Manic and wheezy with chicken pox, is this normal?

[threefeethighandrising]

DS (3yo) is on day 4 of Chicken Pox. I knew he was bouncing off the walls a bit but we put put it down to cabin fever until I tried to put him down to sleep.

Then I realised quite how manic he is! It's like he's had a massive dose of caffeine (he hasn't). His breathing is fast and shallow and he's all over the place, he can't settle for a minute. You can hear his breathing too, i guess you'd call it wheezing - it's very breathy IYKWIM. Not to the point that I'm massively worried about him, but a bit concerned I'd say.

He's normally an energetic boy but this level of mania is out of character.

Plus it's gone 9pm, he's been up since 6.45, he should be tired! When he's over-tired he gets naughty and grumpy, he's not, he's just manic!

Is this from the Chicken Pox?

I'd be concerned by rapid, shallow breathing. Is he asthmatic? I don't remember DS getting manic or wheezy with CP but it was a long time ago now (12 years ago).

Thanks for the reply.

His breathing doesn't seem so rapid when he's up and about as he's bouncing off the walls so it seems appropriate for the activity he's doing.

However it's when we try to get him to lie down that it's obvious that he simply can't calm down.

I think I will speak to the doctor about asthma, it's not the first time I've wondered, and both DP and I have it in our immediate family. Don't know if it's relevant but he got sick once when he was about 1yo and had to have an inhaler until he got better.

And when i tried to put him to bed he was still wheezy.

has anyone else experienced this?

Has he got a fever? Pneumonia is very rarely a complication of chickenpox - ds was very manic when he had pneumonia (but not as result of chickenpox).

Also, has he had any e numbered medicines?

Ibuprofen can make wheezing start / get worse too.

Is he still wheezing?

In the situation you describe I'd have a very low threshold for getting him medically assessed.

He's asleep now. He doesn't have a fever. He's not had any medicine as until now his worst symptom besides the spots was being bored of being stuck inside!

He is still wheezing in his sleep, and coughing. I wonder if he's developing a cold on top of the CP, isn't the worst bit of CP meant to be at the beginning?

Thanks for the advice, I will monitor him closely tomorrow.

If he's no better tomorrow get him checked, pneumonia is a rare complication of CP so I wouldnt risk it.