To AnnW .......

[MaryL]

Just wondering...did you ever find out what was causing your ds' croup???? (I may have missed the post if you've already explained this. Sorry!) My almost 5 yr old ds has had croup at least once a year...and has had it twice in the past 2 months. Our doctor thinks it's a combination of croup and asthma. Drives us NUTS! I've always been able to relate to your stories about the coughing. Poor kid just coughs and coughs. He was in the ER in February...of course by the time I got him there his coughing was much improved. Isn't that always the case. But the second attack, I took him into the doctor's office and he was coughing up a storm, so she could really get a good listen to it. Was your ds' croup from asthma???? Allergies???? Viral???? My ds also suffers from excema..."snake skin" LOL. Poor kid really suffers in this dry winter air. I'm wondering if this could all be related. Has your ds had any more episodes??? I kind of figured it unusual for a 4 year old to have croup...but my doctor says that while it's not "common", it's not "unusual" either.

[AnnW]

sshhh...don't say anything out loud, but he hasn't had an attack since beginning of January and they were coming once a month prior to that!!!
Actually, we really don't know what caused it. It was definitely NOT asthma in that his PFT's were always at 100% and they couldn't induce an attack on the treadmill. They put him on a combination of Claritin D and Prosolec (in case it was either allergy or reflux). He was initially just on Claritin and Prosolec but had an attack...when we added the "D", they stopped. He did just run out of Prosolec and I didn't renew it waiting to see what happened and so far so good..so it may be allergy related, but he has never shown true allergy symptoms.
I hope you get an answer with your ds..it is so frustrating and disheartening to hear them bark!

[MaryL]

Thanks Ann!!!! No diagnosis yet. Both of my ds' have asthma. So I think that the croup is partly an asthmatic reaction (in my ds' case). There is nothing worse than that croupy cough!!! My oldest ds has never had croup. I keep a humidifier going in his room at night, and that really seems to help. My doctor doesn't seem too concerned as long as we can keep it under control. So far, so good...it's been a couple of weeks!! (Knock on desk! LOL)

[AnnW]

Knock! Knock!! :)

btw..knock a little for me, ds was complaining of a sore throat this am and that usually is a trigger for an episode.