Bronchitis & Stomach Flu

My son has asthma, and got both the stomach flu & a chest cold this week. That, or the same bug that started out with 24 hours of stomach trouble. We've been in the hospital a ton on nebulizers, and I could open a pharmacy with his Rxs. (3 kinds of steroids, antibiotics, albuterol, antipyretics, antiemetics, antiimflammatories).

What we're trying to do is to keep his chest cold from turning into pneumonia and an inpatient stay.

If Finn starts committing his meds before they can work... Ring his doctor. They may have you come in for IV antibiotics, or may have you just keep doing until the stomach part is passed, or hold off for 12-24 hours after the V&D starts. . I can't imagine they'd stop the antibiotic course, though. At least, not for longer than a day. Generally, docs don't play with asthma. 4 minutes until brain damage if his respiratory system goes on strike.

Either way, keep his doctors informed.

Don't stop the antibiotics on the first child no matter how "okay" he seems. You must finish the full regimen. That' assuming that he's had amoxil before without any problem, and that he's not allergic to it.

Now, the 2nd child may not need antibiotics because, as Dawn says, if it's a viral infection, antibiotics are useless. A secondary infection (e.g. sinuses) might require antibiotics in one child and not in the other. Constantly giving antibiotics when they are not indicated can result in drug-resistant organisms that cause even worse infections. I used to have bronchitis all the time and rarely was given antibiotics because it was considered to be viral. You may or not be allowed to call the doctor yourself - sometimes nannies don't have the authority and the doctor cannot give you info.

There are two kinds of bronchitis. Viral and bacterial. Antibiotics don't work on viral bronchitis. Either Finn has a secondary infection that needs antibiotics or he has bacterial bronchitis, and he needs the antibiotics.

You need to call the doctor's office and talk about the diarrhea. Perhaps they can change the medicine. Just don't stop the antibiotics.

Dawn

the dr gave him the amoxil.. so he needsto take it for the entire time prescribed.

Maybe by dinner time Finn will be able to keep his medicine down...
Contact the doc's office and see what they say.
LBC