Croup- Advise/ Reassurance

[claires3a]

Hi Mums,

I need some advise and I apologies for the long post.

My almost 6 year old is getting croup 6-7 times a year. she is currently sick with croup that started in the last week of September, we done the usual, keeping her cool and comfortable she has the air mister etc. She was admitted into hospital on Oct 6th and given steroids as she usually does when she's taken in but its still ongoing and she's not getting much let up.

I have been in and out of hospital with her since she was 3 when this all started. I was at the GP once again yesterday who is basically calling me a liar, that she hasn't got croup she cant of ever had croup as she's too old to get it, im sitting here with a doctor telling him that there must be a root cause but hes adamant that she's fine, yet every time she's admitted to hospital we are told its croup you can here the bark of croup, its croup.

I have no idea how to get her the proper help she needs when her own doctor wont help me get her checked properly. ( this is the same doctor my husband has seen his whole life and a man with no kids who once told my in-laws a temp of 39.8 is normal when they took my toddler husband in to be seen) everyone knows this doctor is useless and I feel like my hands are tied.

She has been checked for asthma, clear lungs. She is constantly (even when she hasn't been suffering with croup) taking in big breaths, when active like running or playing (again even when not sick ) she will get coughing fits.

So I feel this croup is masking a bigger issue.

The main reason behind my post is to see if any other mummy's have had the same with their young child and was able to get to the bottom of it and could point me in the right direction to someone to speak to.

Had to register to reply to this as I was in a similar position a few months ago and had the same disbelief that a child could get croup so often.
My DD is 4 and has asthma but was getting croup almost weekly in the Spring this year. We were seen by a consultant and given steroids to administer ourselves at home as it was happening so often. She had previously done allergy testing and found some pollen/grass allergies. The thing that has made the difference though is being prescribed a daily dose of antihistamine. She started this and within a few weeks she had completely stopped any symptoms and hasn’t had croup since.
If you’re concerned about asthma the nurse helpline that Asthma + Lung UK run is really helpful and they first suggested the croup could be allergy related.

Not my child but me. I was like that at the same age. Never figured out what caused it. I still don't have asthma or anything. I did just grow out it it

There’s a group on Facebook called Pediatric Recurrent Croup that I would recommend you join. Lots of similar families on there. My son is nearly 8 and has largely grown out of croup but we always had to have emergency Dex steroids at home. His was not asthma or allergy related just a narrow windpipe. We had 2 consultants - 1 respiratory, 1 ENT and no major cause was found. During colds I found that regular ibuprofen (not paracetamol) was essential to control the swelling that causes the bark. But when younger he always had the Dex, something like nearly 15 visits to A&E in one year was the worst of it. Other families on that group use budeoniside and nebulisers. A lot of Drs don’t know much about recurrent croup but you’ll learn a lot by seeing the experiences others have had.