DD very wheezy and panting but fine in herself

[Paddlechick666]

Hi All

DD has been full of cold all week. She's had a nasty cough at night but not too bad during the day except when she's sleeping.

She's been on a-bs since Thursday.

She's fine in herself, hasn't had a temp for a day or so.

But, she's just finished dinner and is really wheezing and panting altho she doens't really seem short of breath.

I was about to bath her and give her a dose of medi-sed before bed but I'm freaking out now that her breathing will get worse and slow especially on the medi-sed.

If I ring NHS direct they'll just say to go to A&E won't they?

Could it be asthma? DH has bad asthma.........

TIA, am freaking out, so hard to hear her breathingh this way.

[Twiglett]

can she talk? is she old enough?

can she talk without catching a breath?

[Twiglett]

medised wouldn't help wheezing would it? I would have thought you'd need salbutomal to relieve her airways

it might not be asthma but I personally think breathing problems should be taken seriously

is her tummy sucking in under her ribcage?

[Paddlechick666]

sorry should've said, she's 13 months so not talking yet.

she can make her usual noises and chatty sounds without gasping tho.

thanks

[misdee]

what the skin doing around her rib cage?

[Paddlechick666]

tummy seems reasonably stationary.

i give the medi-sed to relieve her blocked nose.

perhaps that's the problem, she's so stuffed up she can't breathe thru her nose?

[Paddlechick666]

her diaphram is certainly moving but it's not heaving.

she's very tired.

every few breraths she sort of holds as well.

[Twiglett]

if you're breastfeeding then put some breastmilk in her nose to relieve the hard snot

if you're not bf'ing then use saline drops

either way use a nasal aspirator to remove hard snot

[purpleturtle]

Ds has had a few episodes like this. Last time we took him to the children's hospital, where we were told it was a WAVE - Wheeze associated with viral episode. Basically, he'd had a cold, and it had caused him to be wheezy. They gave us a salbutomol inhaler to use for a day or two. They did x-ray his chest, and ruled out asthma. They could see he was fine in himself - tearing around like any healthy nearly 4 yr-old! Perhaps your dd has this.

The hospital's concern was that he was working very hard to breathe, and although it wasn't bothering him particularly, they didn't want his body to hit exhaustion point and pack up. Fair enough, really!

[AllieBongo]

does she seem to do a little cough noise after she holds her breath?

[misdee]

i'd go to out of hours or A+E myself.

[Twiglett]

oh sorry .. I think I'd do the A&E thing too because breathing is not something I like to mess about with

[Saturn74]

I think it would be wise to get her checked out, TBH.
It is very tiring for a child, and they can go downhill quite quickly, as I'm sure you know.
Not trying to scaremonger, but spent four nights in hospital with DS2 last month, with similar viral/asthma problems - he hadn't had an attack for almost four years, and I kick myself because I don't think I reacted quickly enough.

[AllieBongo]

my dd was like this. it was bronchilitis, and she needed steroids. If i'd have left it any longer she would have been in hospital. I don't mean to worry you! At her age the emergency dr would be happy to see her

[Paddlechick666]

okay A&E then.

bm up the nose has cleared it but she's still panting/wheezing.

thanks ladies.

hopefully will be back later to advise!

[AllieBongo]

i won't be back on later. hope she's ok, and you also

[Saturn74]

I hope she's feeling much better soon.

[Twiglett]

how is she?

[Paddlechick666]

just back from the hospital.

i'm exhausted. 1 hours sleep.

severe viral chest infection. nebulisor, steroids, inhaler, stats really low.

6 hours in a&e then the ward.

spent most of the day waiting for meds to come thru.

now on 4 hourly inhaler so have to wake her at 10pm

we're drained.

thanks for all your advice/help last evening - feels like last year!

[Twohootsunderthemistletoe]

paddlechick - did they say it could be asthma? I ask as DD been put on an inhaler tonight from GP (have posted about it here on health). I have/had asthma (severe as a child) and I think DD may have it too I know they don't like to diagnose it as this age though (she is 19 mo).

Glad things are improving. It's awful as you can see/her they are wheezing but you don't necessarily know how bad it is for them IYSWIM.

[AllieBongo]

glad you went paddlechick. hope she's on the mend. try and rest when she does

[aDadOnMumsnet]

hey paddlechick, you did the right thing. have been in the same situation ourselves a couple of times and it is really stressful.

i just wanted to say that you can give the inhaler while they are sleeping, particularly if using the clicky volumatic ones - as the click tells you if it's going in ok. If your dd is exhausted it's probably a less stressful way of doing it rather than waking her up.

[Paddlechick666]

morning

well, it was a restless night. she took the 10pm one fine but the 2am one left her twitching all over the place. the drug seems to do this to her sometimes.

she finally dropped off around 5am so i skipped the 6am one till 9am. her breathing was better so i thought she'd be better sleeping.

twohoots, i asked about asthma but they said this didn't affect the chances of her developing it. i have excema and dh has asthma so she's high-ish risk anyway. hope your LO is on the mend soon. it is dreadful to watch and listen to them breathing.

aDad, thanks for the advice. I thought this too but overnight nurse on the ward said I couldn't do that and insisted on sitting her up etc to take it. Having said that, she was a bit of a dragon and sent me out of the room coz dd was crying with the statement "well, she'll just have to get used to it!"

i think i'll try it on her whilst she sleeps tonight tho. thanks for the tip. it's a normal inhaler with a spacer - so you push for a puff.

thanks again all, she's deff brighter today.

[aDadOnMumsnet]

great it's all moving in the right direction!

I guess ignore me then! I am not a professional of course but this is what I was told with dd1. Particularly with a child so young, getting them to breathe correctly when awake isn't that easy is it?

Anyway, it sounds like things are going to keep getting better for you. FWIW we went pretty much a year between episodes like this, thankfully, and it doesn't necessarily mean your dd will develop full blown asthma either.

[foxinsocks]

I used to give ventolin when they were sleeping - I'm not sure how well it worked but as they both hated taking it (at the time - now they are quite good!), I took the decision that they were probably getting more in their lungs than when I was holding them down and trying to force them to keep the mask on!!

If she is really really wheezy in the night, it might be better to wake her up anyway.

Btw, when mine were small, ventolin used to make them a bit hyper for a little while afterwards as well.