my daugther is congested and has been coughing for about 6 days today, peds doc said lungs sound good and no breathing treatment needed at this point except when she start wheezing then she can get the treatment. my dautgher is 8 mtns, 5 months adjusted on 1/8 of 02, since yesterday i have had to increase her 02 to 1/2 a litter cos she started deserting in the the 80's am thinking she is having trouble breathing, also she is been throwing up and sleepy alot. she is finding it difficult bringing the secretion out. i have a cool mist humidifier at her bed side, i do alot of hot steam in the shower, yet she still coughs alot, though when she throws up she is able to spits some out, bt men she is still very congested. iwas just wondering why this docs would wait until its gets in her lungs before treatment, i personally don't think the breathing treatment would hurt, bt doc says it's only when they wheez that they actally needs it. she doesn't have a cold or fever and she is eating good, i will be making another appointment today wt doc. what do you think? anybody with similar story or suggestion on best treatment. by the way my daugher was diagnose with BPD at birth and part of the reason she is still on 02, bt we are working on getting her off 02 pretty soon, bt wt this cough and an increase in her 02 am kind of worried . my 5 yr old boy came wt cough from school or over 2 wks now, so i know where she contacted it cos we don't take her out except for docs appoinment... any way pls any help about what best treatment to give... waiting anxiously for youy response...
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TREATMENT FOR COUGH AND CONGESTION
- By itu
- Posted October 31, 2009 at 7:51 am · 8 replies
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- By 29weekevan
- Posted October 31, 2009 at 9:04 am
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Sorry for you guys! This time of year is so hard, no matter what you do, it is hard to keep kids from colds. I have a 10 year old and have the same problem. We had a cold that sounded similar to yours. Cough and runny/stuffy nose for 2 weeks, no fever, eating good, not even too extra tired. My son is off oxygen and monitors so I don't know if it made him desat. He did work it through without meds until about day 10. He got an ear infection from all the drainage. I don't know if nebulizers would have helped or not. Did you see your pedi or pulmonary. I would call pulmonary and tell them about the increased O2 needs if you didn't do that already. I'm sorry I can't be more help. Good luck with everything.
- By itu
- Posted October 31, 2009 at 11:36 am
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thanks evan, you know it's so funny,this morning when she woke up i noticed the cannula has cut from the back and her saturation is good...97/98.. surprised right,so i turned the 02 off for about 3 hrs she was 97-100, playing as usual pooped ate well, now that she is sleeping i just fix the cannular and turn back 02, even though she still saturates in high 90s but am bsy in the kichen thats why i decided to turn it back on to be on safe side. will be calling pulm doc today. even i usually turn 02 off just to see where she is and she seems pretty good except for yesterday. well ow did u treat the cough and congestion or did it resolved itself and did ur little one came home on 02, ow did they get him off 02. cos even though mine requires just 1/8, i don't know when she wil be able to breath on her own. we have pulm 2nd appt on nov 12 to see if they could get her off 02, again did ur son throw up when he had the cough. pls keep me posted and tanx....lol
- By 29weekevan
- Posted October 31, 2009 at 12:36 pm
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Cough and congestion resolved on its own. I was thankful. Did have to get antibiotic for the ear infection. He did throw up some- mostly mucous like you said. But he has projectile vomitting about 3 times per week so the spit up with mucous didn't really bother me. I guess its good they are getting it out somehow. I did use saline drops in his nose and suction it out every morning and a few other times during the day. Plus the cool-air humidifier is always running. I would also do what you're doing-leave the oxygen on when you can so she doesn't have to work so hard to breathe. That way she can use her extra energy/calories to get over this cold.
We came home on oxygen. He had it 24/7 for about a month and then only at night/sleeping until he was about 7 mos adjusted or 10 mos actual. The pulmonary Dr wouldn't let us off the oxygen until he had a sleep study. He failed the first one in December. His sats were 94% all night, but I noticed the older he got, the higher pulmonary wanted the number to be. Like in the NICU 88% acceptable. When we got home 95% was where she wanted it at all times. We had a second sleep study end of April and his sats were 95% all night. She said his breathing pattern had also become more regulated (not as fast and not as irregular- less pauses) so he has been off oxygen since May. Its funny, I was so anxious for that day to finally come, and then I was soooo nervous to let him off everything. Especially the monitors! It was hard to sleep at first knowing he would not be beeping if something was wrong. We kept the oxygen in the house until last month. I guess it is very common to go back and forth with needing the oxygen even after you initially get it off. He never got sick or "challenged" during that time so they finally picked up everything. Now I can't even check his sats once in a while. Would have loved to check when he just had that cold.
Anyway, don't be in a rush to get off everything. It will happen with time. God will guide :)
Lisa
- By NateAndTimsMom
- Posted November 2, 2009 at 12:31 am
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The dr is correct that you don't want to do breathing treatments when they aren't needed. Eventually the medicines will be less effective. However, I would disagree about the need to be wheezing to get breathing treatments. My boys have asthma and I know that not every person with asthma wheezes. I don't always wheeze when I have asthma attacks. Often I cough tons, throw up, and can't catch my breath. (Throwing up from a cough could just be congestion or it could be a sign of breathing difficulty. My sons have done both.) My boys do wheeze very loudly--sometimes so loud you can hear them across the room (this is wheezing and not congestion). The worst time to not be wheezing is when there is a lack of wheezing because the airways are extremely constricted. When my son has been in the hospital for asthma attacks the doctors are always happy when he IS wheezing. This means he is more open than if he was past the point of wheezing (since he is a wheezer). Eventually he gets back to normal and no wheezing, but for him low sats and no wheezing is bad. It really makes me wonder why the dr said not breathing treatments if the sats are dropping. Did you bring this up and the need to increase the oxygen? If not, be sure to do so. I know BPD is different from asthma. Hopefully the dr can/will explain it to you. I hope she gets better!
- By Mom2eight
- Posted November 2, 2009 at 7:15 am
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We had our first ER trip two weeks ago. Sats in the around 90 and steriods and breathing treatments in the ped's office didn't bring them up.
A couple more treatments in the ER and about 4 hours later, they sent us home. Eli now has another cold that makes him wheeze. I went ahead and gave him breathing treatments for the last two days. I am hoping this keeps him out of the drs. office and ER.
- By itu
- Posted November 4, 2009 at 7:22 pm
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tanx, she finally got the breathing treatment on tuesday and tamiflu to use for 5 days, she is much more better cough is resolving with the treatment every 4 hrs for now, she is able to expectorate the secretion out and she seeems more comfortable sat is up in 96/100% she will be seeing her peds and pulmo tomorrow,. am so glad i took her back to the doc.
- By itu
- Posted November 4, 2009 at 7:25 pm
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tanx, she got an order for breathing treatment every 4 hrs for now and she is much more better sat is 96/100%. secrection is coming out more easily, and she is no mre congested.
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