Dr Hive - What's bronchitis look like in a kid?

[Guest inoubliable]

DS5 had a slight fever (never higher than 100.1) on Friday, along with some runny nose and sneezing. He threw up once and we thought it was from swallowing back icky stuff from his runny nose. I didn't think much of the fever because we only got that reading once and he didn't look/feel/act like he was very sick at all. Yesterday it was worse. Coughing, sniffling, sneezing, his voice was funny, the fever was 100.1, and he started complaining of a sore throat on of it. We have him some children's Benadryl and that seemed to help. Later in the evening, though, his fever was back and his cough was worse. The Urgent Care was closed and so was the pharmacy at Walgreens, so I picked up a multi-symptom cold medicine to keep him comfy until I could get him in somewhere the next morning.

 

Now, at 5 am, my little guy has pounded on my bedroom door to tell me that his throat is too sore. His voice is almost gone. He's constantly coughing and at least once has come close to vomiting from the mucous, I think. His fever is 100.1 again. Just looking at him, his cheeks are red and he's sitting here sort of rocking back and forth. It's pitiful, and I'm at a loss as to what to do. I just gave him some of the cold medicine to hopefully treat the sore throat and fever, maybe the sniffles. Urgent Care opens at 9.

 

WebMD (I know! That place can be the worst place to go for an internet diagnosis.) says it's likely to be either allergies or bronchitis. Both can be treated at home.

 

What says the Hive? Urgent Care? Try a different medicine? Walgreen's is open 24 hours so I can run out and grab something else if needed. Wait it out? Does this sound like bronchitis?

 

I hate this. Itty bitty kids and sickness just kill me. :crying:

[amo_mea_filiis.]

It definitely sounds more than allergies. Does his chest hurt with the coughing? My ds used to get bronchitis frequently and would complain of chest and throat pain.

 

Depending on his breathing, i might wait until the dr opens. How do his lungs sound?

[Guest inoubliable]

He doesn't say that his chest hurts, just his throat. I can't hear anything in his chest, tbh, over the rattling in his throat and the sniffling. This is one of those times where I wished I had a stethoscope in the house. He's sleeping on the floor in my room now and every once in a while I can hear some rattling around in his throat (chest, too?) when he breathes in.

 

Since he's sleeping now, I'll try to wait until Urgent Care opens at 9, I guess. I really don't want to go in to the ER. Is bronchitis where they do the chest x-ray? Or is that pneumonia? Argh! I just googled his symptoms and came up with strep as a possibility, too! I need to just go back to bed and get what sleep I can.

[amo_mea_filiis.]

You don't need a stethoscope! Press your ear to his chest in the front, then both sides and his back. Once you find a spot where you can hear the air moving well, listen for several seconds.

 

I have ear issues and without an expensive, amplified stethoscope, this is the best for me. I also prefer it because a cough (painful to hear through stethoscope) doesn't kill my ears.

[amo_mea_filiis.]

They should do an X-ray for any lung issue.

[aaplank]

This sounds a lot this what we just went through in our family. It was diagnosed as bronchitis. Mucinex really helped so break up the mucus. I gave it to my kids every 6 hours. I also gave them ibuprofen regularly to help with the inflammation in the throat. My kids were also given an antibiotic which really was the ticket.

 

So sorry your little guy is so sick. It's hard to watch them suffer.

 

Prayers for you and him.

[Spryte]

Oh no! Any news? Did you call the doc? It's 9:15, hopefully you did.

 

Strep is going around your area, too - we have friends with strep over your way. I would want a throat swab, and would be thinking of bronchitis, too.

 

Oh, and vomiting can be part of strep - I just learned that the hard way with DD.

 

Hoping it's nothing horrible, and that your little guy feels better soon!

[KungFuPanda]

It sounds more like strep to me. When my kids get bronchitis, it's all about the horrible chest cough that will not leave long after it should have. With strep, they're more miserable with the sore throat. I'm not sure if they've have true chest coughing with strep though . . .it was ore of that annoying cough to get the tickle out of the throat. They've had both diagnosed at urgent care.

[Guest inoubliable]

Well....we didn't make it in to Urgent Care. I called over there to see what the wait was right before we were going to walk out of the door and they said 2 - 3 hours. :huh: Already?? So I called our insurance Nurse Line. Which always sucks, yep. It was either that or the ER, though. So the nurse on the line says she thinks it could be a cold, and post-nasal drip is causing the sore throat. I couldn't see any redness in the back of his throat and his fever isn't any worse. If it goes above 102 I'm supposed to call the pediatrician tomorrow morning. We'll see, I guess. He's still taking the multi-symptom cold medicine and seems to be much better when he takes that.

If we go in, I'll be insisting on a strep test. I didn't know that was going around so it didn't even occur to me.