Any help for chest infections?

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Posted: Sun Jul 15, 2007 12:18 am

^^^No, not you JT Wink

Posted: Sun Jul 15, 2007 12:19 am

Nurse Nasty wrote:

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

Well you're the nurse around here - you figure it out Cool

And my 5 cents worth. The kid's got a cough. It happens. So's my daughter. She picked it up after an 8hour flight inhaling other people's germs (I bet that's where IWMs husband picked up his bronchitis too). If it's bacterial then antibiotics will fix it. It it's viral you'll just have to tough it out. Go to your GP (I really don't think an emergency dash to ER is necessary, nor that a paediatrician is necessary, but it's your money I guess).

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

Gnasher wrote:

(I really don't think an emergency dash to ER is necessary, nor that a paediatrician is necessary, but it's your money I guess).

That may depend on "where" you are, in that in the US, for a Wee Spud, the pediatron is the GP. Not a criticism; just an "FYI."

--J.D.

Posted: Sun Jul 15, 2007 2:38 am

I believe IWM is in New Zealand (?) where the medical system is more or less the same as the UK/Australia, ie, you visit a GP for this kind of routine ailment. If the GP can't fix it or wants a second opinion he/she will send you off to a specialist or an 'ologist. We can't go direct.

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

^^^^^That makes sense. Different systems with division of labor.

Depending where you are in the US, you can also go to a "Family Practice" MD, but with all due respect, if you are uncertain about what ails your tyke--unlike what IWM is describing--I would recommend the general pediatrician. However, if you have a good FP MD, he will serve you well. As with any profession, it is more the person than the title.

There are Internal Medicine-Pediatricians who treat both adults and children. They have been known to walk on water. . . .

--J.D.

Posted: Sun Jul 15, 2007 6:09 am

If my kiddie was showing symptoms of a serious illness like meningitis or a ruptured apendix at 3am I'd call the ambos and not even think about who's going to treat him/her.

Having raised a couple of kids who had the usual childhood illnesses I can also recommend a visit to the local pharmacist for simple things like a cough or a sore throat. Even if you don't have any medical training I believe most parents instinctively know when their child is merely a bit under the weather or seriously ill. Obviously it helps to inform yourself about the obvious signs and symptoms of these more serious conditions and obviously if you are in doubt consult a doctor but to be frank I think parents these days tend to panic and assume the worst rather than stay calm and objective about what the problem is. Of course there are horror stories of people who ignore the rash/headache/fever/vomitting scenario and it's better to be safe than sorry but I also wonder how many doctors spend their days reassuring over-anxious parents or over-protected kiddies that the grazed knee will not lead to permanent disfigurement and the runny nose is just a head cold, not leaking spinal fluid. [end rant]

Posted: Sun Jul 15, 2007 8:34 am

it wasn't me wrote:

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.

None of this was in your original post and some of it is new in this post. It may well have made a real difference to the responses you got.

it wasn't me wrote:

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.

I am surprised that this reaction has come now, rather than when you first posted to thank people for their advice after several people had suggested seeing a doctor.

Are you really surprised to see suggestions that you take your child to see a doctor? You gave limited information, including nothing as to how young the child is, but suggested it could be bronchitis, which would be serious for a very young child. You asked for advice, and you got what was, on what you told us, the most sensible advice possible, which was to see a doctor. Not to panic and fly to the ER. Not that you were a bad mother. Not that you could not manage the situation yourself. Just to see a doctor. What is so offensive about that?

Yes, a few people have made some flippant remarks about taking advice on medical matters from a forum rather than a doctor, but it that so surprising either? It doesn't mean anyone is saying you're a bad mother.

it wasn't me wrote:

She is now absolutely fine.

I am delighted to hear it. Smile

Posted: Sun Jul 15, 2007 11:35 am

In all fairness to myself, I would have thought that it would have been obvious that I would take her to the doctor if I was worried, which is what I did after phoning the health 'help' line.
I explained this in my second post. Also answering the questions like how old she was etc.
It was after my second post that the attacks on me posing the question before seeking medical help began.

I am thankful for the advice given. It's the sarcastic nastiness I have a problem with. The only reason I posted on here was because I had tried the honey and that hadn't worked and thought that someone on here may have a different solution. Not one that involved dashes to doctors and drugs as I was quite certain at that time she didn't need doctors or drugs.
I apologise for not making it very clear from the start that she was 12 and didn't have a fever.

Posted: Sun Jul 15, 2007 11:50 am

it wasn't me wrote:

I am thankful for the advice given. It's the sarcastic nastiness I have a problem with.

Then I suggest you focus your anger at those who made what you consider to be sarcastic or nasty posts, rather than aiming it widely enough to include those who gave sensible advice in the circumstances as relayed. And I suggest you focus that anger in PMs.

Posted: Sun Jul 15, 2007 1:12 pm

it wasn't me wrote:

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?

That was your opening post, which was made 4.5 hours after your daughter started coughing.
You were also suggesting that you thought that she may have bronchitis by asking the question "Can you catch bronchitis".

If you don't or didn't want advise then why ask (on a scambaiting forum too) for just that?

And, instead of getting tetchy about the responses, why not just back off?

Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 12:14 am

^^^Don't worry, I've backed off.

Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 12:46 am

Isn't the internet wonderful? Cool

Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 2:03 am

@ IWM - don't know if this has been resolved yet but:

Had a mate who I was travelling with last year. He developed a bad chest infection, he couldn't sleep for more than 30 mins without coughing... naturally we hated the bastard because that meant we couldn't sleep either. But, seriously, it was bad, and getting worse. He saw a doctor who gave him antibiotics, he took them for a while but no change, he just keep blindly taking them until (for the 5th time) I sat him down and said "look, clearly these are not working, different antibiotics work for different strains, go see another bloody doctor you nonce". Well, eventually he listened, and did, and got new medication and it cleared up in 2 weeks.

Alternatively, another friend didn't seek professional help and developed bad scarring in his lungs as a result and now has trouble exercising because of his lung capacity. Confused

So, no advice from me, just a couple of anecdotes to help colour your decision making.

Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 2:57 am

Listen guys, sorry if I've been shitty, I've not been too great myself, had alot of stress and alot of sleepless nights.
No offence meant to anyone.
Small person is now 100% fine and hasn't coughed at all since that one night.
Hubby is now good too.
I however, feel like a bag of spanners Crying or Very sad

Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 4:06 am

I had a flatmate who had a hacking cough for months. We put it down to his 40 ciggies a day habit and his unwillingness to consult a doctor (it's a bloke thing). Anyway, he eventually collapsed one evening, was rushed to hospital and it turned out he had TB. Which was nice. Smile

Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 4:15 am

You didn't get infected? If so... you're bloody lucky...

Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 5:44 am

I'd had a routine TB vaccination at school when I was about 14 (?). These were the days when the dear old British National Health Service had the resources to operate mass screening/vaccination programs in schools for things like TB, MMR, etc. It caused some concern at the time because the guy worked in the town's one and only video rental store so he'd come into contact with thousands of people. But maybe because in those days people had been vaccinated (see above) and/or were immune so the authorities didn't seem overly concerned to be honest. Perhaps they should have been but as far as I'm aware no further cases were reported.

Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 5:48 am

^^^ It's interesting because the world dropped the ball with TB.

There was an opportunity to eliminate it completely. Once the vaccine was figured out it was so effective that doctors couldn't keep up with the results.

It was almost entirely eradicated, but like always, the wealthy countries figured it was licked and didn't bother to spend money eliminating it from the 3rd world. If the had done so it wouldn't exist today because it was literally on the verge of being defeated (like many diseases before it).

Now it is back and badder than ever, it has evolved and mutated so that the original vaccines don't work and it is one of the fastest growing diseases in the world. Basically, we f*ed up.

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

To be fair, I do not think it is easily eradicated. You had to convince people to take MONTHS worth of potentially liver toxic drugs. When TB moves to other areas of the body--like the bones, brain, et cetera--it becomes asymptomatic until. . . .

Not to let the developed world off the hook--it is just a far more difficult problem than convincing people to use condoms or have a polio or small pox vaccine.

--J.D.

Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 5:59 am

^^^ It's a matter of providing vaccinations to 3rd world countries.

It's not that the 3rd world is irresponsible and "can't be bothered" taking vaccines. It's a case of them not being able to afford it.

As for the months of toxic drugs you speak of, that is to treat TB, not to control it. If you have a working vaccine then the concern is not with controlling the spread of infection through treatment, but rather through pre-emptive vaccinations.

Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 6:04 am

Actually, now I think about it I didn't have the TB shot - I had the test. They used an instrument to make a circle of dots on our forearm and depending on any reaction they could tell whether we'd been exposed to TB and/or were immune? It's so long ago now I can't really remember but I recall that some kids needed the shots and some didn't depending on their skin test result. But when my flatmate was diagnosed with TB in 1986 I do know how surprised everyone was because we (wrongly) believed it was one of those illnesses that killed wan heroines in Victorian novels, but wasn't a problem in the late 20th century.

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How effective is the TB vaccine?

Quote:

The U.S. does not recommend the vaccine for all children because it is not highly effective (see Effectiveness of the Vaccine) and may cause confusion for physicians when trying to interpret a TB skin test. The Netherlands is the only other country that has not recommended this vaccine for all children.

Studies examining vaccine�s effectiveness against tuberculosis of the lungs have drawn various conclusions; however, one large study found the vaccine to protect about 50% of recipients. Effectiveness rates are highest among those who get the vaccination in early childhood.

Those who receive the vaccine may still develop TB, but approximately 80% of recipients are protected from developing life-threatening forms of the disease, such as miliary disease and meningitis (inflammation of the brain).

NNii

Again, not trying to defend failure, but TB is not as simple to control with vaccines.

--J.D.

Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 6:16 am

^^^ It is not effective because TB is back and worse than before... hence my original post...

I feel like a hamster on a wheel...

Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 6:17 am

*YAWWN* - Sorry, nodded off-topic.

As we've resolved the original issue and everything is just peachy, let us move onto the next drama.

Laughing

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