Dehydration
Dehydration means that the body is dried up
from loss of vital fluids. This is the greatest threat to the life of a child
with diarrhea. The loose, watery stools drain out water plus valuable chemicals
from the body- chemicals such as sodium and potassium which are essential for
regulating the body's fluid and acid-base balances. If diarrhea continues
unchecked, severe illness or even death may result from the ensuing dehydration
and the acidosis that goes with it.
Dehydration may show itself by (1) decrease
in amount of urine and a dark yellow or light brown appearance of the urine;
(2) loss of the usual elastic quality of the skin; (3) sunken eyeballs; (4)
rapid breathing; (5) drowsiness or even unconsciousness. In severe cases
accompanied by vomiting, the physician will have to replace the fluid and the
sodium and other chemicals by injections into the child's veins. Such injections
have often saved the lives of desperately sick infants.
CROUP
This
is a narrowing of the air passage through the larynx, the voice box in the neck
where the vocal cords are located. If the narrowing is great, air cannot reach
the lungs and the child begins to choke. The narrowing is caused by spasm, or
involuntary contraction, and swelling of the larynx, which may be the result of
some infections or a severe allergy. Most often a virus infection is at fault.
Fortunately, while terribly frightening to child and parents, croup is rarely
fatal. It usually comes in spasms, generally precipitated at night. The mild
fever and apparently healthy look of the child between spasms, and the fact
that a child has been immunized against diphtheria, usually make it certain
that the illness is croup.
However, always notify the doctor when the
child develops a hoarse, croupy voice or cough, or seems to be having spasms of
difficulty breathing. Occasionally, a severe croup attack may represent an
emergency before the doctor can be summoned. The spasm can be relieved by
placing the child in a place where there is cool moist air. Hospitals are
equipped with special apparatus to provide this cool moist air, but at home,
warm, moist air can be an adequate substitute. A croup tent can be improvised
by boiling water in a kettle or pan on an electric hot plate under a blanket
which is placed over the child and a parent.
A parent or other adult must
always sit with a child during treatment. The reason is important to know: More
children have been burned to death during treatment for croup than have died of
the disease itself. Keep the steam going until has been relaxed. Allow the
child to rest. Plenty of clear fluids should be given. If the croup tent can't
be improvised, or your druggist can't rush over , fill OU water vaporizer, fill
the bathtub with steaming hot water, or turn t hi' shower on and keep the hot
water running.
Close the bathroom window and the door so the room becomes
saturated with moist air. Be in the bathroom with the child, never taking a
chance for even at found that the child can be trusted not to fall into the
scalding water. I vi-n an older child who starts a paroxysm of croup may become
so and frightened that he doesn't know what he is doing. Croup attacks often
tend to recur on two or three successive nights.
Ask your doctor what to do to
prevent the recurrences. He may leave medication that will help shorten a
recurrence if it cannot be prevented. Note: If an attack doesn't respond to the
above measures in 20 minutes, or if high fever is present, the situation is a
serious emergency. If you cannot reach your doctor, rush the child to a
hospital.
