Bronchitis

hi ira,

just logged in. sorry to hear he has severe wheezing. keep his head elevated. it should give him a little relief. allow him to sleep it out.

if you are using a humidifier do keep a bowl of water in front, as the air becomes too dry.

Try just boiling a slice of ginger in water. say 2 glasses of water to 1.5...and then add a dash of honey and give him frequently, in place of water..ginger and honey give good relief if he gets into a coughing bouts. check out the home remedies that we had discussed sometime back...

http://www.indusladies.com/forums/infants/5071-cold-remedy-10months-old-baby.html#post40746.

 

Ira, about the antibiotics. My 3yr old nephew also has a strong gag reflex with ab and my sister uses a suppository for the ab. If you feel his body does not get a chance to absorb the antibiotics you can talk to the doctor about a suppository. I think it is better than an injection, but then I am a wuss about injections. Hope your LO gets well quickly
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Humdifier is good in the beginning of a cold, helps the child sleep when the nose is blocked. I dont know how much of a help it is when there is wheezing, but cold, dry air triggers mind, so may be it is a good help then.

 

Riya just got a Flu Shot about a month ago, and she did fine - no fever, no pain - I gave her some baby tylenol before going to the doctor's. If you are worried about the preservatives (Thimerosol), just ask for the preservative-free version. That's what we got, too.

Raj

 

Humidity always worsened my wheezing when I used to get attacks. We used to have desert coolers in our house and the moisture laden humid air would make it really difficult for me to breathe. Air conditioner, on the other hand helped as it's dry air and doesn't have moisture in it. I think a humidifier would only worsen the wheezing. Here's a site that talks about humidity and asthma .

Raj

 

Ok, not trying to start an argument, but it is not just my experience, but also published papers that show that cold-dry air causes inflammatory in the nasal mucosa and therefore could have the same response in asthmatics. I am paraphrasing this study published in journal of clinical investigation that's aggregated on pubmed central.
I invariably start having bronchospasms the minute I enter an airconditioned room and this summer, I had to sleep apart from K when DH and he slept in the a/c. If Japanese winter is triggering Ira's LO's asthma, the humidifier may be worth the shot then.

 

I guess then we all have different reactions to different environments. ;-) Coolcat can try out different things to see what helps and what not.

Raj

 

Bronchitis is an inflammation of the bronchi (lower airway) usually due to infection. Any -itis is an inflammation. Asthma as you know already, refers to broncho-spasm usually triggered by something (maybe an infection). In this case it sounds more like childhood asthma or wheezy bronchitis not the usual infective bronchitis. Thats why i got confused initially too.

Vanathi.