Coughing so much she's sick

[lamusic]

DD is currently coughing so much she is gagging/ throwing up . Does she need to see to see a doctor? It is quite a chesty cough?

[drinkyourmilk]

Maybe. Could be caused by allergies/ hayfever or asthma. She could also just have a virus. How long has it been going on for?

[lamusic]

Since about last Monday, it was originally not a chesty cough and it had pretty much cleared up by Monday but now it's back and chesty - no stuffy nose or typical 'cold' symptoms

[mustnotwait]

My dd and ds have had a bad cough for the past 2/3 weeks, often gagging with it first thing in morning. It does seem viral. I've tried lots of different things to get rid to no avail. No other cold symptoms but started for the first 24 hours with a sore throat.

If you're concerned see a GP but if she's coping I wouldn't worry too much.

[lamusic]

She can only speak about 5 words at a time before coughing fits

[missybct]

DSS has this when he gets coughing fits - usually last thing at night/first thing in morning - he has asthma and allergies though, so this exacerbates it.

Sometimes it's the panic associated with being sick which perpetuates it, especially in kids. Is she bringing up phlegm when sick, or stomach contents? Not sure how old she is, but could you ask whether there is something she would like to soothe her throat - sometimes DSS gags because his throat is sore and hoarse, and we've given him doses of Calpol to ease that which helps - also seems to line the throat a bit.

[lamusic]

It's actual sick she is bringing up! She's 16, says her throat isn't sore, just her chest and stomach muscles

[lamusic]

Bump

[TheBitterBoy]

DH had this a few years ago and it turned out to be whooping cough. Apparently the 'whoop' noise is less defined in adults.

[CharleyDavidson]

I took DD1 (15yo) to the gp after a good few days of her coughing so much she was physically sick. She was missing school. I was seriously concerned that it was whooping cough because she was really struggling to catch her breath, the coughing fits were so long.

He listened to her chest etc and declared there was nothing wrong with her and said she needed to go back to school.

I had to bring up the fact that the school may well look rather unkindly on my sending her in if, straight away, she was going to be sick in lessons! He said that maybe she'd got into a bad (subconscious) habit and that was causing the sickness. And he prescribed a medication to suppress the reaction that would cause her to be sick.

She took one day of medication and it stopped. I think now that she had a chest cold that was by then clearing up.

Either that or it could have been asthma as she's since been diagnosed with that.

[sadie9]

My DS (then 12) had something like this. Just a cough, no other symptom and it turned to gagging / not able to take the next breath for a good few seconds after the cough. Took him to GP and asked was it whooping cough and was told no.
Went on for a few weeks. Doc just reassured us he wasn't in danger that it was inconvenient but bear with it. It was school summer holidays thankfully, as there was no way the child could have managed in school. He would literally run into us in the early morning in a panic not able to take a breath, and then that turned to this dry wretching/awful gagging. His chest was very sore from it. The frequency of coughs became less over the weeks, to maybe just one or two 'attacks' a day. It was very strange.
The only advice I can give is to try and keep calm during the coughing fit.

[sadie9]

However, if there is phlegm and chest is wheezy then go to GP so they can have a listen. In my case, my DS's chest was clear, no wheezing or congestion.

[lamusic]

Bump for any further replies

[MidMay]

Had this myself recently. Still got a cough 6/7 weeks in post chest infection but no longer being sick/gagging but have awful rib pain still (GP said its where the muscles go into spasm). I ended up having a chest X-ray which was clear. I'd go back to GP if continues.

[hollinhurst84]

Might be worth a GP trip. I went because I couldn't stop coughing to catch my breath and ended up with nebulisers, steroids, antibiotics and on oxygen. I thought it was a cough but I had pneumonia

[Scone1nSixtySeconds]

I had a cough that sounds like lots of those on this thread and it was whooping cough - diagnosed with a blood test to check for antibodies.

Trouble was that even knowing it was that meant v.little for treatment, as there isn't really anything that can be prescribed.