What to do for a bad cough?

userdeleted

Leo has developed a pretty nasty cough kind of out of the blue in the past few days. He does seem sniffly, but there is no fever or runny nose. At first it was just overnight a little bit. Now it's overnight to the point where I don't think he's hardly even sleeping, and I was called this morning to pick him up from preschool because he was coughing to the point of gagging and told them he just wanted to be with mommy

So I have been assuming this whole time that it's allergies. DH and I both have bad allergies and mine have been terrible lately, probably from the mold. But this really seems like a terrible cough. I've tried a humidifier, giving him a second pillow, and zyrtec/benedryl. Doesn't seem to be helping. I will probably call the nurse line in the morning, but does anyone know if there is anything a pedi can really do beyond that? Is there any other illness I'm not thinking of that is literally just a terrible cough and no other symptoms?

Sinafey

We brought DD in to the pedi for something similar last Friday.  Turns out she was wheezing like mad and had to go on 3x/day breathing treatments.  They said we were lucky to get a nebulizer because the whole city keeps running out : /

I'd bring him in just to get his lungs checked.  In the mean time, a spoonful of honey seems to soothe DD's throat and calm the coughing, and if you give raw local stuff it'll help if it's allergy related.

MrsMillerTime

DD had a HORRIBLE cough a couple weeks ago and it broke my heart listening to it.  It sounds the same as Leo, too - no fever, no runny nose, no other symptoms.

We did tea/honey for a couple days but it really wasn't doing anything for her.  I found a homeopathic cough medicine at HEB (this one: https://www.similasanusa.com/kids-cough-relief) and gave it to her a couple times a day for 4-5 days and it did the trick. 

Taytee

Pedi can prescribe a nebulizer machine for home and give a treatment in office treatment which can calm the airways (Albuteral/Xopenex etc). He could have Bronchitis. They may offer you antibiotics, he may or may not need them. Most Bronchitis is viral. But it basically boils down to an inflammation of the airways, the result of which is constant coughing, with or without mucous production.

They (or an ER) could also give a steriod to help calm the inflammation from the inside out. Oral or Shot. Unfortunately oral predinisone (Prelone) tastes like NyQuil and most kids hate it, even Emily. And most kids don't like shots but it does get the job done quicker than having them gag on Prelone and spit half of it out and then cry, then puke, then end up breathing even worse than when you started because now they're all worked up!!!

However, it could just be the molds kicking up =( I couldn't sleep last night because of coughing but I was fine all day. Abby has had a little bit of a cough with a hoarse voice in the evenings but just tonight started coughing until I thought she was going to puke. Luckily a warm bath appears to have calmed it enough to where she can sleep.

ETA: I have a stethoscope If they tell you to wait it out or can't squeeze you in Friday, you can bring him over and I'll give a listen and I can tell you if he's wheezing so you know if you need to take him to Urgent Care or ER etc.

And one more thing! We've used Boiron Chestal with much success in the past. I'd offer to bring you some but DH just used the last of it when he was sick. Even he said it worked better than the thought it would.

userdeleted

Taytee:

Pedi can prescribe a nebulizer machine for home and give a treatment in office treatment which can calm the airways (Albuteral/Xopenex etc). He could have Bronchitis. They may offer you antibiotics, he may or may not need them. Most Bronchitis is viral. But it basically boils down to an inflammation of the airways, the result of which is constant coughing, with or without mucous production.

They (or an ER) could also give a steriod to help calm the inflammation from the inside out. Oral or Shot. Unfortunately oral predinisone (Prelone) tastes like NyQuil and most kids hate it, even Emily. And most kids don't like shots but it does get the job done quicker than having them gag on Prelone and spit half of it out and then cry, then puke, then end up breathing even worse than when you started because now they're all worked up!!!

However, it could just be the molds kicking up =( I couldn't sleep last night because of coughing but I was fine all day. Abby has had a little bit of a cough with a hoarse voice in the evenings but just tonight started coughing until I thought she was going to puke. Luckily a warm bath appears to have calmed it enough to where she can sleep.

ETA: I have a stethoscope If they tell you to wait it out or can't squeeze you in Friday, you can bring him over and I'll give a listen and I can tell you if he's wheezing so you know if you need to take him to Urgent Care or ER etc.

Thank you Taytee

I'll call asap in the morning. I feel like kind of an @ss for waiting so long now. It's soo bad tonight, poor baby. He's quiet now though. I'll let you know if I can't get in, but they're usually really good about that. 

bobcatsteph

I am a zombie at work today because DD was up all night coughing (she sleeps with us). She has allergies and we made the mistake of going to the park yesterday evening. She started coughing as soon as we got there and it hasn't stopped.

I'll be watching this thread to see if there's something else for us to try that we haven't already.

Now I feel bad for taking her to school..she was coughing when we dropped her off but I had just given her a Claritin and the cough usually stops during the day.

GL..hopefully it's just allergies and nothing more.

rssnlvr

Both my kids are just getting over this. For DS, it was viral (RSV) and we ended up in the hospital on Sunday (mommy's first ER visit. Sad face.). He's been on all kids of meds to help with the symptoms. For DD, pedi said children's Delsym at night and that has worked wonders. She doesn't cough at ALL at night when using that stuff. During the day, we use a nonmedicated Little Noses cough elixir, which is basically honey and water.

MrsBeckO

Hope he's doing better today, and of course Taytee gave great advice.. But just wanted to throw out there that we had a confirmed case of pertussis in our room last week  and had to distribute literature from the state to all our families. Apparenty WilCo is seeing a lot of it right now, so you may consider that as well.