Doctors won't prescribe medicine for 2 year olds cough

[lboogy]

We've been for a covid rest, to get that out of the way.

My D.C. has had a cough for the last 5 weeks. It was most severe 4 weeks ago for 2 days. After that D.C. coughs only at night and wakes them up. So for the last 5 weeks we've had interrupted sleep because D.C. will take 2 hours to settle back down.

Spoke to the doctor 3 times and been in once. Each time I'm told wait and see it's likely an infection and dc needs time to fight it off.

It's 4am and D.C. has again woken up from
Coughing and has been awake since 1.30am. I'm at my whits end extremely pissed off at the doctors reluctance to prescribe antibiotics.

Would I be in my rights to ring up and demand they prescribe something to make the cough go away?

Yes, you would be unreasonable to demand antibiotics. Your GP is quite right not to prescribe them unless they think your child has an acute bacterial infection.

With the caveat that clearly I have not examined the patient, your child’s cough is almost certainly not a bacterial infection. It sounds like it could be post-viral cough (can last 4-6 weeks)- some children who are prone to viral-induced wheeze and cough as younger children can go on to be diagnosed with asthma. Some are only ever bothered during/after a respiratory tract infection.

It might be worthwhile speaking to your GP and asking them to consider a trial of an inhaler- possibly with a peak flow diary.

OP I sympathise as my DD has asthma which can lead to a horrendous, weeks-long, night-time cough.

It does sound like it could be asthma. Family history and smoking aren't necessarily predictors.

You may need to be quite persistent getting this diagnosed: the NHS tend to dismiss everything as "post viral wheeze" until you're actually at death's door. Some children do also get quite severe post viral wheeze so it can be hard to tell the difference. Salbutomol inhalers may help even if its not asthma.

But antibiotics won't make any difference if its a viral infection.

I don't think cough medicines work either tbh. There's no actual active ingredient, just soothing stuff like honey and glycerine.

Sympathy OP, my little ones had the same in March and we didn’t sleep properly for two months. If he has a runny nose then saline drops might help as it can build up at night and start the cough. We tried everything, inhalers, humidifier, cough medicine for the over two but nothing helped.

Children with runny noses quite often have persistent coughs ,especially at night as it’s often caused by post nasal drip so it’s trickles down the back of the throat and causes the cough.
Sorry if I’m repeating previous posts but it’s exactly what happened to dd

My DS is 2 and had a recent ear and chest infection which came on after a cold. This resulted in a cough and crackly breathing. Alongside the antibiotics he was given a ventolin and spacer which does sound like it could be helpful in this case.

If its just a cough and nothing else like asthma then try a thick layer of vicks on feet with socks over the top - god knows how or why it works but it does

My kids got this too, and often it was related to a stuffy nose - that’s why it happened at night, as the nose would get clogged at night and post nasal drip into throat etc. When they get really bad now I get a steroid spray for the nose and once clears up, the cough goes. Has to be prescribed though. Worth a shot maybe?

DD has been hospitalised with a cough so bad she ended up needing breathing support. It was an infection and they knew it was viral (they did a swab) and so antibiotics simply would have upset her tummy and contributed to antibiotic resistance, for nothing.

If you really want to ensure all the bases are covered, ask them to swab her and test to see if she does have a bacterial infection. If she does, then its reasonable to ask if antibiotics can be considered since the cough has lingered 5 weeks.

Be aware though, that a post viral cough can simply last all winter and not really completely go, and theres nothing that can really be done. DDs didnt really properly shift until March having first been ill late November.

Sorry if I have missed it but have you raised his bed near his head as he could have a post nasal drip ticklying his throat if he only coughs at night and it’s not asthma. Maybe try antihistamine?