Any help for chest infections?

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Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 1:22 pm

Hubbie's had a chest infection for a couple of weeks now and I've been doing the lemsip thing, the honey and blackcurrent hot drinks, hot toddies, cough sweets and generally playing Florence Nightingale.
Anyway, he's been to see the doc who says it's bronchitus and has given him some anti-biotics. Today, his cough is much better.
However, small person went to bed tonight at 9pm and hasn't stopped coughing since. It's a deep, chesty cough.
I've given her water and a hot honey and blackcurrant drink but it's now 1.20am and she hasn't stopped.
Anyone got any advice to help stop the coughing?!!
Can you catch bronchitus?

Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 1:32 pm

Sounds like you're doing everything that you can, other than maybe some vicks vapo-rub. I've heard bronchitis is nasty. Naturally, I think vicodin will cure just about everything.

Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 1:33 pm

How old is little person? Does she have a fever now? Is it a productive cough, or a dry one? Can you describe the sound a bit?

And yes, you can catch bronchitus from another person. Family members of an affected person catching it is not uncommon (at all).
I think it would be wise to consult a physician, preferably soon.

Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 1:34 pm

I'd say that chest infections and bronchitis are pretty easy to catch. Once, one goes down with it, you will be lucky to escape passing it on.

I'd recommend another visit to the quack doctor. The usual herbal and granny remedies will only bring temporary relief. Better to go to the quack sooner than later.

Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 1:44 pm

My Dad's a GP and he says no cough syrup works, it's been researched and proven.

** ACCOUNT CLOSED ** Joined: 15 Apr 2007 Posts: 766

it wasn't me wrote:

Can you catch bronchitus?

Yes, both bacterial and viral. "Bronchitus" is sort of a "misnomer" since the inflamation/irritation is from lower passages--but most just use this since it is what people know. The point is both are contagious.

The thing is, you can have a viral infection and then get a superimposed bacterial infection.

Right, children are susceptible to "bugs" that are different from adults, such as Respiratory Syncitial Virus [RSV--Ed.] If smallperson is particularly "wee" it may be hard for her to tell you what is bothering her.

Would recommend you get her pediatrician to look at her today. You can talk to him on the phone and at least feel reassured.

to you and

to your husband and wee one.

--J.D.

Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 1:59 pm

Go to a doctor.

Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 3:10 pm

What he said. There is no way that any diagnosis here can beat a doctor seeing a patient in R/L, and the sooner the better with a child. Smile

Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 5:27 pm

Yes. Get it done right away. If the pediatrician's schedule is too busy, go to a GP. If that does not work, go to an Urgent Care. Its better than going to a emergency room on a Friday night. Now quit reading and go.

Little ones go downhill very quickly. I watched my military boy go from pinkish to white to gray in a matter of hours when he was two. He had pneumonia. I watched a skin infection go from 10 cm to 15 cm in a ER waiting room with the little girl. Oxygen is very important and they also need to feel that you really, really care for them. While you are there, pick up some Vicodin for Reprob8.

Baiting Guru Joined: 11 May 2004 Posts: 2163

Nurse Nasty wrote:

Go to a doctor.

you do not go to a doctor before consulting the internet Rolling Eyes

Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 7:48 pm

Klaasvaak is absolutely right. Random know-it-all posters on an internet forum are much more reliable that any pediatrician.

Where a child's health is concerned, go for the best, go for the General Chat forum.

Ps: need any tips on investing your life savings? Wink

Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 7:57 pm

you so need to see a doctor as they have had it a week now.
sounds like a good course of prescribed antibiotics from your doctor
will clear it.

all the off the shelf medicines never clear any infection up,they just ease you through the agony.

doctors first opportunity is the remedy

419Eater is my life Joined: 11 Jun 2005 Posts: 344

Will do the same I did for lady with cancer who emailed me - Members of my tribe and I will sing and drum for good health for you. Very Happy

Seriously, though - like Reaper posted, most cough syrup is worthless (I have always had good luck with the codeine cough syrup, though. It actually seems to work somewhat.). Definately time to take kid to the doc, though.

Hope she gets better soon.

Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 10:10 pm

Yes, the codeine cough syrup is better than Vicodin. No OTC analgesic to kill your liver. I had it a lot as a kid. Another great elixir was Paregoric. The stuff had opium in it. Really warmed the tummy and made everything just fine. Gee I must be old. At least they took the cocaine out of Coca-Cola before they gave it to me as a kid. The problem was that stuff did crap for the underlying problem. Made me feel pretty good though.

I keep a complete stockpile of antibiotics and pain killers in the freezer. Not to use, but just in case. Sorry, Reprobate, ran out of your favorite this month due to a root canal.

Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 11:00 pm

Some Dextromethorphan and Guafinesin syurp is helpful. Robotussin makes "DM Syurp". Ironic as it seems, the DXM quiets the cough, the Guafinesin breaks up congestion so when you do cough, the nasty stuff comes out. If she can't stop coughing, some codiene syrup will work fine. My doc gave me some Vicodin syurp once for a bad cough. It worked, slept my butt off for 12 hours. And, as we all know Hydrocodone Hcl WILL cure anything!

** ACCOUNT CLOSED ** Joined: 15 Apr 2007 Posts: 766

Methinks what it wasn't me's pediatrician recommended will be relevant and constructive.

--J.D.

Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2007 1:19 am

Thanks for your advice guys....
1)It was hubby that had had the cough for 2 weeks, not small person. Small person only began when she went to bed last night.

2)Small person is 12

3) No, no fever.

4) It was a dry cough, no phlegm at all. Same as hubbies though

5) I rang the nursey line. They advised that I keep doing what I was doing and if she carried on coughing, got a fever or chest pains, to go to emergency docs. I couldn't be bothered to wait for symptoms of death, so took her.
Doc wasn't worried at all, said she was fine, just had an irritant on her chest. Gave me some anti biotics and sent us home.
We got home at 6.30am this morning. She has slept like a baby since then. Not a cough or wheeze in sight.

Here's to tonight and hopefully, a night of sleep!! I've got a really important meeting now and I'm knackered!!!!!

@Doc X - Thanx for the flowers JD X

Baiting Guru Joined: 03 May 2007 Posts: 18313

Kids will often be ok through the day and then the cough gets worse at night. (Do you ever notice it yourself when you have a cold and try to sleep at night?)
There are a couple of things you can do to help her out:
Elevate the head of her bed slightly (you can put something under the mattress to raise it a bit) It helps if they aren't lying completely flat.
Also, put a humidifier/vaporizer in her room. The moist air helps.

Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2007 2:07 pm

^^^Yes, the trips to the ER were always at night for the military boy. The only all night pharmacy was many miles away and just like a scene out of Taxi Driver. I'm glad that he didn't remember them or have them on his medical record. There was only one case of an ear infection on his pediatrician's records and as a result it took 6 months and two ENT exams to get a medical waiver.

Its good that you did not wait until near death experiences IWM. In my family everyone's a medical professional except me. They see really sick kids every day so what's a little bit of pneumonia? It angers me.

Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2007 2:26 pm

Connie:

I have medical professionals in the family too.... seems be the opposite for me, they say go see the doctor all the time.

Hope the little one in this thread is doing better. I'd say if dad had something that needed medication that little one has a high chance of having it too and should be checked out sooner rather than later as meds may help the situation. Just remember not to over anitbiotic that causes its own set of problems.

Also if you live near a Meijers I think they give out most anitbiotics for free and WalMart sells most for $4.00 (with prescription of course).

Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2007 9:42 pm

Sorry to inject a heavy dose of common sense here, but I suggest that if anyone here is concerned about any particular illness of a family member who has a currently unwell (especially sick children), we suggest that you see a DOCTOR for a diagnosis before consulting the eater forum.

Please. For the love of all things rolly eyed, please no-one post in this thread. Please... seriously... please

Now, I seemed to have sawn my arm off with a blunt frying pan, should I use my sinew to stitch it back on, or see a doctor?

Very Happy

** ACCOUNT CLOSED ** Joined: 15 Apr 2007 Posts: 766

It seems the posters in this thread have recommended seeing a physician--doctor--even one who specializes in children--pediatrician--if a child is sick.

Right.

The problem with antibiotics is if one has a viral infection, they do not treat them, but can wipe out the "flora" leaving the "bugs" that have a resistance to the antibiotic. Over time, this can lead to the propagation of antibiotic resistant bugs and, worse, a Dustin Hoffman film.

Unfortunately, there is the obvious desire to "do something" in the face of a viral respiratory infection.

However, if one has a bacterial infection then failure to complete a course in antibiotics can lead to similar problems. The rise of multi-drug resistant TB is such an example. Part of the problem was the need for a prolonged course of more than one drug to defeat this particularly nasty "wee beastie."

The "bugs" are, to use a favorite analogy, the "Commies!"

Quote:

You may have cleared the Red Menace from your city, Citizen, but they remain in the hills, waiting, watching, for every weakness! Only through eternal vigilance will we remain safe, Citizen!

Smoke Marborough!

An antibiotic course does not just kill "bugs," but it will also "suppress" them. Over the course of the treatment the antibiotics will kill those "bugs," or you will--"Allowing the Native Freedom and American Product Loving Government to overrun those Commie Bastards, Citizen!" You suppress the infection sufficiently for your own defenses to clear it. During suppression, you feel "better" of course--"false sense of security, Citizen!"

Failure to do this can allow the "bugs" to repropagate: "Come out of the hills when we are not watching and enter our schools and golf courses, Citizen!!"

This issue came up in ANOTHER BOARD [Boo. Hiss.--Ed.] recently where a poster complained about having to take a month of oral antibiotics for a persistent throat infection. Her problem was she was "anti-drug"--"See what voting for defense cuts does, Citizen?!"--so she would stop taking her antibiotic when she started to "feel better."

"Evolution in Action" is the "bugs." She killed the susceptible "bugs," but left those more resistant to the standard drug. So her infection would return in a few weeks, and the cycle would continue.

Now, she needed to complete at least a month with a "more powerful" antibiotic to eradicate the "bugs." Yes, she was listening to her doctors--and the posters who told her to do the same--"See what failure to pursue the Commies did, citizen? Now one is dating your daughter and introducing her to jazz music!!!"--and was venting about it.

So, complete thine course of antibiotics. Do not become like North Korea . . . or . . . France!!

--J.D.

Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2007 11:27 pm

I would like to state, for the record that my daughter was not in a situation that I was particularly worried about.

She had no fever.
She did not feel unwell.
She was not coughing up anything dodgy.
She is 12 years old and perfectly capable of telling me her symptoms.
She sounded to me as though she had swallowed a hair or something and it was tickling her throat/chest and kept trying to cough it up.

I am so pissed off that people on this forum seem to have attacked me for posing the question on here before sending her immediately to the emergency department.
When I did take her to the doctors, he confirmed exactly what I had thought.
I was not wrong to pose the question on here and I am not a bad mother as seems to be the general opinion.
I was a single mother for 10 years, with no help from anyone and I learnt from an early stage not to panic and to understand when something is urgent.

She is now absolutely fine. Thankyou.

** ACCOUNT CLOSED ** Joined: 15 Apr 2007 Posts: 766

^^^^^Yes, but what about the Commies?!

--J.D.

Posted: Sun Jul 15, 2007 12:08 am

If I came off that way IWM, I truely apogise. My Mom was a nurse on a help line for 20+ years, and i guess it's in my blood to try to help. Did not mean to offened or insinuate anything. Glad everyone is OK now. Embarassed

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