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She is always ill!! ***UPDATE - just got back from hosp***
Is it normal for my lo who is 18months to be ill so often?? its normally minor things although last month she had viral pnemonia and her breathing was really awful (she was admitted to hosp) since then she has had d&v and this week has picked up another cold :roll: . But what worries me more is that her breathing is odd again her chest sinks in and her abdomin rises really high (at the same time if that makes sense) and she is so breathless the simplist tasks are hard work for her. She was given an inhaler last time she was ill and this hasn't helped her breathing this time. Do any of lo's get short of breath? and get ill so often??
Maybe its just a bad cold cos its been less than 3 weeks since the pnemonia, and maybe i just notice she is unwell more because i work full time so i have to have a lot of time off from work, sorry for waffly post just worried there is something underlying, probably over reacting. Thats my main concern am I just being dramtic and every toddler gets ill a lot or should i be worried/concerned ?? Paul makes me feel like i make a moutain out of a mole hill but at the end of the day its her breathing and its horrible to see her struggling for breath.
![:\](https://forum.madeformums.com/resources/emoji/confused.png ":\")
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THanks for your replies ladies. So her breathing got worse yesterday so took her to the gp who agreed that she was finding it a struggle to breath, she was in two minds whether to send her to hospital or not, she send take her home, give her her inhalers and give her antibiotics and low threshold to take her to a and e. Whilst i was at the pharmacy getting the abx my mobile rang and it was the GP she said since Erin left she had not stopped thinking about her and that she thinks we ought to get her looked at in a and e even if she just needs a nebuliser and to go back home. So straight away me and Paul took her to ane (calling my work on the way as i was meant to be on a night shift last night - they are so gonna hate me i'm forever off cos of Erin). When we were in the car Erin went to sleep and she sounded like a steam train she was struggling so hard and never seen her use all her little body so much to breath. We got to ane and they took nearly 30mins to triage us i had to go to reception and say i'm seriously worried about my babies breathing and i don't know if she has passed out or just really tired or both. Luckily they were really supportive and took us straight in to be triaged above loads of other kids, as soon as we got in there i took erins top off the nurse took one look at her chest and put out a tannoy out saying code blue and we were rushed into resus and erin had back to back nebs she initally was screaming but then just got too tired to do anything its the most heart breaking thing i have ever seen she was too tired to even carry on crying. due to going straight t hosp etc she went 6 hours withiout calpol and her temp was 39.5 when we got into resus she had to have paracetamol suppoitory which was horrendous to watch. She had prednisone steriods and hourly nebs, we were admitted to a paeds ward and she was on hourly nebs overnight, and montiored all night, seen by consultant this morning and she was still wheezy but miles better (the consultant said she won the cutest child contest of the week - he prob says that to everyone but it made my day - she was chatting him up though!!) he said to start giving her inhalers and if shes is ok after 4 hours we can go- We are now home, she is to continue 4 hourly inhalers without fail and re-admit if deteriorates within 48 hours. She is continue on setriods and had been referred to astmha specialist although there is still a chance she could grow out of it (fingers crossed).
Sorry for the length of the post i just wanted to get it all out its been a stress ful and tiring 48 hours i was on a night thursady and have not slept since i woke up thrusday morning I haven't been this tired since giving birth !! and whilst i'm getting things out - other shitty things that happened this week are : I had a fight with a food processor on tuesday and lost came off with 4 stitches, i went for an interview for a dream job and didn't get it and Last night when Paul left me and Erin at the hospital he crashed my car he is fine but car isn;t
.
All in all last night made me realise the most important thing in the world to me is Erin and nothing else mtters as long as our family is happy and healthy.
Enough whoe is me ........... i;m done thats my ridulous week of bad luck, Thanks for reading if you got this far xxxxx
[Modified by: blondefamily on 26 September 2009 15:21:56 ]
Maybe its just a bad cold cos its been less than 3 weeks since the pnemonia, and maybe i just notice she is unwell more because i work full time so i have to have a lot of time off from work, sorry for waffly post just worried there is something underlying, probably over reacting. Thats my main concern am I just being dramtic and every toddler gets ill a lot or should i be worried/concerned ?? Paul makes me feel like i make a moutain out of a mole hill but at the end of the day its her breathing and its horrible to see her struggling for breath.
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THanks for your replies ladies. So her breathing got worse yesterday so took her to the gp who agreed that she was finding it a struggle to breath, she was in two minds whether to send her to hospital or not, she send take her home, give her her inhalers and give her antibiotics and low threshold to take her to a and e. Whilst i was at the pharmacy getting the abx my mobile rang and it was the GP she said since Erin left she had not stopped thinking about her and that she thinks we ought to get her looked at in a and e even if she just needs a nebuliser and to go back home. So straight away me and Paul took her to ane (calling my work on the way as i was meant to be on a night shift last night - they are so gonna hate me i'm forever off cos of Erin). When we were in the car Erin went to sleep and she sounded like a steam train she was struggling so hard and never seen her use all her little body so much to breath. We got to ane and they took nearly 30mins to triage us i had to go to reception and say i'm seriously worried about my babies breathing and i don't know if she has passed out or just really tired or both. Luckily they were really supportive and took us straight in to be triaged above loads of other kids, as soon as we got in there i took erins top off the nurse took one look at her chest and put out a tannoy out saying code blue and we were rushed into resus and erin had back to back nebs she initally was screaming but then just got too tired to do anything its the most heart breaking thing i have ever seen she was too tired to even carry on crying. due to going straight t hosp etc she went 6 hours withiout calpol and her temp was 39.5 when we got into resus she had to have paracetamol suppoitory which was horrendous to watch. She had prednisone steriods and hourly nebs, we were admitted to a paeds ward and she was on hourly nebs overnight, and montiored all night, seen by consultant this morning and she was still wheezy but miles better (the consultant said she won the cutest child contest of the week - he prob says that to everyone but it made my day - she was chatting him up though!!) he said to start giving her inhalers and if shes is ok after 4 hours we can go- We are now home, she is to continue 4 hourly inhalers without fail and re-admit if deteriorates within 48 hours. She is continue on setriods and had been referred to astmha specialist although there is still a chance she could grow out of it (fingers crossed).
Sorry for the length of the post i just wanted to get it all out its been a stress ful and tiring 48 hours i was on a night thursady and have not slept since i woke up thrusday morning I haven't been this tired since giving birth !! and whilst i'm getting things out - other shitty things that happened this week are : I had a fight with a food processor on tuesday and lost came off with 4 stitches, i went for an interview for a dream job and didn't get it and Last night when Paul left me and Erin at the hospital he crashed my car he is fine but car isn;t
. All in all last night made me realise the most important thing in the world to me is Erin and nothing else mtters as long as our family is happy and healthy.
Enough whoe is me ........... i;m done thats my ridulous week of bad luck, Thanks for reading if you got this far xxxxx
[Modified by: blondefamily on 26 September 2009 15:21:56 ]
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Replies
I have no experience with this from a baby/toddler form but my dad had pneumonia a few years a go, and his breathing has not been right since. It took him at least a year to get even halfway back to normal. Of course his age and lifestyle were against him. But maybe you could see your gp about her recovery period. It's a lot for a little one to go through. X
What I did with Jules which worked a treat was put him on Echinacea tablets. You can get them in liquid form too to add to drinks. They boost the immune system and really do work. I'm about to start Reiss on them too. The other thing I did was to put Jules on goats milk instead of cows milk as he became much less wheezy on it. Apparently it's cleaner than cows milk and doesn't contain the stuff that cows milk does that can exacerbate breathing problems. I don't really want to start Reiss on goats milk yet but I'm definately starting the echinacea as first port of call. Might be worth a go for your lo too?xx
I wouldn't be surprised if the pneumonia had given her immunity a bit of a blow, and so she's a bit more prone to illnesses than usual, hence getting d&v and cold so soon. I would think that's why her breathing is a bit funny as well - I know it can take ages to get back to normal again after pneumonia.
Hope she feels better soon hun!
Mx
Massive big hugs - just goes to show, work on your mummy instincts - they're there for a reason. Men don't have them, end of!
It's so scary isn't it - anything to do with breathing sends me off the deep end and it's the one thing I don't mess with. Just a tip for the future - if you're getting a little worried about her breathing - and I mean even slightly concerned, instead of doing the gp and then a&e, try nhs direct and they'll get you straight in at your nearest walk in clinic at your local hospital. So much quicker, they run to appointments so you don't have to wait in the waiting room and they have access to everything else a&e would.
I would definately try the echinacea to up her immunity hon.xx
X
ps try to rest when she does, shes not the only one been through a lot this week x
Sounds like a really rough week all in all so hope next week is loads better for you.
xxx
xxx
She is much better today only breathless when walking or playing, otherwise doesn't sound too bad still wheezy but nothing copered to what it was. waking her at 0200 a.m to give her inhalers was horrible she screams, but now she screams and then just smiles as soon as it done i think she has realised its helping she just doesn't like to be restricted for that long.
Anyway thanks again for reading, it truly has been the scariest weekend ever, me and Paul had dreams last night about it all.
p.s. my work have told me i cannot have this week off i rung to ask if i could cos i just want to ensure that her breathing is ok, and they said cos we are so short staffed and i'm in charge on my shifts its impossible to get it covered Can they do this???
Mxxx
I know how scary it is when they are so poorly and in hospital .
On the work thing I think all parents are entitled to emergency parental leave but it is unpaid.It seems a bit unfair of your work to not let you have the time off with your little one having been so poorly.
Totally understand your situation when I went back to work with my 1st he was in nursery and picked up everything going and ended up in hospital when he was 9 months and work were so difficult about it !!
Found this link for you.I have been lucky enough to be paid for any compassionate leave - but it all depends on each employer.Do you have any terms and conditions you could look at ?
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/Employees/Timeoffandholidays/DG_10026555
So i rang the ward to say I really don't want to leave Erin and plus I have a stinking cold as well, that i would not be able to concentrate on the ward or patients because of the weekends events and also a very silly reason but i have no car to drive Erin to my mums and then to work (i realise the car thing is not a reason to not go to work). When i had given all the reasons i didn't think i should work, My manager laughed and said I knew you would do this !?! I lost it, it was as though she thought i was using Erin as an excuse to not come to work. I had such a go at her (I have never in all my life had a go at anyone the way i did). Then i turned into a spoiled brat saying 'don't worry i'll leave my sick daughter and come to work and she said oh mary don't be silly and I just kept repeating no no don't worry i'll come in and leave her the ward is so more important than my daughter ! then i hung up. Then everything came pouring out and i cried and cired like a baby !!!
Then I came back to reality and was devasted that i had a go at her and i rang her back to apologise and she was really really nice to me and said don't worry its covered your off til wed and we have swapped you to nights so you can be with erin in the day.
So maybe it paid to lose it, kinda felt exhilerating (sp) to just let rip with her but i do regret it. I feel like a child who has had a tantrum and got what i wanted. Sorry for the length of all these posts, its really helped to deal with all the stress writing it all down. Especially as me and Paul have fallen out over all this but not even gonna go there. I just cannot wait for things to return to normal xx
My oldest son (now 16) is a chronic asthmatic. There is nothing worse than seeing their breath so laboured. When they are using the upper part of their chest to breath and are sucking in their ribs with each breath then you know they need help and fast. He had bronchilitis at 4 months and was in the PICU for that. For the next 2 years he was in and out of hosp. He got tested for CF but that was negative.
He was on flixotide at home and ventolin as and when. If he was ill I had a home nebuliser which I could administer combivent. He has brittle asthma which comes so quickly that often there is no time to call 999.
I worked back then and like you, worried about the time I was having off. I took 6 months unpaid leave to take the worry from me. The day I was due back I had to call from outside PICU again as he was in for a severe attack that had stopped him breathing for a long time. It was awful. I told work there and then that I had to leave. I got carers allowance to stay at home and care for him. It helped alleviate the finacial burden of giving up work. I have never regretted it.
He gets ill when he catches a cold, it gets to his chest and viola...he is ill. Now at 16 he is better but still has about 3 to 4 sever attacks a year. He has got worse of late but the consultant told me this is common during puberty.
I bought him some of his fav stickers (postman pat at the time) and stuck them all over his volumatic. It helped when it was time to adminster the inhalers. make sure you brush her teeth after each session too as the inhalers cause cavities and decay (great eh??) I also kept a diary to record how he was each day so I could see any patterns.
Things that might help...
We also had an open bed policy at the hosp which meant I could take him straight to the ward rather than go to the docs or thro A and E.
I damp dusted his room every day and put down a wood floor rather than carpet.
I changed his bedding every few days and boil washed them ( i bought white ) and all his teds had to be washed weekly and put in the freezer (i know...weird) to kill any mites.
I hope she gets better soon! One last thing, just for the record, my other 4 kids have shown signs but only Chris has asthma after 3 years of age. Therefore, Erin may and very well could, grow out of it.
Good luck
d x
[Modified by: dee dee on September 28, 2009 12:40 PM]
Hugs
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Hugs
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