Wheezing with Inhaling

Croup occurs more frequently in allergic children than in others and may occur in children who are prone to have asthma. An episode of croup is easily differentiated from an asthma attack. In croup, the wheezing is heard when the child breathes in. The wheezing in asthma, as we know, comes with breathing out.

Since croup can occur in the asthmatic child, make sure to notice whether the wheezing comes with breathing in or with breathing out. This is very important because croup is more serous from the start and gets more severe more quickly than asthma. Treatment for croup and for asthma is somewhat the same, involving the use of humidified air, the adrenaline family of drugs, and steroids.

When these and other wheezing Conditions peculiar to childhood have been ruled out, asthma is the problem. Asthma usually is identified by wheezing, but in some children, the troublesome sign is a cough instead of wheezing. The cough is often a dry, hacking cough, usually worse at night. Such a cough is considered to be the equivalent of asthma and sometimes precedes wheezing by several hours. In this case, there is enough spasm of the bronchi to cause coughing but not enough to cause wheezing. Sometimes the wheezing is absent because the young child's respiratory muscles are too weak or too tired to provide the effort that is needed for wheezing. A mucus drip at the back of the throat (postnasal drip) can also cause a hacking cough.