If your child has cough variant asthma…

[Itstheimplication]

… do you find that every cold or virus comes with a cough that takes weeks to shift?!

we have brown inhaler, blue inhaler and montelukast granules and that combination seemed to be managing his symptoms well (he’s two and a half) he would cough a little at night and with exercise but NOTHING like the chronic cough he had had from feb- June.

three weeks ago he got a nasty virus (we all got it and it’s lasted for ages) and now we are into the fifth week of cough. It doesn’t help that our house is very dusty (I clean like a mad thing and hoover everything) so I’m looking into an air purifier for his room.

but I just wondered if this is normal for CVA and whether the inhalers and montelukast should be having more of an effect on viral coughs? Or whether unfortunately it’s par for the course even with the medications?

Yes, so much coughing - in the winter with bugs ABs the summer with pollen! The kids are older and the coughs are annoying rather than serious illness.

in addition to medication, we did have some success with getting a robot hoover which does regular rounds including under the beds.

Yep! Every bug she has goes straight to her chest and the cough takes ages to shift. We've never been given montelukast but I find that antihistamines (piriton etc) help my DD when her asthma cough is triggered. That and adding an extra puff of her brown inhaler until it's back under control.

Thanks! I’m up again as his coughing has got even worse tonight so I’m tempted to call the GP tomorrow as by now it shouldn’t be getting worse.
he had piriton before bed tonight but tonight has been his worst night :( I think the dust is making it worse but I’ve hoover his room before bed, wiped everything etc there’s only so much I can do. I’m worried about inflammation on his lungs, and that this much coughing can’t be good for his lungs!

I’ve given him nurofen (baby obviously) as that sometimes helps - it never affects his asthma negatively - but I’m at my wits end already!

@Iwantyourmidnights he already has two puffs morning and two puffs at night does your DD have more than that when a cough is bad?

Could have written this post myself as I'm up listening to my little girl coughing constantly😥

Also 2 years old on blue and brown inhaler and montelukast which since being prescribed has kept her from being admitted to hospital everytime she picks up any illness (which seems to be weekly thanks nursery😒)

She had COVID in October and had a terrible cough that lingered for ages, finally got better and now has just picked up a standard cold and has been up with a hacking cough nightly. Doesn't seem to bother her too much but it sounds awful.

We'll sleep again one day, right? 😓

Yes as others have said above. Only addition I would make is regular blue in night as well can really aid it all. Good luck

Hoovering the room right before bed might be Counter-productive - it might disturb dust that was otherwise settled - maybe switch the timing of that to see if it helps?

My teenager has had asthma since before she was 5, yeah virus's and bugs trigger a few weeks of mostly night coughing, and going from spring to summer (pollen) and autumn to winter (heating), if it is particularly bad we get a stronger inhaler for a few weeks, she has seritide inhaler, Montelukast, ceterizine, nasal spray (can't remember the name!), i air her bedroom every day (freezing, window wide at this time of year) damp cloth her room, and hoover, get her propt up on pillows to try and keep pressure of lungs, use the blue at night, and often take her to the front door through the night (wrapped up) for 5-10 minutes to get some fresh air, if any of that information helps, oh and cats can trigger her asthma but not dogs funnily enough!

Actually just to say, at this time of year its just window wide through the day when she's at school, i close it an night! I'm not freezing her overnight 😂

My daughter is nearly 10 and has been the same since she was 1.
Don't be afraid to use the blue ventolin inhaler. It will help and you can't overdose on it.
The other thing that made a difference for us was a humidifier in the room and also Vicks vapourrub on her feet with socks on - sounds bonkers I know, but really makes a difference to the amount of coughing.

Thank you for all the suggestions. It’s heartbreaking as we had it under control for a couple of months but the work we’ve had done on the house has just created so much dust and even though I’m cleaning and dusting every day there’s only so much I can do.

im going to speak to the GP today about a stronger inhaler I think we have some ceterizine in the cupboard he was given for something else but never used so I will try that too as piriton has never done much.

I just feel so sorry for him, the cough sounds so so awful even though he sleeps through it for the most part. He’s also snotty at the moment which isn’t helping it’s like a perfect storm!

yes to the poster who mentioned not hoovering before bed I’ll bear that in mind.

No, sorry, that's probably about the maximum we would do when it gets bad. It might be worth asking the GP for an asthma review though to see what else can be done?

Thank you. He’s been referred to a respiratory specialist team which I’m relieved about. We’ve also got a stronger antihistamine and a short course of oral steroids, the doctor said if the cough is being caused by an irritant such as dust he should improve within 48 hours so fingers crossed.

I hope everyone else is on the mend too. To the few other posters going through the same thing, keep pushing if the inhalers aren’t getting rid of the cough entirely, we’ve been back and forth since February this year and hopefully next year will now get to see a specialist (the waiting times are long!)

You should not increase the brown inhaler without contacting your GP it maybe the medication needs changing....you can give more blue ....the rule is 10 the 999 and repeat....if two puffs of reliever are not working you need to go back to go....
Have you got carpets in his room they advise removing them and using freezing of soft toys.

@jannier thanks i spoke to the Doctor today and we are being referred as apparently he’s at the top end of what the doctor’s can prescribe.

we’ve also been given steroids for three days. He’s at nursery today and apparently hasn’t coughed at all while he’s been there.

Maybe more dust related lots of people ditch carpets.....but night time air does make it worse.
They normally grow out of viral wheeze but asthma is different

Have you got any pets? Mine was made so much worse by pets (and dust..)

What I find tricky is getting help when it flares up. "Oh they're not wheezing it's just a cough vs its an asthma attack" which level of seriousness do we take it when we can't calm the cough at night...

Sorry to hear about your children everyone, and wish them well. Do you mind me asking how and when they were diagnosed with CVA? My son has just turned 3 and the doc said there was a chance it was this, but that it’s very hard to diagnose in under 5s. He gets coughs that last ages just as you described, but they’re never wheezy. We got given a blue inhaler but it does nothing so we stopped bothering.

We haven’t been officially diagnosed for the same reason but told it’s likely. Purely because his cough ticks a lot of the boxes:
worse at night and with exercise
flares with obvious triggers: viruses and colds etc/ dust/ pollen in summer/ change in temperature
had a good response to the two inhalers plus montelukast although it took a good month or so for it to kick in and make a noticeable difference

if you’re experiencing the same thing I would go back and ask for a trial of a preventer (brown) inhaler

That was for @Justjoinedforthis sorry forgot to tag

Yep, the same here, much worse at night/when he is laying down. What helps here is hoovering his room everyday (in the morning) and wet dusting at least twice a week, alongside that we also have a humidifier in his bedroom. If he does have a cold etc I also raise his mattress a bit so he isn’t laying completely flat.

I hope the referral goes well, asthma still isn’t always taken seriously.

Thank you very much @Simonjt i took a previous posters advices and hoovered earlier in the day today and put an air purifier in there most of the day after having the window wide open for a hour. He’s started his steroids tonight as well but they won’t have kicked in yet, he’s still having the horrid retching coughing fits but they seem to be a bit less frequent so far so I’m praying I haven’t just jinxed it typing that and tonight isn’t as bad as I’m expecting. I wish it was me instead of him! He’s so little I hate that he has to cope with this so often

I have it and had it as a child - every bug I get ‘goes for my chest’ and takes weeks to shift. Covid took 5 weeks of coughing and an intercostal strain that made me this I was having a pulmonary embolism!

my mum always said I had a ‘weak chest’ - I’m nearly 40

Oh @Loadofoldshart :( poor you. I’d never heard of it before. The weird thing is his chest always seems clear when they check it!