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Original poster

DS ill on holiday - when to seek help?

54 replies

whereismysleep · 29/07/2023 06:33

We're away on a family holiday in the UK.

DS was off from school 3 weeks ago feeling generally unwell - temperature, sore throat and a cough. We all had it.

Although he seemed to get better at first like the rest of us, his cough hasn't gone and I was worried enough about it to call the doctor about 10 days ago as it seemed really chesty. We could only get a phone appointment though, the doctor said not to worry and if he was still coughing in 2 weeks to bring him in.

On holiday his cough has got worse. He's coughing in the night and kind of whooping - he's waking up and struggling to breath. It's horrible to see (and for him of course!).

A family member with us who used to work as a nurse has given him one of her asthma pumps to use when he's struggling to breath, which did seem to help on the first night he had it. He says he's generally feeling unwell, (although he doesn't look that unwell from the outside, no temperature and he's up and about).

I had planned to take him to the doctor as soon as we get home on Tuesday but should I be acting quicker than that? He can take it easy here just as much as if he was at home.

He's had covid jabs (a while back), his whooping cough jab and us up to date with all other jabs. I did test him for covid when he was first ill but only the once so not 100% reliable I guess. We're a 6+ hour journey from home and don't have the car with us, we came by train.

WWYD?

OP posts:
Original poster
whereismysleep · 31/07/2023 13:45

Straysocks · 30/07/2023 12:03

That dose is not a preventative dose, it's for a flare up. We need to implement a four hourly regime like this (through the night too) if my child has a bit of a cold. It opens the tubes in the lungs. Your GP may want to give a preventative inhaler following on from this. This will not help if the inflammation in higher up in the respiratory tract, like a older-kid version of croup (Cough Variant Asthma), then steroids are necessary.

Have a look at Asthma UK. If it's happening at night and barking it may be this. I have found a lot of GPS don't consider this but it happens a lot to my son and we have a rescue dose of meds at home. Great advice to record. Does it alleviate if you go out doors at night? Need wet air, warm and dry air will exacerbate it. You can probably find a recording online to see if it sounds the same. Do you know the signs of Respiratory Distress, sucking in of clavicle and under ribs - look for this. It's not unreasonable to think this could be a viral response rather than asthma but really need a good GP/asthma nurse to monitor.

Hope all ok.

Thanks, that's really useful.

Sounds like your regime is a bit different if you're doing every 4 hours throughout the day? DS has been told 4 times a day plus as he needs it if he's struggling to breathe (up to 10 puffs).

Does your DC take it to manage symptoms on top of the 4 hourly doses? If so, if they've taken it to manage symptoms do you then skip the scheduled dose? (Wish I'd thought to as the nurse this!)

Will check out Asthma UK, thanks.

OP posts:
Original poster
whereismysleep · 31/07/2023 13:46

voxnihili · 30/07/2023 11:57

My DD (4) was prescribed a blue inhaler to be used in a similar way earlier this year after coughing for about 2 months. She’d previously had antibiotics which hadn’t helped. Night times had been awful with her coughing and sounding like she couldn’t breathe properly. She was also being sick from coughing so much, as well as coughing up handfuls of phlegm several times a day. I was sceptical about the inhaler but after a week the cough had gone.

Hope your DS gets better soon.

That's really encouraging, thanks for sharing, gives me a bit of hope!

OP posts:
Straysocks · 01/08/2023 00:28

@whereismysleep He uses a preventative inhaler so doesn't use the blue one at all unless he's having a flare up. When that happens then he takes both, they do different things. If you need the blue one regularly then your prescription needs looking at by a specialist HCP. It should be immediate relief, not Plan A. He can take ten puffs, just like you've been advised, it at that point we need to call our A&E to let them know we're on our way. There is a balance to be struck with how much & how frequently- if you need to give 10 you probably need some help.

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Straysocks · 01/08/2023 00:37

@whereismysleep I meant to also say that things can change quickly with breathing so really good to know where the boundaries are of what's a safe/monitoring/unsafe place to be. This could be just a short-term thing but definitely get information from a trusted source.

Re the croup type of thing, lots of HCPs will still see croup as a kid thing. Adults can and do get it but this more likely to be recognised as CVA. Oxygen SATS can look ok whilst airway is inflamed and swelling, no amount of blue inhaler will help this. Listen for 'stridor' sounds.

Hopefully you won't need any of this!

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