Asthma or Croup/Airway Constriction? Long...sorry...was in ER last night

[Guest guest]

Okay, I have been trying to figure out what is happening with my 3 year old NT

son for a few months now. He isn't vaccinated but is a Rhogam/dental work baby.

Every few weeks he gets this mostly dry cough that is pretty bad. It sounds

almost like croup but not quite, it is that loud and racking though. He will

cough up very little and the cough is rather spasmatic. He will cough anywhere

from a little to a lot during the day and then wake up hardly breathing at

night, really grasping for breath. I can usually calm him down and he will be

okay. He might do this just once or maybe twice a night when this is happening.

Within a couple days it is over and gone. Yesterday he started with the cough

again except it was really all day long and often. It has been getting

progressively worse each time he has this. His behavior, mood, appetite all

were fine yesterday...nothing to indicate he was even catching anything. The

coughing would be enough to make his nose run just

a touch when he coughed but we are all experiencing allergies it seems. There

are also a couple fires burning very close to the house.

Anyway at about 12:30 last night/this morning he woke up again and really

could hardly breathe. He calmed down a little but you could see he was having a

lot of difficulty getting a breath in. He wasn't really wheezing though. He

was making a lot of noise though as if his airway was constricted. I put him

where he could inhale the cold air from the freezer and that helped a touch.

After a couple minutes and especially remembering he will sometimes do this

twice in a night I took him to the ER. He was just not getting enough air.

The cool air helped but he was still coughing and laboring some when we got

there. Since he was getting over it his pulse oxygen was just fine so they

didn't think he was having an asthma attack. They said his cough was croup and

that his windpipe is likely too small thus making him at risk for spasmatic

episodes. The DR said he could react to allergies or a virus. They wanted to

give him steroid shots but talked him into oral. He didn't think I could get it

into him, he just didn't know how much experience I have getting food and

supplements into a boy who sometimes seems like he has 8 arms! They haven't

really helped though, not in any great way. He was still raspy when we left.

He was breathing better though. He is still coughing though so I am worried

about tonight. I am giving him antivirals/immune boosters in case this is a

virus he is working with.

I was talking to a friend of mine who has three asthmatic sons recently. She

says that you can have asthma and it not progress to the life threatening

attacks but it be more cough related. I obviously don't want anything wrong

with my son or want a diagnosis on him that isn't accurate but if really does

have asthma I want to make sure we do treat it appropriately. I really don't

like these middle of the night episodes with him not breathing much.

Thanks so much for any advice. I am most appreciative!!!

“If you think you are too small to be effective, you’ve never been in bed with a

mosquito!” –Betty Reese

“Uneducated people believe what they are told…Educated people question what

they are told.” –Helen Keller

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