PLEASE help me stop my boy coughing

[Sparklydiplodocus]

My boy is really unwell. He’s been put on steroids and antibiotics. He cannot stop coughing for a single minute. I’ve tried honey, elevating his pillows, vicks on his feet, everything. HELP!!!

Hospital the right place to be, hopefully he'll be sorted out quickly

I agree with A&E, good luck

Oh the poor, poor lad.
I feel your pain.
When you're back home from A&E, order Olbas bath foam from Amazon. A warm bubble bath with Olbas bath foam AND Olbas drops really is the only thing that calms my cough. That and standing outside in the freezing night and taking in deep breaths. Windows open a bit in the bedroom he sleeps in OP. That cold, moist air really helps.

Antihistamine
Vicks vapour rub on soles of feet
Take him out in the cold night air, but make sure he is really wrapped up warm.
Immune boosting supplements

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Vitamin C

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I hope he’s been seen now.
My granddaughter was like this for months.
Time after time she was taken to the doctors.
Eventually my dd filmed her and sent the video to the duty doctor one Saturday. The duty dr was not from their practice.
He immediately diagnosed whooping cough. Everyone had ruled that out because she was vaccinated, but he was correct.

@slothbyday

Saline nasal spray may be of use if the cough is being aggravated by a nasal drip?

My youngest has bouts of this and this plus removing dairy has a massive impact

I agree. Dairy is mucus making, so removing this from the diet temporarily will really help

Ages ago I remember our doc saying put wet towels or clothes on the radiators!

I never understood it and Mil had said... "well you use the radiator for drying which could be setting her off".

We are waiting in a&e now.

I hope he isn’t waiting too long and they can give him something to help. Definitely the right call OP

He's in the right place

When you get home a Calpol vapour plug-in could also help out with keeping his chest clear.

How did you get on OP? Is he feeling better?

Hope they can help you!

The hospital are useless! They want to send us home with bloody cough mixture!

Try an antacid for him - gaviscon or the like. I have had a cough for 2 years - chest x-ray and lungs fine... Turns out my acid reflux so bad (even though couldn't feel it) was causing it with the acid being drawn into the top of lungs and irritating them. I imagine if he has been retching then he may well need his stomach acids calming. I hope he feels better soon.

Oh no! The poor lad!
Fingers crossed the steroids kick in soon then and they start to make a difference.

Rather than his pillows raise either his bed (books under the feet) or his mattress (rolled towels under it). Then make a /\ shape with his pillows. You slip down much less. Although, I often actually sleep on the shore if my asthma is playing up as it helps with being upright.

Also a bowl of water on any radiators can help moisten the air a bit.

Did A&E help in the end?

Hope he s ok OP
My ds has asthma and at times when it so unstable it s been so worrying
It sounds almost like your dad might need an chest x Ray to our rule pneumonia and maybe a nebuliser

For the future maybe see if you can get an asthma plan in place - a review of his regular asthma medications (they out grow doses and there s a few different types of meds that we have tried to get ds at a stage of being stable/ the asthma nurse was really helpful to us too getting this sorted and we did see a respiratory paediatric dr and get allergy tests etc. but that s not for now

We also have an asthma plan for when he has an infection and or an asthma attack
The spacer device js also really helpful - we use the mask attachment when ds is finding it really hard to breathe or stop coughing

Removing dust carports regular hoovering rhe bed matress anti allergy duvets limiting soft toys (and every few weeks giving them a run j the washing machine to limit dust ) also helped as has hepa filter and being aware of triggers and improving inhaler technique
Ds also takes montelucast orally which is a game changer for him

Good luck hope your ds is better and more comfortable soon

@Sparklydiplodocus

Not sure whether to take him to a&e. He has been constantly retching for hours

I know I'm a bit late, but if he was mine (DS is asthmatic) I would take him to be checked out x

Just seen your update @Sparklydiplodocus , hope he's feeling a bit better this morning?

Just a thought, has he used vicks before and been ok? I can't tolerate it, it makes my asthma worse. Not the case with everyone, but just something to consider if he's getting worse x

Postural drainage can help drain extra mucus from the lungs. You lie with your chest lower than your tummy by placing pillows under the hips.

You can also try lying on your tummy, it stops the internal organs pressing on the lungs and allows them to fully inflate so you can breathe better.

Also when I was a kid the doctor told me when I needed to cough I could take a big deep breath, past the point where the lungs were full, enough to inflate the back of the throat too. That would briefly relieve the urge to cough.

I guess they’ve listened to his chest, checked his SATs, he has steroids. What’s his asthma plan for his blue inhaler?

Just got home. The first dr we saw there wanted to send him home to use lemsips and honey!!! I was like are you kidding me- he hasn’t stopped retching and coughing for even a second! I stood my ground and thankfully a second paediatric dr came in who was awesome and immediately gave him the strongest steroid dose possible and anti-sickness medicine to stop the constant retching.

It’s all calmed down a bit now and he got a few hours sleep.

Fantastic, OP. Steroids are phenomenal at sorting croup/cough. Hope you can rest a bit today.

Thank goodness op how utterly stupid!!
My dd is off to docs now for similar but no way near as bad.. She said teacher told her to run around the track at school because she walked it but she walked it due to cough and wheeze