Didn't know croup could be so severe!!!!

[chlochlo]

Got back from a&e with DS at 3 this morning.

He woke up at 11:55 making a horrible noise as he tried to breath his lips were blue and he was a horrible grey colour DP phoned 999 DS looked terrified it was like he was suffocating he couldn't talk or any thing.
Ambulence came within minutes took one look at him and rushed us to a&e his oxygen levels were 79% at a&e they diagnosed severe croup and gave him steriods and oxygen. He showed no symptoms and was fine when i put him to bed I'm terrified its going to happen tonight

DS was like that the first time.

You get used to it - and it is not so frightening.

Prop him or the bed up a bit tonight, keep a bowl of water near him - if you have it - put some drops of karvol in, and hang a damp cloth in the room.

If he starts coughing or getting croupy sit in a steamy room, or take him out in the cold (either can help).

Sitting up helps.

Did they explain what happens ? It is laryngitis I think - but because their tubes are so small they can block up. At night when they lay down the tubes dry up a bit, and they are more easily blocked. Hence the propping up and upping the humidity level.

It usually only lasts a couple or three days.

Didn't explain much just gave us an information sheet on when to get help. They said the steriod they have given him will cover him for 24 hours. Should i go and see own gp?

this happened to my dd2 earlier this year...but after the steroids she was fine - they gave her enough strength to cope with it by herself

If he gets wheezy again run the shower on hot and take him into the bathroom - the steam helps.

DS has never had it thankfully but I know a few friends whose children have had it.

It sounds very scary.

no the gp won't be able to give him anything.

I think the steroids stop the airway inflaming.

But basically you can't do much to stop it (other than the things I mentioned) - just learn to recognise it when they wake up coughing in the night, and deal with it calmly. I think it really frightens them and you being calm helps them calm down.

I found also giving cough medicine at the time helps sometimes - maybe just by soothing the linings of the airway.

They are supposed to grow out of it by 5 or 6. How old is yours ?

by the way - you should probably have been given a letter for the GP from the hospital - that will tell tehm what the diagnosis was.

I was advised to give dd ibuprofen before she went to bed because it has anti-inflammatory properties which can help a little. It did seem to reduce the severity of the croup.

He's 23 months he's got chronic asthma so i am used to dealing with that but i didn't have a clue what croup was and couldn't do anything to help. Hospital did say its rare to come on so severe without any warning and usually it stops on the way to hospital but not for ds is didn't it just seemed to carry on for ever, he still seems wheezy and pale this morning.

Message withdrawn

Does it only happen at night, he still sounds a bit croupy when he cries

it is worst at night - but if they have had a bad attack they can still be a bit croaky and coughy during the day.

Look back at past threads - there are quite a few on here - lots of suggestions of what works (some things work for one but not for another).

Thanks going to have a look now

by the way - my DS was about 2.5 the first time he got it - we called an ambulance after ringing 999 - we thought it was an asthma attack. He had a nubuliser in the ambulance and steroids at the hospital.

since then (he is nearly 4 now) he has had maybe 10 attacks - none as bad as the first, and often the precautions I mentioned have managed to stop attacks developing.

Basically if other in the family have colds than you can expect a croup attack (some people seem to get blocked up noses, others it goes to the throat) - so take precautions if you can.

megglevache, I still have dd's monitor on most nights and she's nearly 5! She has asthma of a kind.... most of the time she's fine, but if she gets a cold and starts to wheeze she can deteriorate VERY quickly, and has been hospitalised 4 times. Even now I tend to "jump" if I hear her coughing. I only have the monitor on when I'm downstairs though. When I come upstairs to bed, I check her and turn it off!

Dp thought it was asthma too but after 5 puffs of inhalor there was no difference and whilst waitng for the ambulence was instructed to give another 5 but still no relief so was glad when breathing started to calm down after steriods.

My DS who was 8m at the time had a barking cough during the night. The next morning we took him to the walk in centre to get him checked out. They said he had a temp and his sats wernt as high as they liked. They advised us to take him to a&e as a precaution. Within an hour he had gone from a bit pale and playing with a toy to being lifeless and grey in my arms. They gave him oxygen and steriod nebulizers 4 in total. Then they wired him up to a heart monitor and they where all set to give him some adrennalin, They explained to us that if this didnt work they would take him and paralize him so he could be intubated to give his body a chance to recover. Lucky for us his sats rose a tiny bit and they held off with the adrenalin. He stayed in hospital for 2 days and was sent home with a syringe of the steroid to be given if it happened again. They told us if we had waited another half an hour to bring him in to hospital we would have lost him.

Been to see gp today as Ds has been really wheezy he is on a five day course of steriods and to up blue inhalor to five puffs.