How do you draw the line- when to go to/call doc

[barefootcontessa]

Is there a reason you have a nebulizer at home? At 10 days I would want him to be seen. I was diagnosed with pneumonia when I thought I just had a cough.

[rootbeerfloat]

So I think you're managing his illness well, but keep in mind I'm an under-reactor also, lol.

H is an over-reactor, though, so I will often defer to him (especially if he takes the initiative to take the kid to the doctor himself), even if it means the doctor tells us to KOKO and isn't all that helpful, which happens a decent amount with colds that just need time.

[h]

I wouldn't have called for that, either. A cold with a nasty cough can last a good 10-14 days, and my kid with reactive airways inevitably has some breathing difficulty and needs nebulizer treatments when he gets a bad cold. As long as the nebulizer alleviates any wheezing, we just KOKO until the cold runs it's course. I would call if the he was having difficulty breathing despite neb treatments or if he was lethargic, had a high fever that wouldn't respond to OTC meds, or didn't show improvement (or worsened) after 10+ days. Beyond that, I figure there is nothing the pedi can do that we aren't already doing. I do give him albuterol treatments 2-3x a day (or more often if I think he needs it) when he is sick.

But while I am pretty breezy when it comes to calling the pedi, I admittedly ask the doctors in my family to look my kids over and tell me whether I should call the pedi or take them to the ER if I am questioning it. My dad is a pulmonologist and is always happy to listen to my kid's lungs and tell me if I need to be concerned (he wouldn't treat them outside of an emergency, but he has no problem telling me whether I need to seek treatment). So I guess I am kind of cheating on the "are you breezy?" quiz.

[h]

May 13, 2014 18:44:44 GMT -5 barefootcontessa said:

Is there a reason you have a nebulizer at home? At 10 days I would want him to be seen. I was diagnosed with pneumonia when I thought I just had a cough.

We have had one at home since DS1 was about 6 months old. The pedi suggested we but it after we had to rent one for the third time in his first winter. He had RSV at 4 months and then wound up with bronchiolitis basically every time he had a cold after that. He is 6 now and, thankfully, not nearly as susceptible to respiratory issues any more, but we still get out the nebulizer maybe once a winter when he gets a bad cold and asks for it. I got the impression from our pedi that buying a nebulizer for home use is pretty common in kids with reactive airway disease. Both of my nephews have them as well.

[bunch]

I will totally admit that I'm one of those parents that is convinced that my kid is dying every time she has a fever. I'd say I'm in the drs office every other month only to hear that my kids are just fine. In two kids and three yrs, we've only had one war infection and a handful of viruses. You'd think I'd be over it, but I still put in my share of frantic calls.

[beefjerky]

I'm also an under-reactor and would have done the same exact thing.

My little one actually came down with the snot/cough/etc. on Fri night. We nebulized, saline dropped/aspirated and ibuprofened all weekend. It's tough with him as well because he's always so stinking happy. Well, yesterday he woke up happy as could be, no fever, so I took him to daycare. I got a call that he had a 103 fever Monday afternoon. To the dr. last night and it's yet another ear infection. So, my under-reacting self is sitting in the same corner.

P.S. I've had a nebulizer since DS1 needed one 7 years ago. It's fantastic!

[pupcake]

I don't think you under-react, sometimes the nurses at the doctors office over-react, and this is coming from a nurse that works at a doctor's office. We have to cover the bases and almost over-react when patients tell us symptoms to cover our own behind. I don't work in peds, but when I was in family practice any comment of chest pain, arm pain, just feeling funny etc got me to tell the patient they should go to the ER. Never once did someone I sent to the ER actually have a heart attack but if they would have had one and called with those complaints and I didn't tell them to go to the ER I would have been in big trouble and felt horrible about it.

[thatgirl2478]

I would probably have done the same thing you did... the ER is really not a place for a slightly sick kid - there are lots of WORSE viruses there .

I mean, if the neb treatments helped, it can take a while to get over a cold. I would have probably started to think it was something worse if there was a fever or my kid was acting lethargic and/or not eating/drinking/eliminating.

But then, I can be too breezy...

[mie]

I tend to wait a while before calling/taking sick kid to the doctor. If there's no fever, I leave them alone unless it sounds like they're wheezing. My mom tends to overreact so if she knows they're sick, she'll ask if I took them to the doctor.

[Willis Jackson]

I love this book.

The author is a friend of my pedi's, which is how I heard about it. I always reference it before calling the pedi and, as a result, I've only called once in 5 years (and my kids are both still alive).

[shellbear09]

Dd always had snot and breathing issues and got croup and bronchitis too. I think we got the nebulizer at 6 months. I didn't call the doctor often and they have never mentioned going to the ER. I think that is a bit extreme and I would have done exactly as you did.

[undecidedowl]

Your reactions seems normal to me. I don't call/go to the doc unless the neb isn't working. Last time DS had a cold his wheezing would return only 1 hour after treatment so I took him in. The 3 colds before that I just did the neb as needed and waited it out. I do, however, make sure to mention all this at his well visits so they can be aware of reactive airways and we can get albuterol refills.