Be My Dr

I, myself had constant colds and sinus infections that would not go away (as well as undiagnosed asthma) starting from the age of about 10. A few years ago I finally went to an allergy specialist and got tested. They put me on a new medication regimen and started me on allergy shots. I'm doing better than I have in my entire life!
Give an allergy and asthma specialist a try.

I haven't experienced this before, but if they can not solve your problem in the next visit I'd seek a Pulmonolgist or Pulmonary Specialist.

Yes, she may be allergic to the dog and the mold may still be an issue. I think your dear daughter needs a specialist.

All the best.

no advice just sharing the guilty feelings my 8 yo is upstairs in bed and has been coughing no stop for about 5 mins. I've givin him musinex, proped his pillows up, rubbed vick on his feet and chest. He just had a warm shower and i blowdried his hair. I don't know what else to do , we see the dr tomorrow, but like you was told this was some sort of infection and taht antibiotics would help and they did for a week and a half. ridiculous. but the weather in my part of the country has been up and down temperture and humidity wise, just awful. i'm waiting for the dr tomorrow If i get any good advice i'll let you know.

They ruled out any type of asthma right??

Gosh, this is so frustrating for you, I can totally understand how this must make you feel. Okay, for starters, to reassure your mind, it is not possible to catch the same virus twice so if your other family members are sick with your daughter's virus and she gets better, she won't catch it again but is does sound like she has a viral infection, possibly more than one, which is quite possible since she's been sick for so long. Some viruses take a long time to run it's course. For example, my daughter got sick one week, and then two weeks later caught another cold but she never really recovered from the previous illness.

I wouldn't rule out allergies, however. Allergies can look like an illness (without the fever of course) and can also make an genuine illness look and feel worse. I think your doctor should do some allergy testing and it doesn't matter if the molds in your house are not toxic. Mold is mold and people like myself are allergic to it and since she is in the house a lot, this could be a serious issue for her. Get your daughter tested for allergies. Now, for the cough, has the doctor screened for asthma? Allergies can, from what I understand, cause asthma and even make the symptoms worse. She's been on antibiotics for a long time and that is concerning for me. The last thing you want to create is a situation where she will not respond to antibiotics in the future. Antibiotics have their place in medicine for genuine illnesses, however, they are not meant for viruses because viral infections do not respond to antibiotics.

I also would suggest you get a second opinion with another pediatrician. From what you have posted, it sounds like your ped is at a loss for what to do next and I personally have a problem with doctors who are not willing to take a strong lead in figuring such things out. For example, my daughter had a cough that lasted for over a month. I took her twice to the doctor, who said it was viral (no medication prescribed ~which was fine with me) but when we were approaching month two of a very wet sounding cough, it was me who suggested an x-ray. And the doctor says," Yeah, that might be a good idea." In any case, I would get an allergy test done and start there.

sounds like she has asthma and allergies to me. I realize they gave her a nebulizer - however - I would go to a pediatric pulmonologist.

I would ask for her to be tested for allergies.

Ask an ENT as well - about the recurring sinus infection. It could be from allergies that continually irritate her nose and throat. Don't give up hope!!

No we're not doctors, but I can tell you this. She sounds exactly like my son. For him it's seasonal allergies spring and fall.
My son, in K, had the garbage can pulled over to his seat and a box of Kleenex on his desk.
Took me awhile to see the pattern of his ridiculous amount of SNOT, phlegmy cough, followed by--the inevitable sinus infection. That would take 2 courses of antibiotics (amox, then stronger...grrrrrr) to kick.

Right now Children's Claritin, Flonase and Afrin are his BFFs.

Good luck!

My son's main asthma symptom is a cough, not a wheeze. The pediatrician wasn't agressive enough treating his horrible cough we had better luck seeing an allergist. And the cough sounded terrible-other moms were edging away from him everywhere we went. The ped would switch or add one med every visit, cough lasted for almost two months. The allergist put him on 5 different meds for allergy/asthma at once and he improved in a week, and we were able to slowly back off meds. Also our allergist does more than just "listen" to lungs she checks peak flow and can run lung function tests. So my son has definite asthma that is controlled on meds, so no more horrible cough.

For my son we have to make sure he has allergy friendly pillow & mattress covers since he is allergic to dust mites, otherwise he starts coughing at night again. He is also on Zyrtec that really helps with his hayfever symptoms in the spring.

I would try an allergist first to check for asthma/allergies, and if that doesn't work or cough continues I would see a pulmonologist.

You might also want to see an ENT- my daughter was frequently congested and had ear infections that were hard to kick even on abx, and she was allergic to penicillin also. Turns out she had really huge adenoids so she she always sounded congested and her ears had trouble draining. Enlarged adenoids can also affect/sleep breathing at night. After removing her adenoids and putting ear tubes in not one ear infection! The other cool thing about my ENT is they can actually culture the crud coming from sinuses to make sure you are on the right antibiotic for that particular bacteria strain.

that dr is an idiot (sorry) because not all asthmatics wheeze! my 5 year old is asthmatic and wheezed once! she takes breathing treatments everyday to control her asthma. her allergies are horrid too. so along with the asthma meds she also takes benadryl 2-3 times a day.

My sons pediatrician told me that if they are coughing, it's a better sign, then not coughing( when they have a bad cold). Coughing clears up whatever is in the lungs, instead of having it settle there. My son had a bad case of pnemonia this past fall. He had a cold, then a cough, then it got better, then it got worse. He had a nebulizer for a week to see if it would get better, it didn't. He then was put on the Zpak and Prednisone. It cleared him up. He is allergic to mold,cats. I find that having a humidifier going in his room at night really helps him sleep better.

Whatever you do, DO NOT use cough medicine. It will not do anything to help. Sinus infections can be nasty, and can cause other respiratory infections if it isn't treated within 7-10 days( after onset of the cold begins, and you notice a lot of blowing of the nose, congestion. Yellow/green mucous that doesn't clear up after 4 days, etc)

Give her lots of fluids, along with Vitamin C. Good soups. Another thing I did was wash, and clean the house with lysol and a good cleaner, along with their bedding, etc. In the winter time it's harder to keep track of colds, viruses, etc. Sometimes it's hard when you have children that don't present as being very sick( like mine). If she hasn't been tested for allergies, I would do that at some point. first thing is to clear up that infection.

Some kids are more prone to get respiratory viruses/bacterial infection more easily. They also can stay for awhile. My brother, when he was growing up would always catch a cold right when school started. He would have it probably until Spring. He never had pnemonia, but he had that awful viral bronchitis. Sometimes you can't give antibiotics, especially if it is a virus. You have to let it run it's course. Just something to think about.

My son was asthmatic, has allergies, and used to get bronchitis. We own a nebulizer, inhalers, etc. When he was sick with regular bronchitis or a sinus infection we did antibiotics, steroids, breathing treatments and more.

What I always found, and it still holds true, is that the coughing is worse at night as the sinuses drain. No matter how much he propped up, he coughed. So to the medicine regime we always added a prescription cough medicine for night time, and I used Vicks Vapor Rub on his chest. These, combined, always helped his night time cough.

There was a time when he was just not shaking a head cold and bronchitis and we put him on a low dose antibiotic for 2 months. As bronchitis spiked the asthma, which irritated the bronchitis, which all became a vicious cycle. While I was not thrilled with the duration of the antibiotics his Dr was at a loss since regular, previously successful, medical routines were not working.

Now that he is a teen, when he gets a cold I can my tried and true symptom relief remedy of hot Jasmin tea with honey. Peppermint tea and honey also - both seem to soothe the cough.

As for the pets - We have always had them - cats and dogs - I sweep his room more often than the rest of the house, keep the cats mostly out of his room, and keep the animals off his bed. This helps limit his exposure to the dander.

My best advice, is patience. If she has had a sinus infection for this long, it will take longer than normal to clear it. The only other thing I can thing of is to ask the Dr to do a scan of the sinuses and make sure they are not impacted from the infection.

Best of luck to you. It is soo hard when they are sick. :(

It sounds like allergies. Because of the warmer weather this year, I think allergies are a problem. Allergies and Colds are almost the same thing. It would be hard to tell if its a sinus infection or not. Since our weather has been warmer this year and everything is blooming, I am having some problems with my allergies now. I can't be around any animals or I have reactions to them so it could be the dog or it might not be. Some people are prone to sinus infections like my sister and she ended up having to get surgery.

Gosh, that is a long time for her to be sick. Does make you wonder if it's some type of allergies or asthma?

Also, I wanted to mention that my daughter had a weird thing a couple of years ago called Mycoplasma Pneumoniae...Anyway, she was sick with bad cough, no fever, sore throat, felt terrible, exhausted.

Dr. ( not our regular one) put her on (I think) Amoxicillin as her glands in her neck were swollen.
About a month later she was sick with same symtoms. Her chest was clear and our regular Dr. decided to check her for this Mycoplasma stuff and mono, which was just blood work, and it did come back positive for the mycoplasma.

He said it takes 2-3 rounds of antibiotics in a row to get rid of it. She did end up doing fine, but it took a couple more rounds of antibiotics to get her better. I see that your daughter has been on antibiotics, so it probably isn't that, but just thought I'd throw that out there just in case. It was a weird thing I'd never heard of!! Hope she feels better soon!

My son is allergic to dogs and cats. And the allergies to our pets came on suddenly when he was 4 years old. Prior to that, he had always tested negative. It wouldn't hurt to see an allergist for a skin test. You might be surprised at the results.
When he is around cats especially for too long, he develops a nasty cough and a horribly stuffy nose. It has moved into ear and sinus infections if not cleared up. Another tell-tale sign is the allergic "shiners"- the dark circles under his eyes that never seem to go away. I don't know if you have noticed anything similar. Hope this helps.

HI R., I tend to hate that most doctors shove the antibiotics to sick kids. I have tried very hard to keep my kids off of them if I can help it.
So I have researched what alternatives there are. The best website I have found is Earth Clinic. It is a website for home remedies. The best part about it is that real people like you and me go on there and post whether the remedy helped them or not. It is very user friendly. Check it out.
I hope your baby starts feeling better soon!
Blessings!
D.
www.earthclinic.com

Yeah... this is me with a sinus infection if I can't take pseudoephedrine.

Sudafed (real, not PE) is my wonderdrug. I can't currently take it... so I'm up a creek.

I get sinus infections apx 6months out of every year. Sometimes bacterial, but for me it's usually fungal. Nothing to be done. The spores are in the air, so even after killing it (or even a total sinus scrape) I just get reinfected all over again.

I don't have asthma or allergies... I'm just prone to sinus infections. Stupid moldy air! Sigh. But at least, whenever I leave wester washington, POOF!, no more sinus infection!

For ME... moist air kills me. Nothing makes my sinus infections worse than adding water. Neti, steam, humidifiers... all of these things make my sinus infections about 1000x worse.

If you haven't already, go see an ENT. I haven't had sinus infections, but a friend of mine's child does, and it really takes an ENT to figure out how to get it knocked out. They eventually removed her adenoids. The ENT can also evaluate the adenoids. If she is snoring, those probably have to come out.