Asthma cough

[wrenster]

I am quite a newbie when it comes to asthma and hoping for some advice for my 4 year old DS.

Every morning or evening when he's in bed he literally coughs and coughs almost without stopping. He does this until he falls asleep or I get him up depending on the time. It will still be bad until about 1 hr after he's up in the morning unless he does any exercise which triggers everything off again.

He's on a brown inhaler morning and evening and blue reliever whenever he needs it in the day. Personally I don't see any effect of these at all.

He has just been put on another tablet at bedtime which is meant to work in conjunction with the brown inhaler but he's only on day 3 of that so no effect yet.

I'm sleeping him on 2 big pillows to keep him as upright as possible which def helps but it breaks my heart listening to him cough and cough until he might break

He's had asthma for 2.5 years now but it hasn't been bad for a good 9 months and all of a sudden it's really bad again.

Does anyone have any advice? Thanks

How is he during the day?

Have you tried damp dusting his bedroom? getting rid of (or cleaning and freezing) and soft toys?

Try giving some ventolin before bedtime that may help him settle until this are more controlled. If you aren't seeing a difference with the montelukast within a week then I would go back to the GP - what dose of brown inhaler is he on? Perhaps that needs increasing.

I agree with all the advice given - it sounds as though he needs a review of his medication in order for him to have better control of his asthma.

DD had a green inhaler for a while which was a long-acting reliever which worked in a similar way to ventolin, or as Sirzy says he needs to have the brown inhaler increased.

With asthma it is a lot of trial and error to get everything stable again and it is draining for everyone. Both of you must be exhausted. Hope the GP or asthma nurse can help.

Sounds like his brown inhaler dose might need increasing. You need to go back to the gp.

Rather than the pillows can you put the head end of his bed up on bricks/books? Is his bedding enclosed in anti-allergy covers?

Piriton really helps that night time cough.

Good idea Valium DS has citrizine prescribed as part of his daily treatment to help his cough

It really does help, the asthma nurse advised us to use it.

Thank you so much for all of your responses.

He has just had a review hence the new tablets and the nurse said she would rather try that than increase his brown inhaler at the moment. We are going back in a month for another assessment.

Sirzy - I'm not sure what damp dusting is? I presume therefore that I haven't done it, but am absolutely willing to give anything a try if you could let me know what I need to do?

I will give him piriton too (and I guess this might also help him sleep)

He sleeps in a double bed so I don't really think propping the actual bed up is viable but everything is enclosed in anti allergy covers.

I'm sure I read somewhere about an air ionizer - does anyone use one?

During the day if he is still ie drawing, or doing some other quiet activity the cough is just intermittent. However any rushing around and becoming excited sets it off terribly and he can't quite catch his breath. Swimming also seems to aggravate it but on the asthma site it reiterates the importance of exercise so I don't want to stop him.

Thanks again for your help and will hope for a better night tonight.

Damp dusting is just using a damp cloth to dust so you can make sure you get all the dust up. I tend to use a baby wipe on the surfaces in my sons room every day.

it is very rare I can take him swimming, because if he is going through a bad patch it sets him off big style even when well he can only manage 15 - 20 minutes in the pool before struggling. Do you give him ventolin before he goes in the pool? that should help.

Keep a diary of when he struggles just so they can see because sometimes it is hard to get them to see the extent of any issue. The brown inhaler didn't help DS so he ended up being moved to a different one which is better for him but still not ideal.

Thanks very much sirzy I will give the damp dusting a go. I used to give him ventolin before he went swimming but have got out of the habit whilst he's been so good; I will definitely start that up again.

Diary is a great idea too, because maybe I'm not spotting the patterns either.

I knew I'd get more help on here than at the docs!

I would second a anti histamine before bed.
Also a humidifier if you have one.

Lovely ladies I wanted to come back and say thank you.

I've taken all the advice and I cannot believe that he is about 90% better! The anti histamine seems to have been the key I think, it helps settle him and the fact his room is cleaned daily and then possibly these new pills working in conjunction with the inhalers mean he has been sleeping brilliantly and doesn't lie awake most the night coughing. He is much happier too.

Thank you thank you!

Hi there, I know it's been a while since your post but a few other tips i've been told recently.

Don't dry his bedding or clothing outside on the washing line as pollen can settle on it.

Don't have his bedroom window open at dawn or dusk (apparently the worst time for pollen).

Also, keep a big sheet/throw over the bed during the day so that any dust or pollen that settles on the bed can be removed before bedtime by removing the sheet/throw, rather than him sleeping in it ifswim.

HTH