RSV........Crap!

Mom38673

OK.  This stuff is common, I know. It has to rampant this year.  I thought LO had the croup Sat, so we went to the ER.  He Only tested for croup. I asked for breathing treatments... Dr said no problem.  Glad I did, b/c he has strep.  Took him to the Pedi yest, and she knew before she even swabbed him.  Did I just get a crappy expensive Dr at the ER? or is this common practice to only check for what someone "thinks' is wrong?  

Anyone else dealing with RSV?

SummerBabyLove

That's weird to me.  DD2 had croup at Thanksgiving (she was 4 months old) and we ended up in the ER due to breathing issues.  They tested her for RSV to rule it out.  Since both are viruses, I believe the treatment is the same

RedDDD

My toddler recently got RSV which he passed to DD.  The pedi tested for both Flu and RSV but she seemed to know right away it was RSV.

Mom38673

Mom38673 said:

OK.  This stuff is common, I know. It has to rampant this year.  I thought LO had the croup Sat, so we went to the ER.  He Only tested for croup. I asked for breathing treatments... Dr said no problem.  Glad I did, b/c he has strep.  Took him to the Pedi yest, and she knew before she even swabbed him.  Did I just get a crappy expensive Dr at the ER? or is this common practice to only check for what someone "thinks' is wrong?  

Anyone else dealing with RSV?

Ok. Not strep but RSV.  Lack of sleep has messed me up.  

Yeah, I honestly believe the ER should have swabbed him for the virus.  Crappy ER!

HisChamaoleGirl

I'm not sure what is common practice, but I know when I told the ER doctor that LO had been exposed to RSV at daycare he did a swab test. I didn't pretend to think that is what was wrong with her, but I wanted him to have all of the information (that she was exposed). She ended up having a viral infection and was given antibiotics.

 

I hope everyone's LO gets better soon!

BSnipes35

DS2 had it at 7 weeks. Luckily, he didn't need any breathing treatments and bounces back within just a couple of days. But our first trip to the dr (our ped was out of town) resulted in me just being told he had a cold. In the drs defense, she never got to hear his cough. He slept most of the visit. But when his temp went up the next day, I went to a "doc in the box". He was poked and prodded to the point I was crying with him. Chest x ray, blood culture, urine test, flu swab, rsv swab and strep swab. In my opinion, when they are that young, the dr needs to pull out all the tests possible. Babies can present without typical symptoms. You just never know. Although it was pure torture, I'm so glad they tested him for everything possible at that second visit.

J&Jaggies06

What is treatment for RSV and Croup since they are viral? If breathing treatments aren't needed, don't they just run their course?

babyf86

All you can do for RSV is let it run its course. Although when my LO had it (at 8 weeks old) we had to be hospitalized. She was hooked up to oxygen and on constant nebulizer treatments. They also recommend back and chest PT, which is pretty much like heavy burping and suction. This helps break up the congestion.

thedash

DD had RSV at 7 weeks old and spent two nights in the hospital. She had labored breathing so our pedi did a swab in the office and direct admitted us to the hospital. She really bounced back within a week or so.

Mom38673

The breathing treatments help (if your LO responds to them...not all do).  We were luck in that Jake does respond to the breathing treatments.  The virus does have to run it's course, but you have to watch them fairly closely.  He had already been fighting a cold, and I think this was the nail in the coffin so to speak.  He also had a little fluid behind one ear which would have resulted in an ear infection.  He has breathing treatments every 4 hours and an antibiotic to clear his ear.  After a week, he's much better.  Still has a nasty cough.  I've kept him out of daycare, because I'm not convinced they are sending all the kids with the virus home yet......  That's another story. 

Carnation77

They treat symptoms with a virus - not the the virus itself.  So unless it's going to start a pandemic I don't see why it's necessary to find out exactly what virus a baby has as long as they monitor the symptoms and treat them appropriately.  Not diagnosing strep would have been a big deal because it is treatable with antibiotics and failure to treat could cause long term problems.  RSV is super common and almost every kid will eventually get it.  I think it's really been blown out of proportion.  

Houseplant

DS ended up in the hospital for 2 days when he got RSV last month. It poor thing couldn't keep anything down and was having issues breathing.  He caught it at daycare where every single baby got it. 

Mom38673

Carnation77 said:

They treat symptoms with a virus - not the the virus itself.  So unless it's going to start a pandemic I don't see why it's necessary to find out exactly what virus a baby has as long as they monitor the symptoms and treat them appropriately.  Not diagnosing strep would have been a big deal because it is treatable with antibiotics and failure to treat could cause long term problems.  RSV is super common and almost every kid will eventually get it.  I think it's really been blown out of proportion.  

MY Deal is that I would NOT have taken him to daycare and expose other kids to this highly contagious virus if I had known!  ER Dr said it was a bad cold.  This is always around a daycare.  I not only think of my kid and what I need to do for him, but I also try to do my part in keeping the other babies well. 

Carnation77

RSV is a bad cold.  Any kid can potentially get really sick from a bad cold and need hospitalization.  Why would you take your contagious child to daycare when your child is so sick he/she needs to go to the ER and have breathing treatments?  So is it OK if the other kids also have trouble breathing and have to go to the ER as long as it's technically not RSV?

Mom38673

Carnation77 said:

RSV is a bad cold.  Any kid can potentially get really sick from a bad cold and need hospitalization.  Why would you take your contagious child to daycare when your child is so sick he/she needs to go to the ER and have breathing treatments?  So is it OK if the other kids also have trouble breathing and have to go to the ER as long as it's technically not RSV?

RSV is a virus.   It's basically baby bronchitis.  Colds may be viral or bacterial or just allergies.  My LO (luck him) has our allergies, so the majority of his symptoms resembled a sinus infection.  We live in the South, so sinus/allergy issues can be bad.  I didn't take him to the ER because he couldn't breathe.  I took him to the ER because he had an odd sounding cough. I thought it could be croup.  It made me nervous.  No Urgent Care in our town will take a baby under 6 months.  The ER is the only option when the Pedi is closed.  The ER Dr told me LO had a bad cold and/or sinus issues.  I asked for the breathing treatments and he gave them to me.  I was trying to soothe LO's symptoms until I could get him to the pedi.  Oddly enough, LO seemed better on Monday.  Coughing was minimal, and he was eating and peeing fine.  I took him to daycare.  I called to make an appointment anyway to be cautious.  Tuesday morning he woke horrible.  Full blown.  That's when he was diagnosed with RSV....  

Trust me when I say I am NOT one of those parents that send their child to school sick intentionally.  I do try to wait until they are 24 hours symptom free....etc...  In my book, the ER Dr should have checked or known it was RSV.  I will not be taking my kid there again unless I absolutely have too.  I steadily peppered him with questions.  Also, I found out that MY LO contracted RSV from two other kids that were out.  Their parents didn't call to tell the daycare.  I did, and made sure a sign was up saying that all kids were exposed.  

kujess1

I took DD to urgent care tonight and she was diagnosed with RSV, they did the swab. Dr seemed to think right away it likely was RSV. My 4 y.o. got sick last week, and when I took him to the Dr, they apparently misdiagnosed it as just a cold. I'm so mad, I had been trying to keep the kids separated as much as possible, but when they said it was just a cold, and my mom was telling me basically, "Oh, they're going to share germs no matter what you do. He wants to love on her and you can't stop him," at that point I stopped trying so hard to keep him away from her. Now I am really regretting that and feeling horrible