Sinus Congestion

[JRPandTJP]

Okay, Ben has had little to no congestion for as long as I can remember. We may only notice it from time to time if he misses a GSH treatment or obvioulsy during colds. On and off he may have a little clear running nose when teething but no lung stuff and no difficulty breathing (through the nose) at night.

However, he has been very stuffy (snoring at night sometimes can't breathe through his nose) for over 10 days now. At first I thought a cold, but now I'm not sure. If anything comes out (sorry gross bugger talk coming) it is clear. In the AM he has tons of PND and it seemed to clear until late at night. We have been doing some sinus rinses the past few days but still he sounds gunky to me now in the AM (in his chest) and I just noticed a cough start up the last 2 days. In addition, his stools have been way off the past 2 weeks (smelly unformed, not frequent though). This has also happened when he was teething but not consistently for 2 weeks like this. He has no other symptoms, appetite good, no fever, not sleepy, but I do see 2 year old molars coming.

I can't remember how Julia was with her molars and if they were worst then the others. Could something be settling in or is teething just really throwing off his system this time? We are trying a bit of magnesium to help lower acidity and help enzymes work better and we've increased the enzymes a bit to see if it helps with stools.

Any advice? Should I get him cultured to be sure something hasn't changed in the lungs? We are due to go in 2 weeks but maybe I should up it??

Hope this was clear...it is late and I am way tired.

Jody

 

[folione]

My son, now 3, had cold symptoms when his molars came in but the presence of all that extra junk is a prime breeding ground so even if he started it just from teeth, it could still turn into an infection. Our CF doctor instructed us to start antibiotics whenever cold symptoms last more than a week or 10 days or if breathing seems compromised. Allergies can also be a factor - all of us get sinus trouble in spring (pollen) and again during the fall rainy season (mold).

I'd just give the Dr. a call - maybe they'll just phone in some antibiotic to take until the already-scheduled appt.

 

[mneville]

My son had some of those same symptoms starting at age 1. He had a
clear runny nose for months actually which did not respond to oral
antibiotics or allergy medication. We were trying for months to
figure it out with the CF doc. Then the snoring started and he
could only sleep lying on one of us. We requested a CAT scan and it
showed horrible sinus disease. He required a PICC line and surgery
to combat it. Not to alarm you but I would really call the doctor.
SInuses give my son the most trouble right now- he has another
sinus infection now. We do rinses and Flonase daily to try and help
it. Our CF doc was shocked that his sinuses were so bad at such a
young age- they had not seen that before. Also check with an ENT-
he is a bog part of Aidan's treatment team these days.<br>
<br>
MEgan

 

[NoExcuses]

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[anonymous]

Actaully Aidan's severe sinus infections never turned color. It was a clear, constant runny nose for about 3 months until the CAT scan. Zyrtec was tried and did not work plus allergy testing so we were pretty sure it was more than allergies. Warwick described it as the thick mucous just sitting there in the nose and it just builds until nowhere to go except to run out out the nose. Aidan's aednoids were also huge so that did not help the problem. Our ENT said his nose was so blocked that he was hardly breathing through it at all- a pinhole on one side.

 

[NoExcuses]

.

 

[damiensmom]

Damien has had a clear nose run. Our Doc gave us a sample of Rhinocort Aqua 32 mcgs (budesonide) So hard to give it to a baby in a spray like that . Is it for allergies. I havnt used it cause it cleared up and he just got the nose run again.

 

[anonymous]

My son was the same way the anon poster described her ds Aidan. When he had an <b>acute</b> sinus infection, his nose would run (ok,more like creep it was so thick, lol) yucky green gunk and he'd spike a high temp. However, when he was finally dx'd with chronic sinus problems, his nose only ran clear and he ran no temp but he'd have pnd all the time plus a bad cough. Turned out his sinuses were completely clogged up, no air space at all. ENT said the same thing, the sinuses were full of thick sticky mucous that got clogged and couldn't come out. He also had negative allergy tests. His sister, on the other hand, does not have sinus problems but has really severe allergies and her nose would be yellow most of the time, rarely ever clear. CT scans always showed clear sinuses, chest x-rays were always cloudy. I was always taught clear=allergies, yellow/green=infection or cold. My kids were the opposite. Go figure!

 

[anonymous]

Oh, also meant to say, YES, rhinocort aqua is for allergies. It's a steroid nasal spray that helps both with allergies and can help with polyps (anti-inflammatory). We've used it in a 2 year old with no problem.

 

[anonymous]

Boy, I should think before hitting post! I also wanted to say that my son did NOT have polyps OR swollen nasal turbinates, it was just the thickness of the mucous that caused his problems...

 

[JRPandTJP]

thanks for all the booger advice ;-) It has started to subside a bit but I am only giving it until Monday. If he isn't back to normal and the sinus rinsing isn't helping it clear out I am going to have him checked and cultured to be sure it isn't/hasn't moved into something else.

I think some of the chest stuff I was hearing is upper resp/throat from drainage., especially now that it seems cleared out of the nose for the most part.

My husband and I both have fall allergies, but I thought 2 is a little young for environmental allergies to show? I might have to take him to see our DO, who does allergy elimination, and have him tested. I just can't afford the treatment if he is positive! I may have to find a way.

I can't wait until he can tell me more information about how he is feeling. Now he just says "yep" to everything I ask and other days "nope"!!

Arghh Toddlers!

 

[jonandlindsay]

Hi Jody -

Funny you should be going through this right now. Just a couple weeks ago Ella started showing signs of something.... had a little bit of a fever, was a little grumpy, got a stuffy nose one night out of the blue and then was stuffy/runny for days and days. It was strange because it was definitely one side of her nose more than the other. We had a friend who's daughter had just gotten Roseola, so at first I thought the fever might have been associated with that, but no rash ever showed up. Finally one day I was thinking back and remembered that in the past whenever she was teething her nose would get stuffy. Next time I brushed her teeth I looked way inside her mouth, sure enough a big ol' molar was pushing its way through on the same side as the really stuffy nose. Her nose continued to drip for a couple more days and then eventually stopped.

I agree that with a child with CF you do need to be more careful and vigilant, and yes, it could be something more serious.... but our kids are still just kids and sometimes just get kid stuff. Way back when Ella first started teething she got a drippy, stuffy nose that drained a little into her throat and made her cough. This was back in the beginning of our CF journey and I got really paranoid and had her Dr. put her on antibiotics when, looking back, I really didn't need to. At times antibiotics are essential to our kids' well-being but there is that whole argument about antibiotic immunity and if they're used to much early-on in life they will become less effective later on.

Good luck and let us know who things go.

Take care,
~ Lindsay
Mom to Ella, 2 w/CF

 

[JRPandTJP]

It just cleared yesterday and his congestion is gone as well. His stools are back to formed and non-smelly too! The molars are still really swollen but no edges yet. Maybe it was a virus but teething makes more sense to me since he had no other symptoms.

He just made it by the skin of his teeth...he had until tomorrow I am relieved to say the least!

Thanks again everyone...Jody

 

[anonymous]

Just a little 2cents, I took my 2yr old daughter(c/f) to the allergist for repeated sinus infections b/c we had already seen an ent (had sinuses cleaned out and cultured staph) so we did allergy testing-neg! So my point is he took her off the zyrtec b/s he said it was making the mucous thicker. okay thats great and how long has she been on this?