Expert: Bailey - 4/11/2007

Question
My child has been barking for two weeks now. The Pulmonary doctor put him on 80 mg of Prednisone per day for a week. It was 40 for a week, but it didn't work.Azithromyacin (round 2)hasn't worked-so it's probably viral. This is the third time this year he has missed 2 weeks of school (so 6 weeks).Every time he goes on the high doses of Prednisone I worry because I know it lowers his immune system which then leads to the next illness. How damaging is this for him. I know he needs it. He is also on Singular, and will add QVar when finished with Prednisone. This is so debilitating because he can not go in public (it is that loud) and he can't go to school. I can't afford to homeschool him because I work. But mostly the coughing is extremely painful after 2 weeks of straight coughing-that by the way Codeine isn't touching. Lungs have no Pneumonia-according to hospital xray.My question is:Is there something I could be doing to aggrevate this? I'm thinking salt nasal rinses might be as well as the drying effect of decongestants in the Drixoral.
My other question was about the Prednisone. Thank you
A desperate mom and child.

Answer
Hi Susanne,
Prednisone is a very powerful medication. It is also usually very effective. For short periods of time, it should be O.K. for your son to take. I wouldn't recommend keeping him on it for more than a couple weeks though unless needed and with close supervision. I am not sure if what you are doing is aggravating his condition. It is possible. If you can, take one thing away and see how his condition changes. Maybe stop doing nasal rinses and see what happens. If there is no change, see what happens when you take away the decongestants. This will give you a better idea if any of these things are making it worse.
-Bailey