How can I ease Ds's tickly cough?

[Jojay]

Poor old DS1 (3) is coughing non stop. He's asleep at the moment so it's slowed down a bit but we were at soft play earlier and he was coughing all the time (needless to say we came home)

It sounds like a dry tickly cough. He is snotty too but doesn't sound chesty.

It's not wheezy either - he suffers from asthma symptoms but a combination of Seratide and Montelukast seem to be controlling the wheeze, but we have this awful hacking cough instead.

He coughed so hard he vomited earlier on today and is generally feeling sorry for himself.

Any tips on easing the cough? I was going to pop into the pharmacy later but I think they recently reclassified cough mixtures and I'm not sure they'll give me anything.

Any ideas?

[Jojay]

Bump

[DaftApeth]

Ds gets a tickly cough from his allergies (house dust mite).

The only thing we try on a regular basis is to encourage him to take regular small sips of water.

I also find he coughs and sneezes less when his room is aired and intensively hoovered regularly and bedding changed.

Do you know if anythig triggers his asthma?

[PixieOnaChristmasTree]

I think that you need to phone NHS Direct and ask what they think you should do.

DD2 is asthmatic and last time she coughed so much/hard she was sick, we took her straight to A&E where they gave her oxygen/nebuliser and a course of steroids.

I hope he's OK?

[SuiGeneris]

A tickly cough like you describe can- and often is- a sign of asthma, just like the wheezing. If so, it will not get better with cough remedies- suggest you consider using your son's usual asthma medication and speak to doc/ nurse/walk-in centre if it does not improve promptly. Don't leave it, as the longer the airways are inflamed, the longer it takes to get better. Also, as the previous poster said, aerate the room your son spends time in, give it a deep clean and remove anything that could house dust mites (soft toys, cushions, curtains).
I am not a doctor but have suffered with allergic asthma caused by dustmite since I was a child. Also mistook tickly cough due to asthma for normal cough a few months ago (so did locum gp), tried to treat with cough remedies for 5 days before normal gp recognised asthma and it took 3 weeks on asthma inhalers and off work to get better.
Good luck and hope your son gets better soon!

[alypaly]

simple linctus paediatric..or glycerin,lemon and honey...they might help.

some children get a viral asthma after a cold and need to increase their inhalers as previous poster said....see doc and see if its ok to increase inhalers or maybe he needs to add in a ventolin for a while.

[Heated]

Mine are worse at night and propping them on 2 pillows seemed to help a lot.

[KitKatQueensSpeech]

Hiya, have you tried tixylix nighttime? Its suitable from age 2 and up and actually has an effective ingredient. I've used it for all of my children from time to time and its excellent. If it doesn't help I would definatly speak to your gp about asthma.

Hope that helps.

[Jojay]

Thanks for all your advice.

I ended up taking him to the out of hours doctor who gave him antibiotics for a sinus infection.

Fortunately his chest was clear with no hint of a wheeze, but he developed a high temperature, so hopefully a combination of Calpol and AB's will sort him out.

He slept well last night with hardly any coughing, and hasn't woken yet, so hopefully he'll turn the corner now.

Thanks again