To be so fed up and let down by medical professionals? Any help out there? Child cough.

[Hoppyhops]

Hi, does anyone have any advice? DS (20 months) has been back and fore to the GPs and A&E for croup and coughs since he turned 1 in July. It never ends and he can’t go 2 weeks without being well.

He’s been given Dex steroids at a&e numerous times for stridour attacks in the night- then I was given some to administer at home by the GP. He’s just had his second dose in 2 weeks. Constantly told by GP that it’s viral/upper respiratory infections, but no help given to support us to get him better.

We were once told it could be hay fever, so we’ve been giving piriton everyday since last September. He had a blue inhaler given once- it does nothing. At one point tonsillitis was making it worse so he had antibiotics and the tonsillitis cleared up but the cough never went away.

He coughs through every single night and every morning he wakes at 5.30 with a hacking cough, as if clearing all his chest. When he’s ‘well’, he clears it and it doesn’t come back until nap time. When he’s got a cold, he never clears it and just coughs every 10-30 seconds through the day.

AIBU to be so fed up of this and feel like we should be getting more out of the GP? It can’t be normal and I just hate being told ‘they catch a lot of illnesss’ - yes, they do, I have another child and I know this - but DS has CONSTANTLY got a cough. It’s so cruel watching him hack his lungs up every morning.

*2 weeks without being ill

Just a week’s break from this cough would be a fucking miracle

Could your child be allergic to dust. Maybe remove all stuffed toys, thick rugs from the bedroom. See if it helps? Any mould anywhere in the house?

I’m sorry he’s been so ill it sounds stressful. It does sound like the GP has been seeing him and treating him appropriately though. What do you feel he needs- a chest x ray? A blood test to check underlying health? Some kids do have terrible runs of health and some coughs do linger for a long time. They can’t give anything to just boost his health or make him better all you can do it multivitamins, keep away from other ill kids as much as possible and allow time for it to improve.

My daughter had a permanent cough and it was caused by a reaction to the chemicals sprayed on her mattress and dust. They irritated her throat.

I also bought an air purifier for her bedroom and after a very deep clean, plenty of air to the mattress the cough finally started to go.

Good luck, I sympathise with you

Does he have any temperatures with it? Or just a cough? Is he generally well in himself despite the cough?

Thanks all. Good idea about an air purifier. I’ve tried a humidifier but that just got mouldy so I binned that. There is no damp or mould in the house but there are carpets upstairs and in his room which could be dusty as I don’t hoover them everyday.

Regarding what I want them to do - I don’t know what they should be doing but it feels like nothing we’ve had so far has worked and we’re not being given any advice on how to move forward. Again, I appreciate kids pick up everything, but to be coughing everyday since last July (albeit some bouts more serious than others - hence the A&E visits) is surely not normal? I know they don’t diagnose asthma at this stage but is there any way I can push for him to have something like a preventer inhaler? There is a strong history of family asthma (DH and my DF) plus he has eczema and I know they can be related.

DD was the same for few years. Lots of visits to drs, chest x-rays, pumps, antihistamines...until we went abroad one summer and took her to local dr, who looked down her throat and diagnosed her with adenoids. All coughing and colds finished after operation to take adenoids out.
Myself used to have this annoying cough all year round until we moved from Zone 2 in London to just outside it. I, too, tried everything under the sun to stop my coughing - to no avail. Until we moved.

It depends - when he’s ‘ill’ on top, he’s had temperatures and been grumpy. When he’s just got the cough, he’s generally well in himself. If we go to the park, soft play etc. it’s still extremely noticeable with parents commenting ‘oh what a nasty cough’ when it’s just become background noise to me as he’s like it permanently.

One of my children was similar for a very long time. She tried asthma pumps, first line anti-biotics, steroids, antihistamine… Saw specialist at the hospital… In the end the GP tried a different antibiotic that I think was a lot stronger and for different bacteria. The cough went and that was it. The conclusion was it was a bacterial infection that hadn’t been treated with the correct antibiotics. This did go on for over a year.

This sounds so similar. Did they ever do any swabs or anything to check? They never swab DS so wondering if it’s bacterial that just won’t go away.

Super interesting about adenoids - I have read something similar about tonsils but didn’t think about adenoids. Worth looking into - thankyou.

No we didn’t have swabs. I can’t remember if she had a chest xray but I don’t think so.
the assumption was always infection following a cold and then after that allergy or asthma. But neither antihistamine or asthma pumps worked. She just repeatedly had the same antibiotics which never got rid of it each time she was unwell.

There’s a condition called protracted bacterial bronchitis which happens in small children. Being mostly well with a permanent chesty cough (>4 weeks) is the main symptom.

GPs are usually not familiar with it (ours didn’t see any issue with a 9 week cough!) but the private paediatrician (a NHS one who did a private BUPA clinic on Saturdays) spotted it immediately and co-ordinated treatment with our NHS GP. It required 4 weeks of antibiotics.

You need to treat it as it can result in long term damage to the lungs.

https://www.worcsacute.nhs.uk/~documents/documents/patient-information-leaflets-a-z/protracted-bacterial-bronchitis-pbb-in-children/?layout=file

https://www.spirehealthcare.com/health-hub/specialties/childrens-health/bronchiectasis-and-bacterial-bronchitis-in-children-explained/

Thank you. It helps to have anything to go into the GP armed to ask to look into as I just don’t know what to do anymore.

This does seem to fit what we’ve been going through.

Currently manically hoovering his room and airing out his mattress, which might indicate my own mental state right now. 🤪

Now I’m reading it in more detail - literally everything fits DS.

I have two children, one had coughs until this year (now 4) but would get temperatures and have difficulty breathing and need support in A&E - pnuemonia and chest infections.

The other one, has a cough and congestion all the time! Has done since birth. They are under ENT following the hearing clinic saying they had glue ear.
But they are generally well in themselves - despite the congestion / cough

My son had frequent croup (needing an ambulance) and bronchitis and pneumonia. A budesonide inhaler reduced the frequency massively.

Have you given antihistamines? Sorry if I’ve missed it in your thread.
And have they tried a trial of steroid inhaler?

If the cough is noticeably worse at night, could it be snot sitting in the back of his throat and irritating it (I forget the proper name for this)? Propping him up to sleep could help.

What kind of heating do you have? My mum has a gas fire and I start coughing as soon as I walk in, there’s a very clear link in my case.

Have you tried eliminating dairy ?

Yes we give them daily. He does seem slightly worse without them.

They gave us a blue inhaler once (out of hours GP) but it doesn’t seem very effective. Is there a way to push for the brown inhaler or does he need to be older?

I definitely think it’s worse when he’s lying down. I have a small pillow in his cot (under a sheet) and towels under the mattress but he moves around the cot so much that he’s often the wrong way round.

Interesting - how did they end up giving you this? Was it just the frequency of episode?

No but have considered this could be a factor. Although on the odd occasion the cough goes away for a day or two (this doesn’t happen often) there hasn’t been a noticeable change in his dairy intake so I wrote that off. I see there could be a link though.