My bro is really sick with some form of infection. He went to the doctor and had a bloodtest, nothing has come up. He has none of the classic infections. The main issue is that is throat is severly swollen and it gets tighter and tighter each night. We've tried practically every form of trying to reduce this, Nyquil, Advil, Cough Drops, gargling salt water, throat spray, and other things. Is there anything that will actually work, because he can only get like 1-2 hrs of sleep each night, my parents are being #)&%#)(%&)* because they want their sleep and can't keep getting up in the night to provide any form of emotional support. I'm staying up with him, but theres only so much i can do. He says it hurts to breathe and its the pain that keeps him awake. Any ideas on how to help the swelling reduce?

I am no medical anything, but I'd get him to an emergency room PRONTO!

<font color=skyblue>Could be an allergic reaction to something, and you could try Benadryl...but I am seriously wanting to slap your dumb parents.

This kid could die and they are griping about getting sleep? It sounds like something is getting worse, and the worse it gets, the harder it may be to heal.

I want to know what your parents know that they have not told you yet, because it is obvious they are not concerned over his health.</font>

Yes i am fully aware. They took him to like 3 different doctors but all of them haven't said anything useful. He has some prescription stuff and they say if its not better by Monday, come in again. So far, nothing good has happened.

<font color=skyblue>I am sorry to hear that he is suffering, poor guy.

My best wishes for his speedy recovery.

By the way, I was going to suggest a sleeping agent to help knock him out, as I had to do that once when I had the adult Chicken Pox, but that would not be advisable if he is having labored breathing. </font>

Yeah, i thought sleeping pills too but then I forgot to mention it. He's sleeping right now, he has to sleep with his mouth open cuz he's too congested. The worst part is when he wakes up, the throat is worse cuz it dries out.

give him some anti inflamitory medicine, like advil, it helps with the pain, and swelling as well, might not be the best, but what I use when my throat swells up, has he been checked for bronchitis? it will not show up as an actual infection, but can be caused by colds or smoke, nit just from smoking, but a fire of any kind, I have it all the time, and if I am not careful it could get aggitated, also, has he been checked for asthma? it has the same symptoms, and can be deadly if not treated

edit...do not give him any thing to make him sleep. as pointed out, it affects breathing, another thing that can help, is steam, caffine, and vicks vapor rub, not the cream, it is not as effective

[ 06-04-2004, 11:34 PM: Message edited by: Stormymystic ]

another thing my grand mother used to do for us, when we had trouble breathing, is take the vicks, and place it in water, boil it, until it is steaming really good, then get a towel, place over his head, have him hold his head over the bowl/pan for 5 to 10 minutes, it helps lossen the airways [img]smile.gif[/img] hope he gets better [img]smile.gif[/img]

his girlfriend's entire family smokes and he's always there. But she isn't sick so who knows. As for asthma, he was already tested for that at the doctors and he had no history of asthma or breathing problems.

he could have an allergy to the smoke, it is not umcommon in people, and I agree give him something for allergies, and some advil or something, see if that helps, there are alot of things that could be causing it, IMO you should keep taking him to see a doctor, if he is not better tomorrow, take him again, do not wait until monday, as Larry said, the longer you guys wait, the worse it can get, also, elevate his upper body, so his head and chest are higher than his abdomen, it helps lower the swelling in the upper body as well