Recurrent bronchiolitis - scared and spiralling

[Dandelionchaser]

My 14mo DS had bronchiolitis from RSV at the end of November, with 3 nights in hospital. Then again at Christmas, bronchiolitis with a different virus and 2 nights in hospital. He's started coughing again today 😥 I'm so scared I'm spiralling. I don't want it to happen again! Both those times it was a cough on day 1, then a fever from day 2 getting worse and faster breathing and then difficulty breathing by day 5 and into hospital. Like a slow motion train wreck. He's going to have a fever tomorrow, sent home from nursery, off all bloody week and using loads of time off work, then hospital over the weekend with us struggling to find someone to look after older DD. Why is everything so shit? I feel like this is going to be constant with every cold until summer landing us in A&E.

If his breathing is fast then that's the point to intervene, don't wait several more days with his history. Hopefully they can get it under control earlier for him. It sucks though, I do get it. We're admitted to hospital every year with my son's breathing.

We did go in earlier last time but got sent home because he wasn't bad enough for oxygen yet! It was a total waste of time. It's annoying there's no treatment for bronchiolitis. He had croup in October which was simpler because he just had the steroids and it was sorted.

Oh OP. I feel for you. Both of my children have had countless episodes of bronchiolitis and wheeze. My older one is a lot better now that he’s older but I’m still dealing with it with my younger one - any respiratory virus and we need a trip to A&E. They’ve both been admitted many times each, with the longest stay over a week.

By the time they were 14 months, DS1 had been admitted 4 times and DS2 8 times. So whilst it’s terrifying, it’s not an extreme amount of episodes for your DS so don’t panic fearing the worst. And as he gets older, there is more treatments they can try to manage, prevent and treat (inhalers, steroids, nebulisers).

Other things we try when they have a cold are a humidifier, piriton, and a menthol plug. And if we are concerned, we go to A&E.

It’s a horrible thing to worry and stress about, but once they’re about 3ish it should massively improve.

Oh and maybe buy an oximeter for home? They’re a nightmare to use with a wriggling toddler but I can get readings when he’s asleep.

Have you got an inhaler? DD was given a salamol (?) inhaler and spacer to use which helped us avoid hospital with future viruses.

as an aside, we realised when she was older that she had huge tonsils & adenoids (had them out due to sleep apnoea), and I think all the bronchiolitis was related to that. So do keep an eye out for any symptoms of apnoea or recurrent tonsillitis etc later on - ask for ENT referral if so.

@Frogbear I'm sorry that's a lot of times 😥 it's "only" twice for us and he did have a normal reaction to colds before so maybe a normal one is still possible...just doesn't feel that way after the couple of months we've had. Oximeter is a good shout.
@minipie no the inhalers at hospital didn't do anything. They said it was bronchiolitis rather than viral wheeze, because of that.

Unfortunately I think it’s quite normal that once they’ve had it or are prone to it, that they keep getting it.

Whilst it’s hard to hard to focus on at the time, they do quickly outgrow it (and croup).

That’s right - salbutamol inhalers won’t work on bronchiolitis, only wheeze. Also, at 14 months he might be too young for it to have any effect at all. Something to do with the receptors needed for it not having been developed yet. But often, children who get bronchiolitis go on to get a wheeze so it might be worth getting one from your GP so you have it to hand. DS2 started to respond to salbutamol from around 11 months and several times doctors in A&E doubted me until they saw it for themselves, so it is handy to have at home.

But as FuzzyWolf says, most children do grow out of it as their lungs get bigger and stronger. It tends to peak at 2.5 years and with DS1, we saw a huge improvement after he turned 3.

I appreciate that saying all this won’t change how you feel. Despite how “experienced” we are with this, I still get filled with fear and anxiety the second I see a runny nose and spend days feeling utter dread. But know you’re not alone and therefore doctors are very very experienced in how they handle it.

Ah ok, I may be misremembering, it was a while back. DD definitely had bronchiolitis at least once and was in hospital with it, another suspected time it was managed with a mask at the GPs (so maybe it wasn’t bronch?). We did have an inhaler but maybe that was more because every winter virus went straight to her chest.

Mine were given steroids to keep at home just incase rather than waiting for it to get so bad they ended up in hospital.