Asthma or Anxiety?

'Mom, I can't breathe.'  'Mom, it's hard for me to breathe.'  'Mom, I'm not kidding.'  This is what I heard for 3 hours Friday morning.  Nick was in school, trying to stay in class, but went to see the nurse 4 times. Yes, 4 times in 3 hours. Nick is asthmatic so this is not unusual.  What is unusual is there were none of the normal triggers present (dramatic changes in the weather, illness).   On the 4th visit, I called the peds and got an appointment later in the day and sent him back to class.

At lunch time, I met him at the cafeteria.  He was uncomfortable with his table.  The first day of lunch he had a peanut-free table, but was to share the table with another class.  He was worried the other students would have peanut butter.  He shared this within in minutes of getting home.  I immediately sent an email to the teacher and principal and asked to meet to correct this.  Within minutes, I had a response from the principal (our school is pretty amazing when dealing with his food allergy).  His table will be changed.  I met Nick at the cafeteria.  He now has a table that is strictly for his class and is peanut-free.  It is moved away from the other tables to eliminate the risk of contact with peanut products (Nick is contact allergic).  As soon as the table situation was handled, Nick became his outgoing self again. I watched him interact with peers and advocate for himself telling each peer that they were welcome to sit with him if they didn't have peanut butter.

After lunch, it was off to the doctor's office.  He hadn't complained of trouble breathing since lunch, but I didn't want to take any chances.  ***Not-so-much Mom of the Year Moment*** I once made him wait to go to the doctor because I thought he was just trying to get out of school when in fact he had pneumonia***  Needless to say, I don't wait anymore.  He was given a clean bill of health....

Hmmm.... we talked on the way home about feelings of nervousness and difficulty breathing and how they kind  of feel the same.  He finally told me he was just feeling really, really nervous about his lunch table.  Since our bullying incident in May, Nick has had a greater awareness of his food allergy, but apparently along with the awareness has come anxiety.

We are now in the process of trying to identify a professional to help him with his anxiety about his food allergy and how to tell if it's anxiety or asthma.  Just one more step in this journey.

First Day of School... Hoping it ends this way too!