My daughter has ALWAYS seemed to have a cough like forever! normally it was a cough then nothing for another hour then another cough and i mean one cough. now every time at about 6 she starts coughing. No shes not laying down (i know this can make it worse) but im just baffled by this! my thoughts are post nasal drip. She has been diagnosed with asthma but she really hasnt had any problems with this. of course at night when she lays down it gets worse last night it actually woke her up which it has only done a few times when she was really sick. any ideas?? thanks!
Could it be allergies? Sometimes, environmental allergies can cause this. Also, this can totally be an asthma issue. Doesn't sound like a big issue, but I'd mention it to her doctor next time you're there.
Yep. Asthma and allergies can present as coughing. I first encountered this with a woman at work who coughed for months and she wasn't sick - just had an allergy. Then, I got asthma in my 40s and had that same kind of coughing.
I took both an anti-histamine and anti-leukotriene (Singulair) and for a while I also needed to use Advair and steroidal nasal spray. The Advair has both salmeterol and steroids which can affect the brain and caused my younger daughter to become anxious, paranoid and nearly psychotic - luckily her GP immediately knew it was the Advair her allergist had put her on, so these things are not all benign.
We kept hypoallergenic bedrooms, electrostatic filters, hepa filter on the vacuum, etc.
I'll tell you the weirdest thing that helped my asthma - something my allergist never told me was possibly affecting me - I had food sensitivities and when I got off of foods I can't have (gluten and dairy were the worst for me) - my asthma got so mild I no longer needed my asthma meds. Now I just take an otc Zyrtec and I'm fine. No emergency inhaler, Advair, steroid nasal spray, or Singulair. Although these are geared towards the brain effects of allergies, they are worth looking into for anybody with allergies:
http://itsnotmental.blogspot.com/2011/05/allergies-asthma...
http://itsnotmental.blogspot.com/2011/02/we-have-sick-chi...
could just be allergies. i used to always have a horrible cough that would last for at least a month. since i have been using the neil med sinus rinse i haven't had much problem with it. maybe you can get her to try that? or just try a good allergy medicine and see if that helps. i couldn't find anything that helped me until the sinus rinse. i had went to the dr and got a rx even and that didn't help. good luck
I live in KY also... and I have dealt with asthma most of my life. I awake sometimes at night coughing. If my nose is stuffy at all at night this happens... I take Muccinex (the off brand from walmart) to thin the mucous and use nasal spray to keep my nose clear. If it's bad or I've been into dust, which I'm allergic to, I take Benadryl. With asthma/allergies you can get a stuffy nose but not a cold... the nasal membranes just swell up and that can make you breathe through your mouth at night which after a while can bring on an attack.
Wash her bed clothes more often and put her pillow in the dryer to help keep the dust mites under control. You can buy allergy covers for pillows also. She may be allergic to dust / dust mites like me.
Be sure your daughter has an inhaler (albuterol) and if she has bad coughing at night you might check into a nebulizer. I awoke once this week and needed a nebulizer treatment. That machine can keep you out of the ER for sure.
Post nasal drip or coughing asthma.. Never knew asthma could present
like this until I started working for a pediatric pulmonologist. Check with
your pediatrician.
sounds like asthma. Try Dr. Garcia at Kentuckiana Allergy and Asthma. Awesome Doc. Asthma like this really starts presenting symptoms when weather gets hot, cold, hot, cold.....big temp swings like we've been seeing recently. Good luck!
Step 1: test for pertussis (whooping cough)
If she has a wet cough that is worse at night that has lasted for more than 10 days without improvement, test for pertussis. When caught early, pertussis can be treated with antibiotics. The vaccine runs a 30-40% failure rate and wears off in less than 5 years, so her vaccination status is pretty irrelevant. Insist on this test even if your doctor says you don't need it. Go to the public health department if necessary. The denial around this disease is unbelievable.
If she comes back positive for pertussis, PLEASE inform all your contacts, especially any pregnant women or people with tiny babies so they can be alert for symptoms and start proper treatment early.
If pertussis has been ruled out, here are some other ideas to try:
Try keeping a food journal and look for patterns. My youngest spent a whole W. coughing. It took months before I finally realized that there was a perfect correlation with when we had eggs for breakfast. We took eggs out of her diet and she stopped coughing.
Pay attention to when and where she is coughing. It could be environmental illness. Mold and dust mites can both cause a cough. Where is she every day about 6? Does the cough start if she's somewhere else? Does she cough as much if she sleeps in another room? With a different pillow? In a different house?
If it is asthma, the asthma treatments should take care of it. If the treatment for asthma isn't working, there's probably an issue other than (or in addition to) asthma.
Good luck!
we had tonsils and adenoids removed after 2 years of this same problem. Singular granules helped some. After the surgery and singular nightly during Fall, winter and spring, we havent had any more problems. Hope this helps!
