Sorry, y'all. A parenting question. :)

nancy30005

My kid has had a cough for over a month. It does not affect his sleep, however, there was fever at first (early October). 

He has been tested for strep: negative. He eats just fine.
They keep saying allergies, but meds don't help. He sleeps with a humidifier and we bathe him with the sick-kid-congested-bubble bath (it clears ME up it's so awesome). I've also upped the Vitamin C intake. 

I am at a loss. If he has allergies, wouldn't the meds help? We've introduced no new foods, pets, detergent...I'm at a loss. I suck a lotta snot outta his nose. Everyday.

I am limiting milk, and he plays just fine (other than the emotional shiz that is being a toddler) but I can't wrap my head around what's going on. When I called the doc about it she recommended switching from Allegra to Claritin. It still makes no difference. 

Anyone been here, done that? 

Sorry for the repeat and tl;dr.  

HElizabethDU

I had something similar (as adult) and my doc gave me antibiotics because she though I might have some residual bacterial infection in my lungs.  It cleared it up.  Did your Pedi consider this?

Tigger & pooh

Have you tried an inhaler? Do you find the cough is worse at night?

Ecy

My DD had a cough last about a month recently and it ended up taking a round of antibiotics to clear it up.

 

nancy30005

She is very anti antibiotics, though I will certainly ask.  I have not tried an inhaler. That's a great idea. Does it work for non-congested lungs? I swear it's a post-nasal-drip-type-of-thing.

I wish I could give him cough drops. Zarbees doesn't even work, FFS.

It seems neither (Claritin/Zyrtek)  work for us, but yes. Used it every day.

Maybe it IS seasonal...That could totally be it, but I'd hate for him to deal with this EVERY farking year.I'm really hoping it's not my cat. He's definitely been around since before Beau was born. (See how irrational I am being?)

Neither H or I have allergies, so I am at a loss. I love our pedi, but damn if I don't want an answer. 

Is that unreasonable? I totally understand in "let it run it's course" but a month seems like a long asstime. Maybe I'm being a naive FTM. It's certainly happened before.

Thank you sweet chicks for your feedback. I appreciate it! This mama is over it. 

 

Tigger & pooh

If it is post nasal drip an inhaler won't work. A cough can be a sign of asthma though. You might want to try saline nose spray and encourage nose blowing. I can't see your child's age but if he is old enough ask your doctor about afrin or some type of drying decongestant.

NotSharknado

It sounds like asthma along with allergies. Ds had the same symptoms starting 6 years ago. He takes singular every night and inhalers when needed. Have you mentioned seasonal asthma?

NotSharknado

Tigger pooh:

If it is post nasal drip an inhaler won't work. A cough can be a sign of asthma though. You might want to try saline nose spray and encourage nose blowing. I can't see your child's age but if he is old enough ask your doctor about afrin or some type of drying
decongestant.

But something like singular will stop the post nasal. Post nasal and asthma go hand in hand. He very well may need an inhaler too.

nancy30005

Tigger & pooh:

If it is post nasal drip an inhaler won't work. A cough can be a sign of asthma though. You might want to try saline nose spray and encourage nose blowing. I can't see your child's age but if he is old enough ask your doctor about afrin or some type of drying decongestant.

Thank you, sweets. He is two. I cannot believe he has/had asthma, but you're right. I had it as a kid (I grew up in house of inside smokers, though). Can I be the cause of this (hereditary)?

He's amazing about saline/snot sucking so we've been doing that.
I will ask about a drying agent. Sorry to sound ignorant, but what do Claritin/Zyrtek do, then? I thought they dried shiit out... no?

Is that more of a Benadryl type of thing?

nancy30005

GhostMonkey:

If it is allergies, the humidifier is one of the worst possible things you could try. It will exacerbate them. Weather changes can be enough to trigger issues. 

Claritin helps DS's to some extent, but when it gets bad that is not enough. Right how he is on albuterol 4 times daily and pulmicort once daily. He's also on an antibiotic for an ear infection that was likely caused by the constant congestion.

 Yay.

 Aw, I am so sorry, GM. 
I thought a cool mist humidifier was the key, but in hindsight, I'm like, WHY add more moisture. GDit. I don't know my asss from my elbow right now.

nancy30005

nancy30005:

GhostMonkey:

If it is allergies, the humidifier is one of the worst possible things you could try. It will exacerbate them. Weather changes can be enough to trigger issues. 

Claritin helps DS's to some extent, but when it gets bad that is not enough. Right how he is on albuterol 4 times daily and pulmicort once daily. He's also on an antibiotic for an ear infection that was likely caused by the constant congestion.

 Yay.

 Aw, I am so sorry, GM. 
I thought a cool mist humidifier was the key, but in hindsight, I'm like, WHY add more moisture. GDit. I don't know my asss from my elbow right now.

I wonder why my post was in your quote. Maybe the Bump has post-nasal-drip? Grr. 

NotSharknado

Does he have eczema by chance?

Tigger & pooh

My son has asthma and we do Flovent and Zyrtec. Zyrtec won't dry them out it basically inhibits their body from attacking whatever they are allergic to. So if he has just a cold it won't help. If he has allergies and asthma the Zyrtec would help with allergy symptoms but it won't calm down his lungs completely. It's an idea to talk over with the doctor. My sons asthma has been really acting up a lot this fall.

nancy30005

shanado:

Does he have eczema by chance?

He has a small patch on his shoulder, yes. Please help me here, Shan. TIA

Tigger & pooh

Thinking about it. Even if he really has only had a cold for the past month it is possible his lungs are just inflamed causing the cough which a steroid would help with... Just a thought. I have know medical background so I could be completely off.

Tigger & pooh

I am just guessing here but I believe asthma allergies and eczema are a pretty common threesome. I know my son has all three.

NotSharknado

nancy30005:

shanado:

Does he have eczema by chance?

He has a small patch on his shoulder, yes. Please help me here, Shan. TIA

I'd bet money he has asthma. Like I said above, Ds is on singular and flovent inhaler and xopenex inhaler. It sounds like your LO has it mild. Post nasal drip, cough and eczema are all connected with seasonal allergies and asthma. In the summer Ds is perfectly fine. The rest of the year is brutal. I would bring it up with the pedi and get a second opinion.

Tigger & pooh

Shanado do you know how they decided on singular over a Zyrtec? My ds is on all the same inhalers but we do Zyrtec and Flonase just wondering what the difference is if anything?

NotSharknado

Tigger pooh:

I am just guessing here but I believe asthma allergies and eczema are a pretty common threesome. I know my son has all three.

They are absolutely all connected. It's not often you'd see only one of these three symptoms.

nancy30005

Thank you so much! Y'all rock. 

I don't know for sure about the asthma (I couldn't breathe when I experienced it, so I never had it "mildly") but I will definitely ask. 

Again, do you think it's hereditary, Dave (the cat), or environmental?

I swear, y'all are better than the nurses on call. Love you guys.  

Tigger & pooh

Probably a combo. Gav has enviro and mild animal allergy. My dh has asthma and we both have cat allergies but our older son has nothing.

NotSharknado

Tigger pooh:

Shanado do you know how they decided on singular over a Zyrtec? My ds is on all the same inhalers but we do Zyrtec and Flonase just wondering what the difference is if anything?

I'm only guessing here but I would think age and weight would be a factor. Ds' pedi never mentioned anything other than singular. He was 6 or 7 when he first started on 5 ml. My 6 year old
niece was recently put on it but my SIL had to get a second opinion. The first pedi refused to diagnose her with asthma which was odd because she would go months with a cough. She's so much better now that they've switched meds.

Tigger & pooh

Oh that could be ds wasnt even 2 when we started our meds.

NotSharknado

nancy30005:

Thank you so much! Y'all rock.nbsp;I don't know for sure about thenbsp;asthmanbsp;I couldn't breathe when I experienced it, so I never had it "mildly" but I will definitely ask.nbsp;Again, do you think it's hereditary, Dave the
cat, or environmental?I
swear, y'all are better than the nurses
on call. Love you guys.
nbsp;

It could be all of the above. There's so many different reasons for it. Ds starts up as soon as it gets cold. It can be hereditary but not always. I blame Ds' asthma on my parents who smoked in the house and while pregnant. Don't forget, this year was the absolute worst for allergies, even for people who never had issues.

A_Schmitz

My oldest ds had an awful cough for over a month. The pedi recommended using Children's Claritin and Dimatapp. It worked great. The cough disappeared quickly.

BlueRidge8

You are not alone.

Adair has had a consistent cough for over 4 weeks. Never a fever, pretty consistent snot.

I took her to the doctor thinking maybe she got a secondary infection after the initial cold but they said it's just two colds, back to back. Thanks, daycare petri dish.

Glitter Pop

Sorry if this is a repeat, I didn't read all of the responses. My LO had allergies and non I the over te counter meds work. He ended up being in Flonase and singulair daily. His allergies trigger asthma, so we had to try a bunch of things before we found a combination that worked. It sounds like its the runny nose that is causing the cough. I would definitely go back and try a prescription allergy med and see if that helps.

Meeshe

My almost 2 year old son had croup in September and then a cough that lasted for a month, basically just at night.  My pediatrician was concerned about asthma (becuase my daughter was just diagnosed) but said she heard no wheezing in his lungs.  She said at that point they sort or presume a sinus infection.  I am anti-antibiotics unless totally necessary so we still held out for a few more days after she prescribed it but finally gave in when it hit a full month.  The cough went away with the antibiotics.

 So I think worth another conversation to have them check his lungs and also ask about the possiblity of an infection.  The third OTC allergy medicine to try is zyrtec.  They say they each work differently although I've tried all three with my DD and don't notice much difference.