Pineapple, Asthma, or RSV?

Last Sunday, we had a bit of a scare with Tai. Though he had a cold, everything was fine when he went to sleep. Sometime during the night, he woke up and had a hard time falling back to sleep. We spent several hours taking turns with him in the rocking chair where he would drift off and awaken in an agitated state a few minutes later.

Having gone through this before, I was not too concerned. I figured his cold was making it difficult for him to breathe while laying down. Everything seemed fine until I took off his sleeper in the morning. I noticed that his little abdomen was rising and falling with each breath. Tai was having a hard time breathing!

Even then, I was not overly worried. Though this was a symptom neither of the kids had exhibited before, I assumed everything was going to be fine. First, we had to get Tai breathing normally again. I woke up Yoshi and told him to give Tai a hot bath. Unfortunately, whatever was causing Tai's breathing difficulties did not respond to the steam. The next step was to take Tai to the doctor.

Weighing the options between urgent care and the ER, we decided to go with the urgent care. After all, Tai was okay. He was grumpy and breathing hard, but it didn't seem like an imminent emergency. We got there and had to wait over an hour to even get registered. It was around this time that I started to panic.

Tai was still doing okay and even walking around attempting to play in the waiting room, but when the receptionist who was registering us saw how he was breathing, she immediately got a nurse to check him. Then they took us into the back immediately.

Though I had been calm until this point, seeing everyone else acting like something was seriously wrong made me freak out a little. I was upset, but I sucked it up so I would not panic Maia and Tai. It turned out everything was going to be just fine.

Tai got two breathing treatments, and his recovery was swift. We were breathing a bit easier too after all that. They sent us home with an inhaler and a prescription for an anti-inflammatory steroid.

The doctor told us Tai's symptoms were more than likely asthma. She seemed really incredulous that this was his first breathing episode. I was in denial. How could Tai have asthma? He hadn't shown any symptoms before.

Over the next day, I came up with my own theory. The evening before all of this occurred, we had enjoyed pizza for dinner. One of the toppings was pineapple. Since fruit is healthy, I had given Tai a lot extra. Everything seemed fine at the time, but then his belly got really upset. I had not connected the pineapple to the erratic breathing, but I decided to do some research with my trusty friend Google. It turns out, there is a correlation between the two.

A pineapple allergy occurs when the body's immune system reacts to components in pineapple that it mistakes as being harmful. Symptoms can include a severe anaphylactic reaction to asthma, abdominal symptoms, eczema or headaches. Treatment includes avoiding foods containing pineapple, antihistamines, bronchodilators for asthmatic symptoms, or, if an anaphylactic reaction occurs, adrenaline injection. www.organizedwisdom.com

Clearly, I am not a doctor, but to me, an allergy seemed more feasible than asthma. The next day, we went to the pediatrician's office. She assured me that Tai's symptoms had not been an asthma attack, but in her opinion, a virus. The only strange part is that usually, if the breathing problems are the result of a virus, the breathing treatments don't work for 90 percent of people. They worked for Tai, so that means he is part of the lucky 10 percent! Unless of course, he was having an allergic reaction. We are having him tested to see if that is even a possibility. I guess we'll take it from there...