Hi everyone. My son who is 14 does not have an actual CF diagnosis, but he's on the road to a diagnosis, just waiting for the genetics testing. In the meantime, he's been sick for 3+ weeks and I'm wondering if there's something I should be doing for him that I'm not. We go back to the CF clinic on 1/26, and I have called them today, waiting for a call back. But thought all of you might have some recommendations. He had bronchitis recently, was put on an antibiodic and inhaler, and also is doing sinus rinses. He took the antibiodics for 14 days, two days after he finished it (yesterday) we found out he has an ear infection. On top of that, he's been waking up early morning hours throwing up mucus and he says its "chunky". I know a lot of it is coming out, which I guess is good, but should I do anything else for him? Not sure why he's vomiting, I guess it's the mucus? He's drinking lots of water and sleeping with a humidifier as well.
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Any tips for my sick son?
- Thread starter slk317
- Start date
When DS gets a cold or a cough, we increase his nebulizer treatments, as well as vest/chest physiotherapy treatments. Since you probably haven't been instructed on it, you could google it and administer CPT to him. Basically cupping your hands and patting upper and lower portions of the chest and back and armpit areas to clear the lungs. Having him huff cough to try and bring up mucus. We also increase sinus rinses as well or use saline spray.
Hopefully you'll hear back from the CF clinic. Sounds like whatever antibiotic he was one either wasn't strong enough, the right one or he wasn't on it long enough. Years ago ds would get sinus/ear infections and the doctor would put him on abx 10-14 days and right after he'd get sick again. His CF doctor, concerned it would get into his lungs finally put him a longer, stronger dose of his abx to get rid of it once and for all.
Hopefully you'll hear back from the CF clinic. Sounds like whatever antibiotic he was one either wasn't strong enough, the right one or he wasn't on it long enough. Years ago ds would get sinus/ear infections and the doctor would put him on abx 10-14 days and right after he'd get sick again. His CF doctor, concerned it would get into his lungs finally put him a longer, stronger dose of his abx to get rid of it once and for all.
Thanks for the tips you two. No, he's not any nebulizer or vest treatments yet. He's bringing up lots of mucus on his own, poor kid is spitting out the car window while I'm driving down the road because it keeps coming up. And the sinus rinses are working great as well. I'm having him do at least two a day. Trying for 3, but he's so tired and I hate to keep making him get up! His original abx was for 14 days, cefzil (?) and when I asked the pediatrician how he could get an ear infection while on abx, she said it must not have been strong enough. Of course, he's allergic to penicillin, which is what every doctor wants to give him, so now he's on zithromax, which always worked well for him when he was younger.
I've got him drinking water, carrying it with him everywhere he goes. Haven't done any pedialyte, but have been giving him a cup or two of gatorade each day to help since he's been throwing up and a little bit of diarrhea, do you think that helps at all? And he's not pancreatic insufficient, but are there any foods he should avoid, that increase mucus production? I've always heard milk/dairy, but he's not eating or drinking any dairy right now anyway because of his stomach issues. His diet the last week or so has been mainly soup, crackers, rice, turkey, and fruit. Pretty boring and basic.
I've got him drinking water, carrying it with him everywhere he goes. Haven't done any pedialyte, but have been giving him a cup or two of gatorade each day to help since he's been throwing up and a little bit of diarrhea, do you think that helps at all? And he's not pancreatic insufficient, but are there any foods he should avoid, that increase mucus production? I've always heard milk/dairy, but he's not eating or drinking any dairy right now anyway because of his stomach issues. His diet the last week or so has been mainly soup, crackers, rice, turkey, and fruit. Pretty boring and basic.
Also, is throwing up mucus "normal"? This is actually how we got started with the whole CF thing, he was throwing up mucus in the middle of the night so we took him to an ENT who found polyps, which led to another thing, which led to another thing, etc. Is his body just making so much thick mucus that he can't handle it, and he's throwing it up? I've never gotten an answer to why he's throwing it up so much, just curious
When you say he's throwing up mucus...do you mean he's coughing so hard that it causes him to gag and mucus comes up or is it mixed in with vomit? The coughing so hard you gag is something that can happen when we're sick. It's running down the back of our throat and into our stomach so yes it can be there.
I’ve never seen it happen, it’s almost always the middle of the night when it happens. He calls it “throwing up”. Sometimes there’s no food, just mucus, and he says it’s clear, not yellow or green.
The doctors office called me back. Dr is worried he’s not getting better so he’s ordered a chest X-ray followed by an appointment with him tomorrow morning. Thank you God! I think he’s also going to do another throat culture, but not sure on that. Praying I can get him better! It’s so hard with no diagnosis to know what to do, but you’ve all been very helpful!
The doctors office called me back. Dr is worried he’s not getting better so he’s ordered a chest X-ray followed by an appointment with him tomorrow morning. Thank you God! I think he’s also going to do another throat culture, but not sure on that. Praying I can get him better! It’s so hard with no diagnosis to know what to do, but you’ve all been very helpful!
Just in case anyone is interested, an update on my son...
He made it through the night without throwing up, but didn't sleep well due to the mucus and nausea. He felt pretty sick this morning on the way to the dr, but while at the hospital we got him an egg sandwich and he seemed to feel better after that. His chest xray was good, no change from the one he had 3 weeks ago, doctor said it looked and sounded good, no "rattling" or wheezing. We are thinking, however, that he more than likely has at least a mild form of asthma, based on the fact that the inhaler does seem to be helping the cough. He said he couldn't do a test to confirm it because he can't be sick when he's doing it. He's recommending that he finish his second round of antibiodics, and is putting him on prednisone and wants him to double the amount of time he's doing the inhaler. He also took a sample of the mucus and is going to have it tested again to see if there's any other/new bacteria brewing in there. Other than that, things seemed good, so we're happy with that. I'm so worried this is going to turn into pneumonia, and whatever this is he has is really knocking him on his butt, his energy level is almost non-existent. Thanks again everyone for the help!
He made it through the night without throwing up, but didn't sleep well due to the mucus and nausea. He felt pretty sick this morning on the way to the dr, but while at the hospital we got him an egg sandwich and he seemed to feel better after that. His chest xray was good, no change from the one he had 3 weeks ago, doctor said it looked and sounded good, no "rattling" or wheezing. We are thinking, however, that he more than likely has at least a mild form of asthma, based on the fact that the inhaler does seem to be helping the cough. He said he couldn't do a test to confirm it because he can't be sick when he's doing it. He's recommending that he finish his second round of antibiodics, and is putting him on prednisone and wants him to double the amount of time he's doing the inhaler. He also took a sample of the mucus and is going to have it tested again to see if there's any other/new bacteria brewing in there. Other than that, things seemed good, so we're happy with that. I'm so worried this is going to turn into pneumonia, and whatever this is he has is really knocking him on his butt, his energy level is almost non-existent. Thanks again everyone for the help!