Bronchitus and Cortisone

[MmeLindt]

A friend's DS has a bad case of bronchitus and has been prescribed cortisone.

Another friend has questioned the giving of cortisone.

Has anyone any experience of this?

bump

orally or inhaled? Depends what is causing the bronchitis. It is viral or bacterial? how long has it been going on? Is asthma suspected? your friend needs to ask the doctor these kind of questions.

ds has had oral prednisilone for asthma which is a steroid similar to cortisone.
usually given for a period of 5 days to reduce the inflammation in the airways.
Is a life saver when he has it-quite miraculous.

She has been given two suppositories (very common in Germany).

He started coughing on Tuesday, threw up on Wednesday because he was coughing so much, pretty phlegmy. He was at the doc yesterday.

I should keep out of it, but the second friend (the one questioning the giving of cortisone) is annoying me by ALWAYS giving unwanted advice about alternative treatments and generally being critical if we rely on conventional medicines.

if he is pleghmy in his chest and not usually asthmatic it could be bacterial = antibiotics. Even more so if he's had a fever. But I'm not a doctor.

I will email her and find out how he is doing today. Thanks for the info.

We have had cortesone suppositories prescribed to use in an emergency if DS's coughing and wheezing got really bad - at that stage he was 12 months. We've used them twice in a year and they made a huge difference - the poor mite was able to sleep which helped him recover. As an aside we've now made his room as dust-free as we can since we suspect he's like his Daddy and is allergic to dust and housemites. Sorry but I can't remember what the brand name was since I don't have them anymore. HTH.

Thanks, MrFibble. I seem to remember getting cortisone suppositories for DD as an emergency measure when she was allergic to nuts. I understood it to be something to give her when she really suffering. As I understand it, the issues with cortisone are when it is taken long term.

That's my understanding too MmeLindt. We also have an emergency cortisone cream for DD which is supposed to be used for skin flare-ups. I think I use it only two, maybe three times a year now. I spoke to her doctor when it was prescribed and he said that long term use isn't good but occasional use over several days to reduce a skin flare up shouldn't pose a problem.

My ds recently had 2 very bad cases of croup, we ended up in the local children's hospital a few times here where we live in Rome. He was prescribed high doseage cortisone treatment to be taken in 2 doses both times. The pediatrician we saw said that while cortisone is not ideal for a young child the issues are completely outweighed by the alternative of a child's airways closing up and so it was essential. She also said that a high doseage over a short period of time is the best solution. It had a miraculous effect in a very short timescale with DS and we now (under advice from the pediatrician) keep a stock of it so if he gets it again we can treat him quickly at home to cut the risks. My FIL (who always has an opinion!)queried the wisdom of prescribing cortisone but as it stopped my 3 year old son gasping for breath and panicking I was happy to go with it! Plus the hospital we went to has the reputation of being the best children's hospital in Italy so I was happy to follow their advice. Hope your friend's DS is on the mend now.

steroids are fine for bronchitis.....any itis is inflammation and steroids are anti inflammatories. Short term they are a big help.