Croup - does DS need medicine?

[deborah_r]

I took DS2 to the doctor yesterday, she diagnosed croup. Gave me a steroid medication to be crushed, put in food and consumed by him. Well, that didn't really work out. I couldn't come up with a food that he wanted that was also easy to mix the crushed pills in. He might have gotten a little.

Reading online seems to be telling me he maybe doesn't need the steroid and it will clear up on its own? Anyone with experience on this?

[egoldber]

Gave me a steroid medication to be crushed, put in food and consumed by him.

OK, weird. The times my kids have been given oral steroids it was a liquid.

Did they measure O2 levels? Is he having difficulty breathing? Is he having chest retractions?

[deborah_r]

OK, weird. The times my kids have been given oral steroids it was a liquid.

Did they measure O2 levels? Is he having difficulty breathing? Is he having chest retractions?

O2 levels - is that "pulsox" (probably spelling wrong) - if so, he wouldn't stay still for that. Mild difficulty breathing, mostly when agitated. Breathing has definitely improved.

[JBaxter]

OK, weird. The times my kids have been given oral steroids it was a liquid.

Did they measure O2 levels? Is he having difficulty breathing? Is he having chest retractions?

This was us too. Both Connor and Nathan had croup a couple times and it was always liquid medication.

[brittone2]

We've always been given a liquid steroid as well (usually Prednisolone)

For us it was usually bad for about 2 nights and then turned into a pretty typical cold (runny nose, etc.) and then cleared up. As DS has gotten older it has been easier to deal with it without always needing meds (hot shower, cold night air, etc. work well for him). His first bout or two he needed oral steroids.

[egoldber]

If he's having difficulty breathing then I would give it. But call and ask about the liquid.

[hobie]

Yogurt? Applesauce? Pudding? Ice cream?

DS had croup really baddly, and definantly needed the meds.

[MommyAllison]

We also have always had oral Prednisolone. Croup is usually the worst the second night - if you are past that already and he's improved, I probably wouldn't worry too much. But FWIW, our pedi gave us a script for oral Pred so we have some on hand if we need it, to try to avoid midnight ER runs. It has come in handy a few times, and now DD seems to have outgrown it. For her, breathing was always the big issue with croup - she didn't get the cough, would just wake up in the middle of the night with stridor.

[deborah_r]

Yogurt? Applesauce? Pudding? Ice cream?



Declined all. Wanted to eat crackers and drink juice. Should I have put it in his juice cup?

[tmarie]

When dd had croup 2wks ago, the ped immediately prescribed prendisone(sp?)/steroid in liquid form. She gave us extra b/c she warned us there would be spillage--dd was not drinking/eating well either, and apparently it doesn't taste very good! I would call back and ask for liquid rx. GL!

tmarie
dd#1 '05
dd#2 '08

[MommyAllison]

Oh, if you do get the oral pred - apparently the brand name tastes good, but it was over $100 out of pocket for us, so we got the generic (does not taste good) and asked them to flavor it with Raspberry. DH tasted some to check it, and both he and DD thought it tasted like candy. So we recommend Raspberry flavoring :)

[deborah_r]

The scrip was for Dexamethasone.

You can have the pharmacy mix in flavors???

[o_mom]

The scrip was for Dexamethasone.

You can have the pharmacy mix in flavors???

Yes! It's usually a couple bucks, not covered by insurance. We only get it for nasty tasting stuff and this would be one of them. :)

[egoldber]

Dexamethasone.

Well, that's a different choice. Typically peds give prednisolone or prednisone for croup.

[becca_g]

Dexamethasone (typically given as a single dose) is a standard corticosteroid used for treating croup. It has a longer half life than some of the others.

I would discuss with your physician whether or not your DS needs additional steroid medication in light of the fact that he may not have gotten much of his dose yesterday. She is the best person to put all of this in context and provide advice based on the exam yesterday and subsequent improvement in breathing.

Hope your DS is feeling better soon!

[deborah_r]

Dexamethasone (typically given as a single dose) is a standard corticosteroid used for treating croup. It has a longer half life than some of the others.

I would discuss with your physician whether or not your DS needs additional steroid medication in light of the fact that he may not have gotten much of his dose yesterday. She is the best person to put all of this in context and provide advice based on the exam yesterday and subsequent improvement in breathing.

Hope your DS is feeling better soon!

I called already and am waiting to hear back. Thanks!

[Gena]

Dexamethasone (typically given as a single dose) is a standard corticosteroid used for treating croup. It has a longer half life than some of the others.

This is what DS has been given for croup too. I put it in applesauce.

I hope your little guy is feeling better soon!

[MommyAllison]

Yep, Target mixes in flavoring free, IIRC. We love Target pharmacy :)

[Melbel]

Pulmicort, an inhaled steroid via nebulizer, worked great for DS' croup over the years.

[kijip]

1 and 1/2 years ago or so T had croup. It was just the one time but his closest friend had it as well and was hospitalized multiple times in a short time frame. We have the same pediatrician and the second he saw T in with the same symptoms he had the nurse give T an oral dose of steroids. It worked, and T never got as ill as his friend did. Crushing pills troublesome since they may not take the full dose or finish what you put it in. Liquid is the way to go. While some pharmacies charge for flavoring, many do not.

[deborah_r]

We have Prednisolone, but the pharmacy said they couldn't mix in a flavoring.

[becca_g]

Applesauce or chocolate syrup may make dexamethasone more palatable to kids.

[deborah_r]

Just a follow-up on this. I researched this some and it appears the first med prescribed is preffered because it is one dose. Apparently these corticosteroids (sp?) lower immunities so with the one dose it seemed they think that side effect would be less.

We did eventually get most of the second med into him (liquid, 7ml per day for 3 days). He has been having horrible, miserable behavior (not all the time, but his mood swings there pretty quickly) and he wants to nurse *constantly*. He seems to be having trouble sleeping, and would only sleep the last two nights for the most part if he was latched on. It is making me crazy.

Some of this makes sense based on some of the possible side effects I read about, but what I'm worried about is one side effect mentioned was thrush. Would he want to nurse more or less, if he had thrush? We've never dealt with thrush.

[kayte]

DD was just diagnosed with Croup on Thursday. We were given Prednisolone, which is liquid. I might call the doctor back and let them know it's not working and ask for something oral. If your doctors office doesn't have an on call doctor on Sundays you could also try calling the pharmacy-- they may crush it up for you and suspend it in something you can squirt in to DD's mouth.