks. She didn t cough when sleeping though. Eventually, when the cough got bad, she was put on antibiotics and cough expectorant. She got better but then the stuffy nose and morning coughs came back slightly. We saw an ENT specialist. She was given some Actifed and Solupred for 3 days last week. The stuffy nose is gone but the morning coughs have come back. She was given Foracort inhaler but this does seem to help. Your advise would be highly appreciated. thks [/INST] Hi...Thank you for consulting in Health Care magic. Greetings from Chennai.By what you quote I feel what your kid is having is asthma. Please don't feel that I am being blunt, but rather than using frequent steroids it is better to have a label and follow up with simpler alternatives than using steroids which are associated with complications. I have a few questions and suggestions for you -Questions:1. How many days per month do the kid cough or feel breathless?2. How many nights per month do the kid’s sleep get disturbed due to above symptoms?3. Does the kid feel breathless when running around or plays with other kids?4. Are the symptoms when there are seasonal changes?5. Is there any family history of asthma or any other sort of allergies like skin allergy etc.?Suggestions:1. There are certainly alternative management therapies in allopathy now-a-days. Medicine has advanced a lot and not asthma is 100% controllable.2. Inhalers are the newest management strategies for this. If I were your paediatrician I would have suggested the use of Budecort metered dose inhaler (100mcg) 2 puffs twice a day through a spacer and this is for regular use for 8 weeks. Another metered dose inhaler is Levolin and this can used as rescue therapy whenever the kid is having severe cough in spite of regular usage of Budecort. The technique is very important and very crucial for the drug to be delivered correctly to the lungs. Regularity of medicine usage also matters a lot. So do not discontinue abruptly after you notice some improvement. The technique of administering an inhaler using a spacer has to be taught to you by your doctor and these are prescription medicines. So I suggest you consult your paediatrician for this.3. Triggers can be environmental changes/ dust/ talcum powder/ seasonal changes/ un-cleaned a/c vents/ cold weather etc....we can specifically say this is the cause - unless we observe the kid closely - best person is the parent.Hope my answer was helpful for you.  I am happy to help any time. Further clarifications and consultations on Health care magic are welcome. If you do not have any clarifications, you can close the discussion and rate the answer. Wish your kid good health.Dr. Sumanth MBBS., DCH., DNB (Paed)., </s>