Recurring Croupe

[Susan in TN]

We heard a little coughing from my 9yo last night, followed by what sounded like a gasp. Dh went to check on her and she was having trouble breathing. Since she has a tendency to get croup, we carried her over to the freezer to breath in some cold air, which seemed to help quite a bit. She started breathing easier, although she was still frightened, and gave us a couple of good barking coughs which confirmed the croup for us. After a couple hours we put her back to bed, and today she seems perfectly normal - no breathing issues, no coughing.

 

She gets croup maybe once or twice a year. She doesn't have asthma or any allergies (that we know of). She seems a little old to be getting croup, and this was by far the scariest episode - we were getting ready to head to the ER if the freezer air didn't work.

 

Is there anything we can/should be doing for her to avoid this?

[lmrich]

This is my 12 yo. The dr. Took an x-ray and she has a very small larynx. She is croupy today (pollen) we avoid steroids now. She has been hospitalized in the past. Good luck!

[Melissa in Australia]

how frightening!

I would never have thought of the freezer and cold air as a help. Will have to store that idea away in case I ever have a croupy child.

[fhjmom]

My DS had recurrent croup when he was younger, with the last episode being when he was about 6-7 (considered old for croup). We were told that croup is generally from the effects of a infection and that some kids were more prone to it settling in the larynx or had a narrow larynx so any narrowing/swelling affected them more. The only thing I thing you could do is just practice good disease management practices, such as hand washing, covering coughs, etc. to help her keep from picking up any germs and maintain a good immune system.

 

I still vividly remember carrying DS into the ER one night when he was about 3. The triage nurse opened the little check-in window, started to speak, heard his breathing (or should I say, almost lack of breathing), rushed to the door, ushered us through the triage area to a room, and had a doc with him in under 2 minutes. He had literally been fine, not even a sniffle not 20 minutes before, when I checked on him in his bed. The croup years were scary times in our house.

 

And to melissaL: cold air is a classic croup reliever; the cold allows the airway to relax a bit allowing the child to breathe easier. Docs say they often see a child greatly improved by the time they arrive at the ER simply because most cases of croup occur in the winter and when they go outside, their airways relax and they can breathe. Unfortunately, it almost never worked with DS and he even got croup in the summer. :tongue_smilie:

[Mommyof4ks]

My dd had it two years ago, and she was 10. We were told it usually stops by 5, but so far dd has not followed that rule. :glare: It is a scary illness.

[Susan in TN]

My DS had recurrent croup when he was younger, with the last episode being when he was about 6-7 (considered old for croup). We were told that croup is generally from the effects of a infection and that some kids were more prone to it settling in the larynx or had a narrow larynx so any narrowing/swelling affected them more. The only thing I thing you could do is just practice good disease management practices, such as hand washing, covering coughs, etc. to help her keep from picking up any germs and maintain a good immune system.

 

I still vividly remember carrying DS into the ER one night when he was about 3. The triage nurse opened the little check-in window, started to speak, heard his breathing (or should I say, almost lack of breathing), rushed to the door, ushered us through the triage area to a room, and had a doc with him in under 2 minutes. He had literally been fine, not even a sniffle not 20 minutes before, when I checked on him in his bed. The croup years were scary times in our house.

 

And to melissaL: cold air is a classic croup reliever; the cold allows the airway to relax a bit allowing the child to breathe easier. Docs say they often see a child greatly improved by the time they arrive at the ER simply because most cases of croup occur in the winter and when they go outside, their airways relax and they can breathe. Unfortunately, it almost never worked with DS and he even got croup in the summer. :tongue_smilie:

 

Dd is very petite - very thin & small boned, so maybe her larynx is naturally narrow? Yikes. Her baby sister and younger brother have both had runny noses the past few days, so probably she caught it and it winded up there.

 

Our pediatrician recommended "freezer air" to us (or outside if it's cold enough). I've also heard hot shower steam and/or cold air humidifier. Not sure why both warm and cold air are recommended, but we've always gone for the freezer.

 

Of course, Anne of Green Gables recommends the onion poultice ;).

[laundrycrisis]

I would want a prescription for a rescue inhaler. I would also want her evaluated for asthma/reactive airway. She may also benefit from maintenance medication that prevents the episodes from happening.

[redsquirrel]

I am sorry. Croup can be scary. My elder had the regular couple nights of croup and I thought it was no big deal. Then I had my second child. He had CROUP. It was so, so scary. I didn't sleep for three nights and I stayed in my street clothes all night in case I had to take him to the hospital for a breathing treatment.

 

I hope everyone gets sleep tonight!

 

We found for my son that going from the warm moist air into the cold dry air worked best.

[besroma]

My husband had asthma as a child. I always associated it with trouble breathing after exercise.

 

There is another form, which my children have, called cough variant asthma. They do not have trouble breathing when exercising, but when they get sick, we use their inhalers to help them with what sounds like a croupy cough, but isn't croup.

 

We learned this when our 8 yo was diagnosed with walking pneumonia last year. He had a cough for weeks that wouldn't go away. Then, it sounded croupy. The urgent care doc said that his lungs sounded clear, and that if he had not ordered an x-ray as a precaution, he never would have known he had pneumonia (not saying this is the case with your child, just that this is how we found out about using the inhaler during sickness).

[Joker]

Older had recurrent croup until she was 10, and she was diagnosed with a small airway at 5 yrs old. We had a nebulizer and inhaler, but usually cold air or a bathroom with a hot shower going helped the most (especially going from one to the other).

 

Younger had the same problem, but she had a small bronchial tube and asthma.

[RanchGirl]

One of my sons is a "crouper" as they call them at our ped's office (kids over age 5 who still get croup). They think it could be due to some scarring in his trachea from when he was an infant and was put on a respirator for a couple surgeries. He has had a few scary runs to the e/r, once by ambulance.

 

Cold air helps but so does moist air. If we notice the slightest cold symptom we run the humidifier in his room that night (with a few GSE drops in the water to kill bacteria). This has been the most helpful and actually seems to prevent the croup. We had to buy a humidifier once when we he had an incident while we were on a road trip, so now we have one for home and one for travel by car. I also send it with him on overnights at Gmas if he has the slightest stuffy nose. (She may think I'm crazy but I don't care!)

 

I also keep the steroid on hand at all times, I think it's called prednisone. If he has the croup wheeze and trouble breathing, we take him outside if it's cold or run a hot shower for steam, or alternate, and above all try to keep him calm. The prednisone doesn't work immediately but it does allow him to get some sleep that night. They prescribe it for several days but usually one dose is all he needs.

 

My son is ten now and hasn't had an incident in over a year... not sure if he is outgrowing it finally or if we are warding it off with the humidifier, or he's just not getting sick as much due to general immune boosting (vit d, vit c and elderberry) but either way I am very happy.

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

This is my dd. The last time she had this (Dec) the pediatrician, who was new for us, said she wanted to test dd for a type of asthma (cannot remember the name). We didn't at the time, but if she gets it again we will.

[magnificent_baby]

In my opinion, she needs to go the doctor as soon as possible. Steroids and breathing treatments will help. If she is having any difficulty breathing, she needs to go the ER. I would not wait around.

 

:grouphug:

[Jennifer in MI]

My son had his last ER visit with croup at 8 - WAY too old for croup - right? He didn't follow the rule either. But, then, this is also the child who had his first febrile seizure at age 7 and had to undergo all sorts of testing because "first febrile seizures don't happen after 6!"

 

I found that ds' rescue inhalers did nothing for him when he was in a really bad attack. He needed to get to the ER and have an epinephrine inhaler. They wouldn't give one to me for at home. That opened his airway right away. That last visit to the ER was his last attack, thank GOD. It was also his scariest - he was turning blue and I carried him in and they took him right away. SOO scary.

 

:grouphug:

[lmrich]

Any updates? I thought of you all last night. My 12 (almost 13) dd was up with a croupy cough, but she looked ok. She had croup in January and looked terrible. I hope this is just an allergy thing - pollen count in Atlanta is record high. Our ped said that my dd is the oldest child she ever treated for croup.

 

The best thing for us is to remain calm. We alternate steamy shower with cold air (we have a freezer drawer - not as good as a door for some reason). The inhalers for asthma have not been effective; she needs the inhaler at the hospital and then a shot of the steroid followed by the pills. It gets pretty ugly around here after all those steroids.

 

Hope all is well.

[Susan in TN]

Any updates? I thought of you all last night. My 12 (almost 13) dd was up with a croupy cough, but she looked ok. She had croup in January and looked terrible. I hope this is just an allergy thing - pollen count in Atlanta is record high. Our ped said that my dd is the oldest child she ever treated for croup.

 

The best thing for us is to remain calm. We alternate steamy shower with cold air (we have a freezer drawer - not as good as a door for some reason). The inhalers for asthma have not been effective; she needs the inhaler at the hospital and then a shot of the steroid followed by the pills. It gets pretty ugly around here after all those steroids.

 

Hope all is well.

 

Thank you all. She was fine last night - our 3 youngest were coughing, but my 9yo slept well all night. I am going to schedule an appt. for her to get checked out more thoroughly and see what the ped. can recommend.

[JSnow]

I'm not a doctor, but I play one at home :) Your kiddos immune systems need boosting to be able to fight off the bacterial infections and viruses they come in contact with.Vitamin D3 has proved incredible success in boosting the immune systems of all three of my kids. No more annual bronchitis, asthma, colds... Highly recommend you look at mercola.com for recommended dosing for your family, but I can testify that it has worked miracles in our home over the last several years. Life changer for our whole family. Hope this info helps.