My 2 year old daughter had what appeared to be a cold over the weekend. Sunday night she got a high fever (104.6) and was breathing very rapidly, coughing and throwing up. I called the on-call nurse who said we should bring her to the ER. The ER doc didn't see anything on the x-ray, but he heard "crackles" in the lungs so he said it could be the start of pneumonia. Since they weren't sure if it was bacterial or viral he prescribed amoxicillin. Anyway, she responded so quickly and is feeling so much better today. I wonder if it was pneumonia or what it was? It seemed it might have been the start of bacterial pneumonia but the meds nipped it in the bud. It seems if it was a viral illness (pneumonia or otherwise) she wouldn't feel better so quickly, and the antibiotics would have done nothing. Any thoughts?
It has been a week and she is feeling much better. Thanks for all the thoughts. I am glad I took her to the ER.
If it were pneumonia, you would be able to tell from the x-ray.
My son battled viral bronchitis for a good 3 weeks, so they just gave him nebulizer treatments, however, it was continuing to get worse, and he was then put on Steroids and the Z-pak, and diagnosed him with Pnemonia.. If he had the fever with it, early on, they probably would have given him antibiotics sooner..So, in a way, she definetly was treated appropriately, and it didn't last very long which was a good thing. It does sound like pnemonia to me.
It could have been strep. Strep often presents with nausea and responds to antibiotics.
Do follow up with her pediatrician regardless of the fact (and I'm happy that she is) she's feeling better, who can request a copy of the x-ray.
My little guy had pneumonia at 3 months, his mom (my daughter) couldn't tell me how long he'd been sick and after a day I took him to the ER. They took a chest x-ray and the doctor said he saw nothing, said it was bronchitis, and prescribed an antibiotic. Two days later (and he really hadn't improved) I received a call from a radiologist at the hospital, she had gone over his x-ray and found a spot and told me to bring him back to the ER, he had pneumonia, and the antibiotic he was on would do nothing. I took him back, the x-ray was checked again and yes, there was a spot, he had a new x-ray taken to confirm it, and was prescribed a new antibiotic and recovered with no complications. (The first doctor was located by the 2nd doctor and called to the exam room and told of his error, he was truly humbled and sorry.) I followed up with our pediatrician, who kept close tabs on him the next few months, and thankfully he's had no lingering effects.
I had bronchitis first that developed into pneumonia. It could have been that. But really, kids bounce back so quickly it might have very well been pneumonia. Either way, she's feeling better and that's what matters!
Coughing to the point of throwing up signalled pneumonia 3 times in our household.
