Repeat Croup attacks & Asthma... - Asthma Message Board

luvmy4 · 04-05-2005, 10:31 AM

My 2yr old DD since she was bron has had some pretty rough boughts of breathing problems. She had RSV twice and croup numerous times. They've decided that she could possibly have asthma, but won't officially diagnose her with it until she is older (sometimes kids outgrow it). Recently she's been having these attacks late into the night. She wakes up and appears to be having an attack along with a bought of croup. But, if you really listen it's more like stridor. Everytime she breathes in and out it's wheezy and sounds like the air slowly being let out of a balloon. She's on neb. treatment of pulmicort (1x a day, will be upped to 2x a day when she has rough boughts) and albuterol as a rescue treatment. Last night really had me scared. The last time I brought her into the Emergency Dept. they said it was just croup with expiratory wheezing and that the albuterol helped the wheezing so they just gave her saline mist treatments via neb. I have yet to figure out the trigger. Maybe the weather? Since it's so up and down here in NY. Cool one day, warm the next. Anyways, my ques. is is there such a thing as chronic croup? And could is be associated with having asthma? No one in around or near us smokes because I'm deathly allergic (I go into shock and my throat closes up). She's occassionally been on pedipred, but it isn't a permanent thing seeing all the risky side effects of being on a oral steroid for prolonged times. Is there a better med out there? TIA!

Angela

MelissaNC · 04-05-2005, 02:52 PM

Yes, there is such a thing as Cronic Croup. My oldest son has it, and has had it for many years. (He is 12.) He was born with birth defects that affect his skull and midface, and also has a narrow airway. When he has an episode, his throat will completely close w/o proper medication. His trigger is usually sickness...if he gets a cold, he is likely to have an episode. Our pediatrician has given us a nebulizer with Pulmacort for at home, along with oral Pediapred to keep on hand. My son can sometimes tell in the morning or afternoon if he's going to have an episode that night (not sure how, but he often can), and we'll go ahead and give him a dose of the Pediapred. Since it takes 6-8 hours to kick in, it's important to get it in him as early as possible. He also gets the Pulmacort every 6 hours when he feels like a possible episode will occur. This has really changed our lives. Before we switched to this pediatrician, we had an old one who had the attitude that 'nothing can be done'. We took many emergency rides in an ambulance because his throat would swell closed and he would stop breathing & turn blue. Then for a while we kept Dechadron at home, but it was really a really nasty liquid and my son hated it, so the new pediatrician suggested the Pulmacort, and it's really helped along with the Pediapred. One thing you might want to ask your doctor is about having a scope test done. (Laperoscopy? I can't remember the name of it, since we had it done years ago.) It's a procedure done in the hospital...they sedate the child and look down their throat with a scope to see if there are any abnormalities there than can be a part of the problem. My son just had a slight sore throat afterwards, which was mainly a good excuse for some ice cream, lol. Anyway, that's how they diagnosed that he has a narrow airway, and knowing that has really helped us to understand why this happens. BTW, he does not have asthma, but he has had the RSV before (when he was 2) and ended up in the hospital with it...rough stuff! Good luck!

Melissa

MelissaNC · 04-05-2005, 02:57 PM

BTW, the difference between the Cronic Croup and Asthma is that the Asthma affects the brachial tubes, while the CC affects the airway itself...the windpipe. When my son has an episode, it's like if he'd inhaled something that was partially blocking his airway. There is lots of loud raspy breathing, and he pulls in really hard to try to get the air in. Sounds a lot like your daughter... Also, he almost always has his episodes in the middle of the night. He's only had 2 that I can remember that were during the daytime...all others have happened around 2:00-3:00 in the morning.

Melissa