Can someone explain the use of steriods when a child has breathing problems???

[GreatAuntieWurly]

DS2 was rushed to hospital monday evening with breathing difficulties. He turned grey, both his lips turned purple, his breathing was very shallow, was fighting to stop himself from coughing everytime he took a breath in. Anyway it took 3 lots of nebuliser at the hospital to stabilise his breathing. Chest x-ray came back with a slight shadow on one of his lungs. Paediatrician was quite confident that it is just a viral thing rather then anything more serious. Has given his a ventalin pump which he is having every 2 hours and also steriods, which to be honest I have no idea what the steriods are really for.

He is still quite ill and has stages where he sounds quite breathless so am a little concerned that the medicine is not doing what it should.

Sorry to rant, but anyone got any advice??

i think it helps to reduce inflammation in some way

The steroids will be to reduce any allergic reaction by dampening the immune system locally. He is probably experiencing asthma; it's quite common to get asthma as a response to an infection as opposed to dust or mites. It takes quite a while to work though, and of course if it's a virus then you just have to wait for him to get better. If he's really breathless I would take him back in though- he might need nebulising again.

Forgot to add- I know how worrying it can be, just hang in there and if you're concerned go back.

suppose I just hoped that he would be magically all better when he started taking them

Hi,

Is it prednisolone he's having? My ds2 has had this several times now as simple colds turn to breathing problems. He was nebulised in a and e only last week. The steroids normally help quite quickly in so far as another episode doesn't occur. It can take a few days for them to get better though as previous poster stated they still have the viral infection, the steroids help damp down the bodies allergic reactions. and we were advised to keep quiet and resting as much as possible - non stop cbeebies in our case, also regular calpol to keep temperature down. If he's still having trouble I would go back asap to gp or a and e. We were advised that if we are using more than 4-6 puffs an hour and not helping to go straight to a and e. I hope he improves soon.