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XP: Please help me understand? (Long)
Carson is a healthy kid. Aside from the typical ear infections, colds, and a few stomach bugs from being around other kids/daycare. We are "assuming" he has some nasal allergies that we have been treating with nasonex for the past 2-3 months.
Okay, so with that said last Sept he came down with a high fever with a cough took him to the pedi next morning and it was "just a virus" everything at that time sounded clear. Both the pedi and I noticed he was breathing a little fast but nothing concerning - thought maybe it was the fever. Went home gave meds for temp and took a nap. When he woke up his temp was down but he was laboring to breathe. Took him back into the pedi who heard wheezing and sent us off for a chest xray, swab for the flu/h1n1/rsv and did a cbc. EVERYTHING came back fine and tested negative for all of the above. Chest xray revealed swelling in his tubes/chest. Pedi called in breathing treatments and oral steriods. This whole situation took 2 weeks to get over and what finally ended it was azithromicyn and another round of oral steriods and doing the breathing treatments consistently for one week (I was doing them as needed at the time). I was a paranoid mess over this, literally, he never has had issues with breathing even with all the high fevers and viruses he has had in the past.
Which leads me to this, it happened again 6 months later =-( yesterday. Thursday night I noticed he was breathing slightly elevated but he has had a cold for over a month now that has been on and off and a cough for two weeks. Everything else has been normal, no fevers, eating like a champ and energetic. I even took him in 2 weeks ago to have him checked over and he was fine - just a cold. Back to Thursday night, I kept checking on him while sleeping and he just felt warm to me and he was still breathing fast but sleeping fine. I took his temp rectally while sleeping and it was 100 even so I thought, hmmm 99 not really a temp. Friday morning he was fine, running around no fever and ate normal. Sent him to daycare, when I checked on him the teacher said he had been coughing all day but other than that he was fine and ate lunch great.
When I picked him up and got him in the car I noticed him breathing heavy still so I called the pedi and they said to bring him in. We had time to kill so we stopped and got dinner and between bites he was wheezing - I was so upset. Got to the pedi he was running a fever of 100 under the arm - so 101, wheezing for sure, tonsils are large, and there was a little fluid behind one eardrum - not really an infection.
They did a breathing treatment in the office - torture, which helped with the wheezing but it did not completely get rid of the wheezing. She wrote a script for oral steriods for 5 days, azithromycin, and breathing treatments every 4 hours. She was not concerned about pneumonia, did not hear anything in the lungs that would indicate that. We are going back for a check on Tuesday to make sure the wheezing is gone.
He is happy this morning, running around which drives me nuts b/c he sounds horrible so I am trying to keep a couped up toddler calm with quiet activities - yeah right. His temp was 101 this morning and he ate breakfast - kind of okay not as much as normal. But he is happy not lethargic.
I talked to the pedi about asthma - there is none on my side and there is asthma on dh's extended side of the family, his uncle. She thinks it might be asthmatic symptoms brought on by viruses but it is too soon to tell b/c this is the second time in 6 months and he has had colds/fevers inbetween that time with no breathing problems at all.
He is a very active healthy big boy toddler, I just don't get this and of course as a mom I am trying to find answers. No issues like this the first 2 years of his life and now twice in 6 months.
Anyone have any knowledge or experience with this? Maybe if I would have given him a breathing treatment at home (we have a spacer from last time) on Thursday it would not have gotten to this extreme? I know at the end of the day he will be fine and probably outgrow this crap, it is just stressful.
FWIW, we don't have animals but he was around 2 little dogs the first year of his life - no problems. He was tested for allergies last March and everything came back normal but I know that test can be inconclusive with him being tested so young. We tested b/c of the constant running/stuffy nose issue.
From one mom to another, if you have any ideas or experience with this I would love to hear your comments. Thanks so much!!!
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Re: XP: Please help me understand? (Long)
My first thought was asthma. Maybe he's having asthma attacks in response to an allergy? I see if you can get a referral to an allergist to see what's going on. FWIW, I had SEVERE allergies and asthma growing up and no one else in the family (either side) did.
Hope he's feeling better soon!
Thanks, we have an allergist from last spring. I am sure when we go back to the pedi we will be talking about going back to the allergist about what is bringing on these reactions. It is just weird that both times he has had this he has had a fever. I have (and know of ) kids that can have asthmatic symptoms brought on by viruses. So we will see?! Thanks for your response!
My DD started with episodes of this in Sept of 07 She was born in Feb 07. They continued every couple of weeks. She was hospitalized once with RSV and then a second time with breathing issues. By this time we had a nebulizer to use as needed. They stopped in May of 2008.
In September of 08, they started again and again they happened every few weeks. After so many attacks her pedi had decided she had asthma. She has a wide number of flares and sometimes it comes up suddenly and sometimes it takes time for the coughing and wheezing to develop. She gets a daily treatment of Pulmicort to help keep her from developing into a full blown attack and we have Albuterol for wheezing and bigger attacks.
She starts the treatment every year in September and continues until at least May. She's seen in May and if she hasn't had a flare up for 3 months prior, they take her off the daily treatments. Last year she had to continue until July.
It does sound like a possible asthma. I've had to take all stuffed animals, etc. out of DD's room. I can't use any chemicals or harsh cleaning products around her. Very cold air is a trigger. A cold is her biggest trigger. We have 2 cats and while they don't bother her, I don't allow them in her room. I have to dust and vacuum often.
It's finding out what could have possible triggered him also.
As soon as I got through your first paragraph I was thinking asthma, too. My DS kept getting what we thought was croup, but our pedi thinks it could be asthma based on the fact that he also has eczema and was once hospitalized for what they thought was pneumonia, but was actually bronchiolitis (once they looked more closely at his x-rays they realized it wasn't pneumonia).
Anyway, I don't know what to tell you since DS hasn't been officially diagnosed with asthma yet. He has a cold right now and it's starting to move into his chest (the first time since we had him at the pedi for his 3 year checkup), so if he starts sounding croupy we'll bring him in so they can see whether his labored breathing is due to stridor or if it's actually wheezing.
GL! Breathing issues are so scary, but if he's acting happy try not to worry too much.
Alex (11/14/06) and Nate (5/25/10)
"Want what you have, do what you can, be who you are." - Rev. Forrest Church
Do you mind sharing what cleaning products you now use? He does have a few stuffed animals he sleeps with and one big puppy he uses kind of like a body pillow, what does your dd curl up on to sleep? TIA!
I'm one of those kids. I have asthma and can workout/run without ever wheezing and can go months (maybe a year) without ever having to use my inhaler. When I get sick though I have lots of flare ups. Kinda sounds like that's what is going on with your DS.
A friend of mine recommended Method products which work well. I was using Simple Green. For heavier stuff, I either sent her to my moms for a little while or did it while she was at her one day of daycare during the week.
I got her a standard size pillow at WalMart that is specially for asthma and allergens. It blocks dander, mold, etc. And then I have a cover over it as extra protection and then a regular pillowcase over that.
She does sleep with a special blanket (her lovey or "wobie" as we call it) and one of pillow pets. I washed it and let her have it to see how she did. It didn't bother her at all so she sleeps with that.
thanks! i will give the Method products a try and the pillow!
My oldest son has asthma, it runs in our family. With him it only affects him when he's sick, and makes him more prone for pneumonia. We have found that if we start his nebulizer treatments at the first sign of a cough, twice daily with albuteral and a preventative medicine it often keeps it from getting bad. We also use albuteral up to every 4 hours as needed.
If we try to wait out the cold, it usually develops into something that ends in the emergency room, so we've learned our lesson and just start treatment.
As far as allergy testing...did they do a blood test or skin test? My 2 year old was just tested last week by the skin testing and it all came back negative, then we did bloodwork and it came back positive for several things.
Hope your son feels better soon!
thanks so much for everyone's responses! i appreciate more than you know. i making my list for the follow up apt on Tues. and probably will see the allergist. I am having Singulair called in today to give it another try. I have already started making adjustments in the house and buying new natural cleaning products tonight. here's to hope, lol!