False croup: causes, symptoms, first aid, diagnosis and treatment

False croup arises from a variety of pathogens. Most often, children of preschool age face it, but adults can also experience this unsafe symptom.

If you respond incorrectly to an attack of stenosis and don’t help the patient, but the consequences can be very sad, even fatal.

What is croup?

First of all, it should be noted that this condition requires emergency medical care. There are two concepts of croup - true and false. The first appears against the backdrop of such a dangerous disease as diphtheria.

In this case, the larynx of the person envelops the film and suffocation appears. Diphtheria is infectious and you can avoid infection with it only by resorting to vaccination.

True croup is removed exclusively in a hospital environment and a person alone cannot cope with it. Diphtheria is a very dangerous disease, which even in a hospital with proper treatment and administration of serum gives 30% mortality.

False croup occurs against the background of an infectious or allergic pathogen and in this case only the larynx muscles swell. This condition is also extremely dangerous and suffocation can occur against its background.

Why does false croup occur in children?

In this category of the population, the development of laryngeal edema is associated with the anatomical structure of organs. At an early age, the lumen in the throat is still quite narrow and muscles swell against the background of any inflammatory process. As a result, ligaments close in the larynx and the child cannot fully breathe.

Most often, this pathology affects children up to 6-7 years of age. By this time, the organs grow and take shape almost like an adult. And even if a laryngeal spasm occurs, then parents can already cope with it on their own.

Most often, false croup occurs in children on the background of viral infections. Basically, it can be encountered during laryngitis. And also this symptom may appear due to the commonplace SARS, not to mention more difficult infections.

Pediatricians identify several major viral diseases that can cause false croup in children:

• flu;
• measles;
• parainfluenza;
• adenovirus.

The causative agents of these infections most often affect the walls of the larynx and cause edema in them. First aid for false croup should be provided in a hospital or ambulance, if the attack occurred for the first time or is complicated every minute.

Very often allergic children suffer from this symptom. They may experience suffocation due to reactions to an eaten product, drug, smell, or insect bite. Therefore, the parents of such children should always have with themselves the necessary drugs to combat false croup and clearly be able to follow the doctor's instructions in advance.

What time of day does it occur more often?

If the child is prone to swelling of the larynx, then adults with any catarrhal disease should carefully monitor its condition. Most often, symptoms of false croup appear on the first or second day of the disease.

The child begins to often and obsessively cough with a specific sound. It is also called "barking." In this period, there is practically no sputum discharge. And also hoarseness of the voice gradually appears until its complete loss.

These symptoms should already alert parents and prepare in advance for possible suffocation. Most often, croup begins at night, and more precisely at 2-4 hours, and there is a scientific explanation for this.

In the second half of the night, the adrenal hormones cease to produce in the body, which are responsible for the removal of edema and the prevention of allergic reactions. Therefore, it is at this time that suffocation can rapidly develop.

If false croup occurs due to an allergic reaction, then the time of day does not affect its appearance. It develops almost immediately or shortly after the allergen enters the body.

Does it happen in adults?

Unfortunately, there is an affirmative answer to this question - yes. But the percentage of susceptible to this phenomenon is not as high as that of children. Most often, the cause of this condition is allergy.

Adults suffering from any manifestation of a dangerous disease should be prepared that choking can happen to them. Very often the larynx swells from the bite of a bee or wasp.

Croup can also occur as a result of an eaten product that causes an allergic reaction in a particular person. Often sufferers from suffocation are people who are prone to frequent bronchopulmonary diseases, especially asthma.

But do not confuse croup and bronchospasm. These are two different dangerous conditions of a person, which are removed under various schemes with medications. With an asthmatic attack, it is difficult to exhale, and with false croup, the patient cannot fully inhale.

During viral infections in adults, the larynx also narrows, but due to the sufficient size of this organ, the likelihood of suffocation is extremely small. More often than not, a voice hoarsens or completely sits.

The main symptoms of false croup

There are several main signs by which you can understand that asphyxiation is approaching or has begun:

• barking cough;
• hoarseness of voice;
• dyspnea;
• difficulty in breathing;
• whistling while breathing;
• severe panic;
• cyanosis of the face.

It is worth noting that if an adult is hoarse or coughing, then this is not a sign of croup. But the onset of symptoms in the child should alert the parents and, in case of a severe attack, urgently need to call an ambulance.

Adult patients should take measures with severe suffocation, when a person is practically unable to breathe and even loses consciousness. If only the voice hoarse and coughing started against the background of acute respiratory viral infections, then it is necessary to start standard treatment, which is suitable in a specific situation.

Degrees of stenosis with croup

There are several conditions, depending on which certain medical care is provided.

1. I degree of stenosis is characterized by a small dry cough. A person can feel relatively normal, but already feels a hoarse voice.
2. II-I - rapid breathing, coughing becomes more intrusive. Difficult to inhale, shortness of breath appears.
3. III degree refers to conditions of moderate severity. Whistles appear during breathing, breathing is very difficult, the voice practically disappears. In this period, cyanosis on the face may appear. The person is panicked, and fear is well expressed on the face.
4. IV-I - a serious condition. Urgent treatment of false croup in intensive care is needed. The whistle may disappear. The cough stops. Almost complete suffocation occurs, loss of consciousness and tachycardia may occur.

Grades III and IV of stenosis with false croup in adults and children are considered life-threatening. Such conditions require immediate assistance to the patient by medical professionals. Often, such patients are delivered to the intensive care unit.

In especially severe cases, a trachiostomy is established for patients, so that air flows directly from the outside, while actions are taken to relieve laryngeal edema. Then the patient will need a long rehabilitation.

Differential diagnosis of false croup

To find out what type of stenosis has occurred, the patient needs to analyze the symptoms. Differential diagnosis helps determine if a false or true croup has arisen in a patient. To make it easier to deal with the symptoms, they can be arranged in a table.

Now it becomes clear that false croup develops very quickly and can be recognized by the characteristic "barking" cough and hoarseness. With diphtheria, all symptoms increase gradually and a characteristic plaque appears on the throat.

Adequate diagnosis can only be done by a doctor in a hospital and with the help of additional laboratory tests. In case of confirmation of diphtheria, the patient needs to urgently enter a special serum.

What to do with false croup in a child?

Faced with the symptoms of this disease for the first time, parents most often go into a stupor and panic. This cannot be done. With their behavior, adults scare a child even more and a seizure may be complicated by fear.

First of all, you need to open the window and provide the baby with a lot of fresh air. If stenosis happened in the summer, then the child can be taken out to the balcony or directly to the open window.

In winter, the actions should be the same, only the baby is wrapped in a blanket. At this time, one of the adults should turn on hot water in the bathtub and let off steam. Here you can sit with your child for 10-15 minutes to reduce spasm. In no case do not lower the baby into the water.

If the house has a nebulizer (compressor inhaler), then it is advisable to do the procedure using Pulmicort. Doses must be obtained in advance from the pediatrician if the child is prone to the formation of croup. In the absence of drugs, you can use the usual sterile saline solution.

Parents who have experienced an attack of stenosis for the first time should immediately call an ambulance, because they themselves can not cope with croup. You also need to call a team if within a few minutes the baby's condition does not improve and the symptoms increase, otherwise the complications of false croup cannot be avoided.

What to do before the ambulance arrives?

One of the main enemies of false croup is fear. He may become the culprit of the deterioration of the patient. If an attack of stenosis happened with a child, then adults are obliged to calm him, otherwise suffocation will increase.

Before the brigade arrives, you need to distract the baby as much as possible with conversations and different stories. If the situation allows, the child should be given warm water and given any antihistamine (loratadine, l-cet, eden, finistil).

If a spasm of the larynx occurs against the background of an allergic reaction, then urgently the stimulus should be removed away from the patient. In extreme cases, hormones are administered to the patient before the ambulance arrives. Most often, their role is prednisone or dexamethasone.

This manipulation can be performed only by people who have already encountered such a situation and know the dosage. For the first time, it is not worth injecting yourself with these drugs and it is better to wait for medical workers.

Adults who are prone to instant development of allergic reactions should always carry the necessary medications with them. Their associates must be able to use them and provide the relative with the necessary assistance.

Parents should also store the right medicines for such cases in the home. In the medicine cabinet is always required to be any antihistamine drug. Some pediatricians also advise having special hormone suppositories at home - Rectodelt. They can be useful as a last resort, if before the arrival of the brigade the child becomes much worse.

Such candles can be used once a day and no more than 3 days in a row. They resemble strong hormonal drugs in ampoules, which are administered intravenously or intramuscularly by an ambulance worker in such cases.

Can stenosis be prevented?

There is no single answer to this question. Pediatricians believe that people prone to it with a strong virus or allergy will certainly encounter it. But you can make stenosis less severe.

If the parents noticed during the day that the child's voice sits and he begins to “strangely”, obsessively cough, then several recommendations should be followed.

1. Water the patient in the maximum amount of warm liquid. Thus, sputum will become viscous and the cough will quickly turn into a productive one.
2. In the room where the patient is located, it is necessary to set the temperature not higher than 18 ° and raise the humidity to 60-70%. So sputum will not be able to thicken very much and will begin to recede. It will be easier for the patient to breathe.
3. The child must be put to sleep in a half-sitting position. To do this, under his back and head, he needs to substitute several pillows.
4. Before the evening, you can do 2-4 inhalations using a nebulizer with normal saline.

What should not be done if a cough occurs with false croup?

You can not irrigate the patient's throat by any herbal remedies. This can cause an even more spasm of the larynx and lead to suffocation. Also, do not use inhalation with hot steam with the addition of essential oils and herbs.

With laryngitis, the child does not have to wait until the temperature rises to 39 °. It is advisable to start knocking it off at readings on a thermometer 38 ° and above. Thus, the body will not be dehydrated and a cough will become more productive faster.

With a hoarse voice, you need to provide the patient with peace and not let him talk a lot. This recommendation is easier to fulfill for an adult, and the child will have to negotiate or arrange for the execution of this paragraph in a playful way.

With the allergic nature of stenosis, you need to immediately remove the irritant from the patient or bring him into the room, if the cause is a pungent smell or pollen. When a bee stings, it is advisable to immediately remove the sting so that as little poison as possible gets into the body.

People must quickly call in an ambulance in this condition of the patient.