Please help, DS2 just won't stop coughing

[plhk]

He's been poorly for a few days but the cough has now taken on epic proportions.

He's prone to coughs, but I've never seen one as bad as this.

I don't mean to sound selfish but I'm absolutely shattered. I can't even imagine how he's feeling. Last night was bad, he coughed all night.

Tonight is unbearable. He's been sick a couple of times from his coughing fits and he just can not stop coughing. It's almost entirely continuous.

He has 5-10 minute spells where he just won't stop coughing at all. I'm not sure how he manages to catch a breath during that time. He's not gone blue or anything.

I have a humidifier in his room. The only thing that seems to help is Vicks. I've used his inhaler and it's done nothing.

My husband seems very worried too. What else can I do ?

Well here is the update.

We were seen by the triage nurse and stats were all good. About 15 minutes later, the doctor did a quick check. They tend to do this for breathing and cough issues at our children's a and e.

The doctor checked his lungs with his t shirt on, to see if there was a wheeze or anything else untoward.

The doc said that his lungs are clear and that he's just severely congested with an upper respiratory tract infection and that there's nothing he can do for him.

He doesn't need steroids or antibiotics. So I said, ok I will just take him home then. Which is what I did.

Little one then went to sleep, had a few more fits, but we go through the night.

He's just got a really bad cold.

The positive thing was that I didn't need to wait around in a and e really and it was a quick in and out.

It seems maybe it was a waste of time to even go. But the cough was so severe. The worst I have ever seen it. It was scary and even my husband was scared he would stop breathing.

Can anyone advise on what else I can do next time? this happens frequently in winter. But the docs almost always say his chest is clear. Only once did they say there was a small wheeze and based on that and his history, they gave him an inhaler. He has had these severe coughs with vomiting since he was 6 weeks old, yet his chest is always clear.

Did he have the whooping cough vaccination?

He's up to date with all his vaccines, is the whooping cough one offered as standard ? I had it during pregnancy.

I'm asthmatic and used to suffer terribly from coughs as a child before I was diagnosed and given inhalers. The two things that helped were steam (dm would run a hot bath and we would sit in the bathroom with doors/windows shut, taking deep breaths) and sleeping more upright on a pile of pillows.

Ah - that's good. Whooping cough is included in the standard ones given. My DD had whooping cough and sounded just like your son.

Does he only have a blue inhaler? Make an appointment with the asthma nurse at the GP to discuss and likely trial a brown preventer inhaler.
They can't be fully diagnosed with asthma til age 5ish but they can be treated as potentially asthmatic before then.
My daughter was 2 and they started the brown inhaler trial after multiple instances of coughs and chest infections since birth - she stayed on it and She was diagnosed at age 5 as asthmatic and has now come off her inhalers age nearly 8 with 'asthma dormant' now on her records. It may come back again as asthma often does 7 year cycles but we'll always have Inhalers to hand if needed.

DD used to cough a lot and was diagnosed with asthma age 4, she is 19 now and her lungs are still not great
If you do go to A&E they can at least check his oxygen levels. We went once expecting to be told we were being daft and to go home but she ended up being admitted for 2 days!
I really feel for you, its exhausting for everyone

Sorry, seen your update but too late to edit

@Itsmahoneybaloney I went a lot last winter to the GP and they refused to take any further action for him. I guess he's never been admitted to hospital or had low oxygen stats, thankfully.

I saw the same doc a few times and complained about the relentless vomiting from coughing and she basically said that she can't do anything for him and it's normal. Just to use the blue inhaler and she doesn't want to give him steroids and surely I don't want him to be a couple of inches shorter than he would otherwise be, because he's had steroids ? Then he stopped having coughs as it was summer and I thought he'd maybe grown out of the pattern, but it seems he hasn't. So I'm not sure what to do.

I came to the conclusion that there's nothing else they can do for him.

He's never had a chest infection or been on antibiotics for his cough. Like I said, ' lungs always clear ':

He's had antibiotics for ear infections and tonsillitis a lot, but never for coughs.

Could you have the heating on to keep the air "soft"?

You need to speak to the asthma nurse not the GP. They are amazing people. It doesn't stunt their growth, its quite a low dose and to be honest I was happy to take that risk to save running off to the docs or hospital every 2 minutes with wheezing/chest infections etc etc it wasn't all that it was asthma. A lot of children have childhood asthma it doesn't then effect them into adulthood. At the very minimum I'd get your child and yourselves on a decent Probiotic (boots do amazing ones) and multi vits and all take them religiously everyday. Good luck.

As I said its up to you, at a minimum I'd ask to speak to the asthma nurse and get on a good course of probiotics and vitamins as I said.

Thank you. I would love to speak to the asthma nurse, but can imagine I'll be denied. I will ask though.

He takes multivitamins, but I'll make sure to get probiotics too. He definitely gets sick A LOT !

In the winter, it's probably at least once a month. Maybe twice.

He was only just sick towards the beginning of this month where he had a temp for 5 days from an ear infection.

We tend to have the heating on in the sense that it's set at a certain temperature and then goes off when it's at that temperature. It never gets cold in our house, as it's a new build. I also use a steamer or whatever they're called, to keep the air moist. I also use a calpol plug in. The only thing that calmed him last night, was continuously slathering Vicks on his chest and when on his top. That's how we stopped his attacks.

The other night I kept putting him by the freezer, when he was having croup attacks.

Get a nebuliser off Amazon with the saline capsules. It really does help. My dd has suffered with a bad chest since birth and it hits her like a ton of bricks every winter the whole winter

Same with my girl, except we were fobbed off as viral infection for over a month 🙈 By both GP and Hospital. Even with video evidence of the clear ‘whoop’ was a very frustrating time!

Ok I'll have a look for that. Any recommendations ? So you literally get them to inhale saline ?

The boots age 3+ kids probiotics are brilliant - 12.5 billion cultures which is very high and they're often on 3 for 2 and chewable. Here's the link - the adult version is good too.

https://www.boots.com/boots-good-gut-3and-kids-live-friendly-bacteria-and-immunity-support-30-chewable-tablets-10338168

Yes it really helps. Similar to Sitting in a steamy bathroom.

This is the one I've got

Hangsun CN100 Nebuliser Machine,... https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0B8HV6X5P?ref=ppxpoppmobappshare

NAVEH PHARMA RSV Hypertonic... https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B079N1DN1J?ref=ppxpoppmobappshare

I had friend who had persistent warts on their feet (bear with me), nothing seemed to work but they tried garlic held on with a plaster. It seemed to work at first but they felt they had to stop because they had insanely garlicky breath from it. (No they hadn't eaten it.)

My point is there is some connection between the soles of the feet and the respiratory tract. That's why people say vicks on the feet works.

If his chest is clear and he's not wheezing then I'm not sure how having a preventer inhaler would help? Coughing is common with a lot of viral infections, and some people cough more than others, and some people vomit more easily from coughing than others. It sounds like the sort of situation where (having been reassured by medical staff that his stats are fine, he's not wheezing so steroids to reduce narrowing of airways won't help, and lungs sound fine) trying to provide symptomatic relief from the coughing is all you can really do. Small children aren't great at controlling their own coughs - they just let it all out and don't try to stifle them, which can lead to a cycle of just coughs upon coughs upon coughs until they're sick. The humidifier, sitting in a steamy bathroom, offering lots of sips of warm drinks, just talking to them calmly and encouraging them to slow their breathing and be still, all good to try.

Not sure how old DS is, but I make a solution of Manuka honey with lemon juice, a spoonful especially at bedtime really calms the coughing down. Any honey would work but Manuka honey has antiseptic/antibacterial properties. NHS says child should be at least 1yr old to have honey.

I agree on the asthma advice, but if his lungs are clear it can also be from swallowing mucus (snot). In that case it’s the same moist air, hot baths etc but also lots of saline spray or drops in the nose (ask your doctor how often is the most allowed) and start to teach how to blow the nose. If he still lets you suction with a frida baby, do that too. We also often have had to hold our sleeping kids up all night when they are sick so they sleep. We’d either trade nights or each get a half night of sleep. The bigger one will now sleep on my old pregnancy wedge pillow when he’s sick. He slides down and coughs and I pop him back up.

The colds and things get so much better around age 4.

As his lungs are clear, then the cough is likely due to the cough irritating his throat. Try getting some of those cough lollipops for kids as he is too young for cough drops. If the pharmacy doesn’t have them, then try soothing things for throat when he has a cough- frozen yogurt lolly or spoonful of honey.