should i take my son to the hospital

[disneymouse]

for coughing continously..he just came back from the doctor for coughing/asthma and they gave him a nebulator to breath and said if he is still coughing to bring him back in 3 days..well, on the way home he is still coughing worse then when i brought him there!
the teacher said he was coughing all day (no one called to tell me!!!)
he came home and threw up in the bathroom ...he's in the bath right now and the steam has helped alittle.. the cold front has really flared up his allergies and i have never seen him cough so much lately

 

[Toby'sFriend]

Call your Doctor, describe the treatment you've given, and tell him that he seems worse.

 

[vivilasvegas]

If he's coughing to the point that he's throwing up, has asthma.....yes, I would take him back.

 

[disneymouse]

thank you for your response. the office is closed now. so i'm waiting for my husband to come home and then decide what we are going to do. the nebulator really made him much worse then he already was to begin with.

 

[JELBoggio]

I would bring him in, especially if he is coughing non-stop like that. I know what it is like, that was DS last week and we were at the ped's 4 times in two weeks because of it. The nebulizer isn't helping? What is in it? My DS has asthma too which flares up with colds. We use pulmicort and albuteral in the nebulizer. I take him into the shower for the steam and then give him the nebulizer. If that isn't working, bring him back. Do you have an epi-pen at home?

If you are in doubt, call your doctor now and he/she will tell you what to do next. If I am ever in doubt, I would rather take him in than not and worry all night long. Good luck! My thoughts are with you.

 

[Christine]

Well, I would said "yes" only because this happened to me before.

My son has allergies and asthma but my pediatrician never really took it seriously. One time he had a cold and it flared it up and my doctor admitted him to our local hospital. He stayed over one night and they let him out before they should. He still was terrible. They referred me to a specialist. We got that under control. Then he got another virus and he was away from home. My DH was taken him to the local emergency room there and THEY weren't doing a good job. When he got home, he looked half dead (and that was with nebulizer use). I called my son's specialist and they had me take him to the hospital (the good hospital) that is about an hour from my house. They admitted him from the ER and he stayed for 6 days.


My point is that if your son is doing this much coughing (and it's making him throw up), this is serious and you need to go. He needs IV meds and monitoring. I'm serious. I am so unfamiliar with asthma as no one in my family has ever had it and I felt like such an idiot about it when my son was admitted.

The problem is, many doctors don't take it seriously enough. Now I love my pediatricians but they are not well-versed in asthma. I would say to go to the ER and have him monitored (get him a spirometery test done and a pulse/oxygen test). He should be over 95 in pulse/ox or he should be admitted. Then find yourself and pediatric lung doctor to monitor your son's asthma.

 

[daisyduck123]

the teacher said he was coughing all day (no one called to tell me!!!)

In the teacher's defense...you would not believe how many kids come to school & cough all day. And usually if someone is coughing "all day", then they were coughing at home & mom sent them anyway.

I do hope your DS is feeling better soon. What a way to spend Valentine's Day. Poor thing!

 

[OhMari]

Throwing up with Asthma isn't really a bad thing though-it gets the gunky stuff out of his lungs so he can breath better. It sounds like he needs a steroid also to take the swelling down in his breathing passage and his lungs.
All 4 kids of mine had asthma-it was a nightmare at times.

The medicine for the nebulizer should help him breath, but the steroid will take down the swelling. 20 years ago-they put kids in the hospital-now they expect the parents to administer this medicine-it is very scary.

We left our pediatrician and we go to the Children's Hospital at the University of Madison WI. What a world of difference having an expert. 20 yrs later-now our Pediatrician finally knows about the different meds to use.

 

[JELBoggio]

thank you for your response. the office is closed now. so i'm waiting for my husband to come home and then decide what we are going to do. the nebulator really made him much worse then he already was to begin with.

Don't wait for DH, your doctor should have a service and they can be paged and they will call you back.

 

[JELBoggio]

PS - the steriod that helped my son was Orapred, but we have also used prednisolone.

 

[janette]

Does your Dr have an emergency number? The nebulizer might have made it worse because it loosened tubes but he should feel some relief. How often did they say to use it? How old is your DS? Did they test his oxygen level?

I'd be concerned because usually the coughing gets worse at night, it is an indication he isn't getting air and if it is non-stop you'll probably need to go to the ER unless given different instructions from your Dr.

 

[RadioNate]

Call your DR's service. If your Dr doesn't have an after hours service I'd start looking for a new DR after taking DS to a urgent care facility. I try to avoid hospital emergency rooms but that's just me. Most everywhere I've lived has an immediate care center rather than the ER.

 

[janette]

Call your DR's service. If your Dr doesn't have an after hours service I'd start looking for a new DR after taking DS to a urgent care facility. I try to avoid hospital emergency rooms but that's just me. Most everywhere I've lived has an immediate care center rather than the ER.

When dealing with asthma I'd opt for the ER, they are usually better prepared and know how to treat asthma attacks. Some immediate care centers just don't have the expertise.

 

[Mimi Q]

My younger DD has asthma. I would definitely call the dr's after hours number and describe his symptoms.

 

[mickeyfan2]

In the interim you can give him strong coffee. Caffine opens up the Bronchial tubes. I have asthma and coughing can get worse after a nebulizer but the condition is improving. HIf he stops coughing then get him to the Emergency Room ASAP.

ETA: It is not uncommon for asthmatic children to throw up during an attack. They are using their stomach muscles to breath with. Do you have a peak flow meter?

 

[Puffy2]

If it were my son (and I'm a nurse) and he was still coughing or having any difficulty breathing, I'd put him in the car NOW and go to the ER. They can call your ped. from their if they want to .

 

[MsDisney23]

You know I would take him, I feel better safe than sorry! I hope he is feeling better soon.

 

[disneymouse]

i found the number to the after hours service for his doctor. they told me the nebulizer can cause more coughing because the muscus is breaking up. they said he can take over the counter medicine along with his treatments to help. he finally has stopped coughing now and is playing.
this is all new to me and seeing him coughing like that freaked me out. it's a helpless feeling.

 

[momof2inPA]

Glad he's feeling better. I would call and ask for a steroid prescription if his coughing is worse tonight or tomorrow. It will clear his lungs up so much faster.

 

[EthansMom]

On the one hand, coughing is good because it helps bring up mucus from the chest. On the other hand, kids with asthma will often have extra coughing when they can't breathe.

For medecine, my kids' pediatrician prefers that they have a decongestant and/or expectorant. She doesn't like them to have anything with a cough suppressant in it, because the coughing helps to clear the air passages.

Both of my kids are on inhaled steroids during winter months and albuterol when they have viruses, so our nebulizer gets quite a workout. I have to stay vigilant about looking for signs of bronchitis/pnuemonia (wheezing when breathing), ear infections (crankiness and rubbing ears), and croup (barking cough). I'm really learning to get ahead of these illnesses. The first day one of the kids starts sniffling, I increase his/her inhaled steroid to twice a day and add albuterol.

If your son's coughing gets bad at night, you might try a long, hot shower -- always seems to help my kids when we're in a bind. You may also want to ask your pediatrician about having a nebulizer at home or an inhaler -- it definately helps that I can start the kids on treatments as soon as they have a cold instead of waiting until the asthma gets bad.

I hope your son is feeling better soon!