Can kids get bronchitis?

[golfgal]

Well I spent the day looking for a new pediatrician. I found 2 that are possiblities. I called my doctor and asked and she gave me the name of the one she uses. The only bad thing is I can't get dd in either of them before we leave on friday.

I have an appointment tomorrow to take her back to the office but it is with the nurse practioner. I told them I refused to see either of the 2 doctors dd saw yesterday. I will see what she says, and if I still don't agree I will take her to the er. I feel for any of the diagnosis they have thown out they need a xray otherwise it is just guess work, but no they insist they don't need one. But I know that the child does not have asthma, you don't just wake up one day and develope asthma.

She is still having an awful cough, a stuffy nose. and she is still complaining of a sore throat, but strep came back negitive. She is not wheezing quite as much though. I still say it is bronchitis. Oh and I did ask my doctor about kids not getting bronchitis, she said she had never heard of such a thing. So yes, it is just as I thought, the doctor is just plain ignorant! I'm not sure how she got her MD licence. Maybe inside a cereal box.

I wouldn't be so quick to rule out asthma. My DD's diagnosis of asthma came on the heals of bronchitis. She had gotten bronchitis the previous year as well but we didn't think anything of it. Now, if she gets any kind of cold it goes right to her chest and she starts wheezing. She has never had what most people think of asthma, the gasping for breath attacks, hers is more of a constant cough if she isn't on meds. Wheezing isn't normally associated with bronchitis, which is the swelling of the bronchial tubes, not 'gunk in your chest'. Asthma can kill and I just don't understand dr's that won't diagnose asthma in kids and let them suffer through their symptoms. I still think you need to see an asthma specialist and get the pulmonary function tests done to be sure.

 

[Planogirl]

A doctor once informed me that DS had asthma and pneumonia. It was a surprise for me because DS seemed to be breathing just fine.

He gave us perscriptions and DS took those. However we never went back because again DS seemed to be breathing just fine even when he did strenuous exercise. That's been over a year now so I don't know.

 

[Disney Doll]

Yes, children can get bronchitis. And they can have asthma. And they can have them both at the same time.

As far as pneumonia, it can usually be diagnosed by x-ray. There are times when it cannot, though. My DH had asthma that didn't show up on any x-ray, but his doctor, who is an excellent doctor and diagnostician, was positive he had pneumonia, and treated him accordingly. As our doctor said "An x-ray is only as good as the person reading it".

That being said, based on the first MD's repsonse, I think I'd find a new doctor for my kids!

 

[Freyja]

Yes they can. DS got bronchitis when he was 9!

 

[RadioNate]

I also wanted to point out that not all asthma presents itself in the scary 'asthma attack' that we all picture in our heads. I have asthma and have never had an asthma attack like that. What I get is a cronic shallow cough, coughing fits where I can't catch my breath and don't wheeze yet several ENTs and allergy Drs have all confirmed asthma.

 

[cepmom]

I also wanted to point out that not all asthma presents itself in the scary 'asthma attack' that we all picture in our heads. I have asthma and have never had an asthma attack like that. What I get is a cronic shallow cough, coughing fits where I can't catch my breath and don't wheeze yet several ENTs and allergy Drs have all confirmed asthma.

this is the type of asthma DD8 has....never had a problem with exertion and wheezing...it tends to flare up during allergy season or when she gets a cold. I think most people tend to view asthma only as the "exercise induced asthma attack"

 

[kydisneyfans]

I was diagnosed at age 16 with Asthma during a doctor visit-no tests involved. Our 7 year old just went through the x-ray and testing and was disgnosed with "borderline" asthma.

I would get a 2nd opinion but would not consider the 1st pediatrician crazy yet.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I think your doctors should have offered a better explanation for what they were telling you. Please tell the NP you are not clear on all of this, and ask her to explain it (stick to the medical facts, not gripes about the doctors - regardless of whether it's warranted - you can deal with that later ).

My kids have had pneumonia at various times, once or twice diagnosed without a CXRay. Our pediatrician previously worked in an area without an Xray machine, and she "knows it when she sees it". Bottom line in our case, the treatment wouldn't differ with or without an XRay, and I'd rather not have them exposed if not absolutely necessary. Your case sounds different.

I would not rush to say your docs don't know what they're doing. There are many, many factors to be considered when making any of these diagnoses, it can be very complicated to sort out. Maybe this article will be helpful to you. http://www.emedicine.com/ped/topic288.htm Best wishes.

 

[skooniebird]

I took dd to the doctors yesterday as she has had a sore throat, cough, stuffy nose, and over the weekend started wheezing and saying it was kind of hard to breath.

The doctor listened to her and said "Oh she has asthma". I said "how do you know that" (yes I questioned the doctor )? I asked her if it could maybe be bronchitis? She looked at me and said "kids don't get bronchitis, she has asthma". She said she was sending in the nurse to give her a nebulizer treatment. Now I don't question her needing the breathing treatment, she was wheezing, we had been using our other dd's inhailer over the weekend.

When the nurse came in I asked her to get me another doctor. Well, I sure could hear the comotion (sp?) outside the door. Another doctor came in and listen to dd and said she would come back in after the breathing treatment. She listened to dd after the treatment and said she had pnemonia. She prescribed her an antibiotic, and a albuteral inhailer. Then as she was leaving the room, I asked her about the other doctors dx of asthma. She said, yep she has asthma.

Now about the bronchitis thing, I have never heard that children cannot get bronchitis, my children have had it before. (We had another doctor in another state).

Also, how can you determine a child has asthma with one episode? Plus she had been sick as well as several of her friends. Now I might also add that Dh and other dd have asthma, and she did have some symptoms when she was little. She had rsv and was treated for asthma symptoms when she was younger, but she has not had problems for 6 or 7 years.

I am already in the process of looking for a new doctor for dd's, but is this doctor nuts, and is the other one agreeing as to not to make the other doctor look bad?

Sorry it's so long, I just needed to vent.

I had the opposite problem. From 6 months to 8 years, everytime my DD got a cold she would get horrible barking coughs that lasted forever, kept everyone awake, and could only be eased by taking her in the 3/4 bath and turning the shower on high and filling that room so full of steam you couldn't see. They kept saying it was bronchitis or croup every single time. It was disrupting her classmates and she was miserable weeks at a time. Finally at age 9 we got the pediatrician on call, not her regular one. She made DD run up and down 2 flights of the clinic, listened and figured out it's mild to moderate asthma. Induced only by extreme exercise or a prior bronchial irritation (like a cold). She takes Singulair at night, and has a fast acting inhaler to take 15 minutes prior to soccer games and such. 3 weeks after starting the singulair we have not had one horrible coughing spree in 4 yrs. And she has no side effects from it. Thank you to that wonderful doctor. I probably lost 40 to 50 extra nights of sleep in the first 8 years because of that cough!

 

[skooniebird]

I also wanted to point out that not all asthma presents itself in the scary 'asthma attack' that we all picture in our heads. I have asthma and have never had an asthma attack like that. What I get is a cronic shallow cough, coughing fits where I can't catch my breath and don't wheeze yet several ENTs and allergy Drs have all confirmed asthma.

Same here. Only have a few attacks a year and wasnt even diagnosed until mid 20's. Puff my inhaler and I feel just amazed that something so simple can make such a difference. My brother has the scary kind that is life threatening though. Eek. Never understood how he felt growing up. Even teased him sometimes. Now when he visits, he borrows my inhaler sometimes. LOL

 

[luvdzne]

DD was up late last night thowing up. So I don't know if the antibiotic is making her sick, she was complaining her stomach hurt yesterday. All she had was toast and crackers. She is on azithromycin, the one you take 2 pills the first day, then one pill for 4 days. Poor thing, she is so worried we won't be able to leave on friday.

I wouldn't go as far to say there isn't a possibility that dd could have asthma. Dh (exersise induced) and other dd (seasonal allergy induced) both have asthma, as well as my mom and sister. So I am very aware of signs and symptoms. My problem with the doctor(s) is that this was in fact the first time dd has been seen in the office. She also does not have a history with any signs of asthma. I don't believe a doctor can base a one time incident, and one time of examining a child to diagnose asthma. There has to be other factors to back up a diagnose like that. Like I said before, you don't just wake up one day and have asthma.

 

[golfgal]

DD was up late last night thowing up. So I don't know if the antibiotic is making her sick, she was complaining her stomach hurt yesterday. All she had was toast and crackers. She is on azithromycin, the one you take 2 pills the first day, then one pill for 4 days. Poor thing, she is so worried we won't be able to leave on friday.

I wouldn't go as far to say there isn't a possibility that dd could have asthma. Dh (exersise induced) and other dd (seasonal allergy induced) both have asthma, as well as my mom and sister. So I am very aware of signs and symptoms. My problem with the doctor(s) is that this was in fact the first time dd has been seen in the office. She also does not have a history with any signs of asthma. I don't believe a doctor can base a one time incident, and one time of examining a child to diagnose asthma. There has to be other factors to back up a diagnose like that. Like I said before, you don't just wake up one day and have asthma.

Actually, yes you can wake up one day and have asthma, all it takes is the right trigger to set it off. If a child has allergy induced asthma, like my DS's, it takes a certain build up of histamines in their system to trigger the allergy symptoms, more for some, less for others. Once those benchmarks are met, the allergies kick in and it will be all of the sudden only most people will mistake the symptoms for a cold first. DS13 was treated for allergies for 2 years before he was tested for asthma. His symptoms never really went away in 2 years of different meds. Once he started on asthma meds, his symptoms were gone. This all started one morning he woke up coughing his little brains out and kept going for weeks.

 

[buddy&wooz]

Is there a walk-in clinic type place you can bring her to for now? We have a place in town that can do xrays and other testing right there. But my son has been diagnosed with pneumonia without an xray before, the doctor said she heard fluid deeper in his chest than it would be with bronchitis.

My oldest son has had bronchial episodes at least once a year since he was a baby- usually it's viral and clears up, a couple times he's taken a Z-pac, or used a nebulizer. He had an inhaler briefly, too, but it seemed to irritate more than help. He's never been diagosed with asthma by any of the many doctors he's seen over the years.

 

[dizagain]

DD was up late last night thowing up. So I don't know if the antibiotic is making her sick, she was complaining her stomach hurt yesterday. All she had was toast and crackers. She is on azithromycin, the one you take 2 pills the first day, then one pill for 4 days. Poor thing, she is so worried we won't be able to leave on friday.

I wouldn't go as far to say there isn't a possibility that dd could have asthma. Dh (exersise induced) and other dd (seasonal allergy induced) both have asthma, as well as my mom and sister. So I am very aware of signs and symptoms. My problem with the doctor(s) is that this was in fact the first time dd has been seen in the office. She also does not have a history with any signs of asthma. I don't believe a doctor can base a one time incident, and one time of examining a child to diagnose asthma. There has to be other factors to back up a diagnose like that. Like I said before, you don't just wake up one day and have asthma.

HI...about that particular antibiotic...both DD#2 and myself get very ill (throwing up, etc) with that medication - it just tears us apart.

I would definitely find another doctor. DD#1 had the whole cold symptoms, terrible cough, headaches, and tiredness for three weeks last year. Went to the doctor and they tested her breathing and called it bronchitis/walking pneumonia with asthmatic "symptoms". She went ahead and took an antibiotic (did have sinus infection as well), claritin, and advair for two more weeks and didn't seem much better. Upon her re-check visit, her breathing had improved, but not enough and they immediately sent us to the hospital for x-rays. She did not have pneumonia, so she continued the claritin and advair for another two weeks and finally improved. I was pleased with the way they treated her.


Good luck to you and hope you DD feels better for your trip!

 

[cruisnfamily]

I'll update you on our saga...

DS is still having horrendous sinus headaches. I called the dr back today and he isn't really concerned about the headaches(which i thought might signal a sinus infection) but is concerned that he is still just as congested as he was. No cough but lots and lots of chest congestion. He wants to give the advair another day to work and if the chest congestion isn't clearing by Friday, he wants to do a chest Xray. And, he wants us to add sudafed to the pharmacy DS is already taking. He is now taking: Claritin, Singulair, Advair inhaler, motrin, and Sudafed. As well as Mylanta for when his drip makes him naseous.

So, the saga continues...I guess the Doctor is thinking pnemonia or something but he hasn't said. He said to just call him with an update on Friday.