professormom
New member
Hi -
My 7.5 month old son owen was born healthy at 38 weeks. he was hospitalized with RSV at 12 days old. he handled it pretty well and was sent home with a nebulizer after 1 day. Since then, he has had 2 ear infections, FEW COLDS, a pretty much constant cough, and last weekend sounded really junky, so the doc ordered a steriod to go along with the bronchiodialator in the nebulizer. Up until now, we have used the nebulizer only a few times. These meds have helped a bit, but he still has a loose cough and a rattle sometimes. The allergist added singulair, which seems to be helping more. he has baasically been diagnosed with reactive airway disease - most likely will become asthma once this diagnosis can be made. During a follow-up visit with the pediatrician on Friday, he said he wanted Owen to go for a sweat test to rule out cystic fibrosis. I was floored. The doc said he didn't think Owen had it because he has none of the other symptoms (his weight and height have been consistently in the 50th%ile, his poop is normal).
I have been reading about all of the various presentations of CF in people. Is it common for an infant to have the respiratory symptoms of CF and none of the other symptoms? Based on your experience, how likely is it that my boy has CF? I am so worried about him. Oh, BTW, he doesn't taste salty at all.
Oh, also, our state routinely screens for CF in the newborn heel prick test. I realize there is about a 5% false negative rate, but Owen was not identified during the screening. I have no knowen history of CF in teh family, although my dad had 2 brothers die as young boys (in the 19teens in poor Irish immigrant slums of NYC) and we don't know the cause. My Husband was adopted, so we know very little about his family history.
Any insight/ stories would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Nora
My 7.5 month old son owen was born healthy at 38 weeks. he was hospitalized with RSV at 12 days old. he handled it pretty well and was sent home with a nebulizer after 1 day. Since then, he has had 2 ear infections, FEW COLDS, a pretty much constant cough, and last weekend sounded really junky, so the doc ordered a steriod to go along with the bronchiodialator in the nebulizer. Up until now, we have used the nebulizer only a few times. These meds have helped a bit, but he still has a loose cough and a rattle sometimes. The allergist added singulair, which seems to be helping more. he has baasically been diagnosed with reactive airway disease - most likely will become asthma once this diagnosis can be made. During a follow-up visit with the pediatrician on Friday, he said he wanted Owen to go for a sweat test to rule out cystic fibrosis. I was floored. The doc said he didn't think Owen had it because he has none of the other symptoms (his weight and height have been consistently in the 50th%ile, his poop is normal).
I have been reading about all of the various presentations of CF in people. Is it common for an infant to have the respiratory symptoms of CF and none of the other symptoms? Based on your experience, how likely is it that my boy has CF? I am so worried about him. Oh, BTW, he doesn't taste salty at all.
Oh, also, our state routinely screens for CF in the newborn heel prick test. I realize there is about a 5% false negative rate, but Owen was not identified during the screening. I have no knowen history of CF in teh family, although my dad had 2 brothers die as young boys (in the 19teens in poor Irish immigrant slums of NYC) and we don't know the cause. My Husband was adopted, so we know very little about his family history.
Any insight/ stories would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Nora