my 3 month old son

[lilwom24]

my little guy lately has been having trouble breathing and it has been raspy. we took him to the ER and they took a xray of his lung. the doctor comes in and says that he has a mass about the size of a golfball in his lower right lung and she said she thought it was pnemonia (pneumonia). i went to his doctor and she put him on zithromax for pnemonia (pneumonia) and she ordered a sweat chloride test. he finished his medicine last week but is still really raspy and acting like he cant breathe. they said it could take up to 2 weeks for the sweat chloride test to come back which tests for diseases in the lung. i have looked on the internet for what it could be but nothing adds up to the symptoms. what do you think could be wrong with my little guy? mind you this upsets me because i had a brother die at 8 months old because of sids. please help me with my question. thank you.

[Sunny602]

First of all, I am so sorry that your little son is having so many problems so early in life.
The sweat chloride test is a test for CF, cystic fibrosis. You should get your result sooner than 2 weeks, usually the result is in within a day or so. I have had the test done twice on myself (I do have atypical CF) and was called before the end of the day with my results. There is no reason why you need to wait 2 weeks. I would call them and get the results. Make sure that they give you the actual number, not just a negative, borderline or positive. (negative is less than 40, borderline is 40 to 60, above 60 is positive).

Your doctor should have explained to you the reasoning for this test...it isn't done for any other disorder that I know of. People with CF often have elevated sodium chloride levels in their sweat due to a malfunction of a gene that regulates the transport of chloride in and out of the cells.

I would definitely talk to your doctor, pepper her with questions until you get all of the answers that you deserve. If your doctor suspects CF, please make sure that the sweat testing is done at a CF accredited center where they have specialists who care for those with CF. They do these tests often and tend not to make mistakes.

I am not saying that your son has CF, I am just telling you what a sweat test is ordered for. I think it was wise of your son's doctor to order it for completeness sake. If it turns out that it is positive, then your son will get more testing, most likely at a center that specializes in the care of CF. If it comes out negative, then at least his doctor was thorough. Please do talk to the doctor as soon as possible and ask every question that is on your mind.

I hope this helps...Sunny