Please help! Persistent cough......

[scaredykatt]

My DS, 12, has had a cough now for about 4 months. It started I think when he had hayfever in the summer, but has never gone away. He has mild rhinitis as well, so a bit sniffly even when it's not hayfever season. The cough is usually a one-off "proper" cough which sounds like a mucus-clearing cough, but sometimes it sounds a bit like throat-clearing. It tends to happen every few minutes up to every 5-10 minutes, and it does not seem to bother him as much at night. No coughing fits, no exercise intolerance, no history of bronchitis or pneumonia.
Should I be worried? Any medical people out there? Antihistamines don't seem to help. Has anyone had similar experience?

Perhaps the cough is caused by post nasal drip because of the rhinitis . My ds has this and has a resulting persistent cough which he has now been referred to the ENT dept about. This is after having lots of tests to rule out other things as he has had the cough for years though.

Tic? DS had that for about a year or so.

Would post nasal drip cough or a tic cough be productive?

My ds's cough is not productive.

Now I'm more worried, as it does sound productive. Could this possibly be cystic fibrosis? He has one small nasal polyp too, the GP told me (but wasn't concerned about it because of his hayfever).

scaredykatt, sorry if I have worried you. I would actually have been less worried about my ds's cough if it had been productive as I would have felt reassured that it was just the result of nasal secretions.

I'm no expert but I think that cystic fibrosis would have shown other signs and symptoms by now as it would have been present from birth . It does sound like either a tic or habitual cough or due to your ds's rhinitis but if you are concerned then I would pop him to the dr's.
If it is any comfort, my ds has had his cough now for 6 years and he is totally unbothered by it and is only going along with the ENT referral as he knows I am worried about it.

Is there anyone out there whose child was diagnosed relatively late with cystic fibrosis and, if so, what were their symptoms?