I really think that Hailey has a form of coughing asthma. She never wheezes or has trouble breathing, but she gets these horrible coughing spells/spasms and can't stop coughing. For the past 2 years in Dec, she gets croup which turns into bronchitis. This year it started early in August with croup. She has basically been sick for a month now catching one thing after another (croup, a cold, strep) but the cough is still present. It gets better and then gets worse again. We've had maybe 1 week in the past month where she has been able to sleep through the night without coughing. She's been on 2 rounds of steroids and is now on antibiotic for strep. The pedi says her lungs are clear and she's not having trouble breathing, so in their world she's ok. That's all well and good, but they are not the ones that hear her at night hacking away and can't stop. They even did a blood count at my insistence bc she is pale and has circles under her eyes. One dr told me to use our albuterol inhaler, but another said not to, and CHOA urgent care told me not to when she had croup. Needless to say, I am not happy at all with our pedi's office and I don't know who to believe.
What are my options? I can switch pedi's, which I am contemplating. Who would I go to to get an official diagnosis - pulmonologist or ENT and would I need a referral from our pedi? Or should I request a sit down consult with our pedi to insist on some type of action? I just feel like it's getting to a point now where it's disruptive to her life and I feel like something needs to be done. Any advice?
Re: Asthma moms - need advice
Ditto this. Geneva used to have lots of coughing created by post-nasal drip associated with allergies (she was also borderline Reactive Airway Disease that caused asthma-like wheezing with colds). She also has the dark circles under her eyes like what Carrie mentioned. We use children's Zyrtec to good effect.