Question - Cold when to call the doc

[Justinsmama]

Hi,

This is our first full cold/flu season since my 8 year old son's diagnosis last Feb. Last year he had one pneumonia after the other between Feb and April (3 plus stuff on bronch we had to treat). He can not get a flu shot because of egg allergy, so I know to call the CF clinic ASAP if he gets the flu. My question is, when do we call with a cold or nasal congestion? Do I go by cough alone or him being short of breath? It is hard to tell what is hard to breath with a stuffy nose. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

Josette in PA
Justin 8 CF

 

[Ratatosk]

I think we all tend to worry about this, especially when there's been all the stuff in the news about the flu season this year. I think the biggy is fever and productive cough.

Our doctor prescribes tamiflu. Gives us a script, sometimes suggests we have it on hand. With your son's allergy and the recent flu epidemic, I would ask your doctor for a script. So there wouldn't be a delay should your child get exposed and develop symptoms.

DS' cf doctor has had us as parents take tamiflu when we've been directly exposed. A coworker sat next to me during a meeting a few years ago with Influenza A. Happened to be the year the vaccine didn't cover that strain, so I got put on tamiflu.

It's difficult with your child going to school knowing all what he may be exposed to; however, if there are a lot of kids in his classroom sick with the flu and he gets a fever, I wouldn't hesitate to call the doctor. There are symptoms listed in the news regarding Cold vs. Flu -- but it just makes me more confused.

 

[Murphysmama]

Such a great topic!!! Under a year ds cf doc wanted a call/visit on any cold symptoms. Last year he gave us the following guidelines. Typical cold (no fever, bad coughs, etc) that isn't getting better after 7 days we should call. He also has us regularly monitor nighttime sleeping respiratory rate to keep a baseline. We count number of breaths for one minute when he is in a deep restful sleep. When he has a cold we monitor nightly to keep an eye out for any increase. The averages depend on the age of course. It has been a really useful tool for us to gauge if something is a cold or settling in to his lungs in a more serious way. I'd love to hear what other folks do.
Cheers!

 

[Ratatosk]

I still count respirations. I found it to be an excellent tool when DS was younger and he was a little off -- more tired, but no fever -- to let me know that he was coming down with something. Usually it was an ear infection.

We were also told by DS' doctor to "know his cough". His baseline is no cough, so if he coughs we need to figure out if it's postnasal drip, nervous habit, productive/junky. With the later, which has been rare in the past, we call the cf doctor's office to see what he prefers for us to do. Usually based on what he'd cultured in the past, he'd prescribe an antibiotic.