Croup question

so DS has croup last night was so scary..he woke up and couldn't catch his breath and was struggling to breath, so we called his doctor right away who said put him in a steamy bathroom for 10 minutes and if it didn't improve, take him to the Er. Well luckily the steam helped and he was slowly able to get air into his lungs, and now today he's much better (they say its much worse at nighttime) however, the doctor this morning at his appt, said it may happen again tonight (The doctor did prescribed prednisone just for today which may help lessen it tonight). he also said it should improve starting tomorrow, and eventually turn into a cold. I just was wondering for those whose DC had it, how long before it was completely gone? also is it contagious and for how long if it is?
Thanks!!

Re: Croup question

My DS had a croup attack back in November and he only had the attack 1 night - it was very scary for us but thankfully it didn't reoccur the following night. We have our own nebulizer machine and albuterol sulfate (from previous respitory issues) and I was prepared to use it the 2nd night but we didn't need to.

If you have a humidifier in ds's room run it on high - that's what we did and no attacks since...

Re: Croup question

He had it for the first day (the barking gagging cough which prompted an ER visit, as he has RSV as well). He got a nebulizer tx that night, one the next morning, and then the next afternoon. By the third tx he had more cold-like symptoms, and less scary croup-y ones.

hope your LO feels better soon.

Re: Croup question

My son has had croup 4 times now - one time we wound up in the ER (the first time because I waited too long and it got bad) and it was a very scary experience for me.

Honestly the steroids do wonders for my boy. Within an hour of giving it to him he is 100 times better. Now I make sure I give it to him at the first sound of the croup and it never turns into much.

Usually it will be a cold for a few days afterwards. Definately use a humidifier....it really works wonders on them as well....and you can also take them out in the cold weather too. That makes it better too.

Also, my doctor told me that he can have this until well past three years of age. He got it once this past fall (he is 2 1/2), but I find the attacks are getting less worse as he gets older.

Message edited 1/22/2009 1:21:57 PM.

Re: Croup question

DS had croup Christmas week.
I took him right to the ped. and he was put on prednisone. He stayed on the meds for 3 days and by the 3rd day he was fine.
Now, not sure if this had anything to do with the croupe, but, on Christmas Day we ended up at PM Pediatrics, he developed a double ear infection as well.

Re: Croup question

My ped explained it as: Croup itself it not contagious as it isn't an actually illness in and of itself. What causes the croup (which is a swelling of I think the larynx which causes the stridor and horrific scary sounding cough) can/maybe contagious. It is often caused by colds or respiratory infections but my daughter has gotten it a few times (she gets spasmodic croup - the really horrible one) from allergies. My Ped doesn't believe in giving medications like that unless they go to the ER. Luckily we have been able to get by with steaming from the shower, musinex (to keep the muscus loose) and keeping her in a humid room (humidifier on high) constantly for about 2 days.

It is HORRIBLE and VERY scary to hear I always swear by my video monitor after her first episode where I heard these weird noises on my monitor and saw DD looking very scared when I ran in her room she couldn't talk, she was white as a sheet and had VERY bad stridor and could barely cough. I have severe allergies so I thru in her the bathroom with the shower on hot while I called the ped. We almost went to the ER that night (it took 20 mins to get her to talk and get better).

It gets worse at night b.c I think the mucus can get thick while they sleep.

I hope he has a speedy recovery!!!!

My DD has had it several times so if you have questions feel free to FM me!

Message edited 1/22/2009 3:07:18 PM.

Re: Croup question

DS had croup one night just out of the blue. I had no idea what it was at the time until I called DH at work and held the cell phone up to DS's face. The barking cough was really scary! I spent most of the night with DS in front of a cool mist humidifier and it eventually calmed down. It only happened that one time, but after that incident I would constantly check on DS in the middle of the night (especially whenever he gets a cold).