Quiltforme

Sunday morning at 5am my son woke up croup cough and so I did the normal run to the bathroom and turn the shower on for the moist heat that my doctor told me about many years ago. Well his throat closed up on him and he could not breathe it was the scariest thing I had to EVER deal with. I grabbed my daughters inhaler this helped get him to breathe again we rushed him to the ER and was told that they no longer tell moms to use the shower to treat croup it is now take them outdoors for cool air or open a freezer to help with the breathing. t(((hey are seeing a new trend with croup the throat closing and wheezing/pnumonia type symptoms.))) I HAD NO IDEA they also treated it with steroids which since I had gone to bed at 4:50am that same moring woke up to him coughing at 5am it makes for a VERY long day. He was so wired and I was very tired. I stayed up all night again for fear it would happen again. So mom, and Grandmom's just an FYI since I had been treating my son's croup like this for 4 years. I hope you don't have to go through this but if you do. Open the freezer instead of running a shower!!

littlehud

I had always done the shower too. Thanks for the heads up.

craftybear

thanks for letting us know, will save a life

Sandra-P

What a fright you had. I would have done the same thing as that is what they told us to do and it seemed to work ok back then..Good to know about the cold air. I hope all is well with your family.

amma

I was told this 7 yrs ago with my grands... I sat outside with them for hours, bundled up, rocking them while they slept. I guess it is the cold moist air...
I didn't know that there was a risk of their throats closing up with warm, moist air though :shock:

I am glad that there was a happy ending to your story! :D:D:D

moonangel12

Good to know! I ended up in the ER quite a few times when I was younger b/c of croup and I remember my mom sitting with me on the edge of the shower and the panicky feeling of not being able to breathe. I wouldn't wish that on anyone! DS has already had pneumonia (at 10 months old) so I worry he might have some of the same breathing troubles I had growing up.

Tink's Mom

Then how come it helped when we put them in the hot steamy bathroom back when my boys had it?
I can't imagine that croup has changed...back then the cool air seemed to make it worse...

nursie76

Yep that is the newest trend. Of my 3 children, 2 had a lot of problems with croup. My son seemed to respond to the warm moistness, but when his sister came along 5 years later, she responded to the cold moistness. Her last really bad attack happened when she was about 5. She is now almost 28 and still talks about the night she and daddy sat on the front porch in the middle of one January night throwing snowballs into the yard! (In reality, it was daddy throwing the snowballs in an attempt to ease her fright at not being able to breath until the cold eased her breathing.

moonangel12

I wonder if there are different strains - like with the flu and many other illnesses?? They react differently to different environment changes??

ChubbyBunny

{{{Hugs}}} I know exactly what you went through. My oldest son had frequent bouts of croup when he was a baby/toddler. We spent many nights in the ER and he was given the steroid injections. The doctors always told me to take him outside in the cool night air because it was better than the shower. It's a scary experience.