Ridiculous cough - urgent help needed

[Tory79]

Ds (2) has been ill for the last week, running a temp on and off, lethargic when he has a temp, cold, streaming nose and a cough.

Took him to the drs yesterday, nothing on his chest, throat sore but clear, probably has a viral infection causing the cough/cold. Also may have an ear infection for which he got anti biotics.

He has always been a bit prone to coughs, and they have always been horrible horrible sounding coughs, even when he's not been particularly unwell in himself. Ie the kind of coughs that make people turn and stare in horror in the street (yes this has happened) however this cough is just beyond awful, mainly for its persistence. He just cannot stop coughing. Literally. I put him to bed last night, he slept from 8-10, then started coughing, woke and came in with me and coughed solidly from 10-5. I kid you not. And this has been pretty much what's it's been like every night for the last week. He is coughing a lot in the day but not for such prolonged periods.

Now here is the worst bit - we fly to Florida on Monday.

Help!!!!!

Not much advice to give unfortunately but just wanted to say that my niece is the same. She constantly has a cough and it sounds really bad even when she's generally well in herself. She was 4 weeks premature so we attribute her relentless coughing to this as no one else in the family has ever suffered with coughs. Gp always says her chest is clear so thats good at least. Hopefully they'll both grow out of it eventually. Hope he's a bit better by the time you go away!

Not much advice to give unfortunately but just wanted to say that my niece is the same. She constantly has a cough and it sounds really bad even when she's generally well in herself. She was 4 weeks premature so we attribute her relentless coughing to this as no one else in the family has ever suffered with coughs. Gp always says her chest is clear so thats good at least. Hopefully they'll both grow out of it eventually. Hope he's a bit better by the time you go away!

Funnily enough ds was 4 weeks early as well! He was certain a very wheezy grunty baby.

I am in a quandary about whether we should even be flying with him at this rate, plus after a week of no sleep I could not be less in the holiday mood!

Dd was like this, for months, then one of the many gps that have seen her actually checked her oxigen levels... cue urgent admission to hospital, nebuliser, oxigen, steroids, inhaler... she had a "very established" viral infection that was only spotted on x ray (before that Drs at a&e would still say"her chest is clear ".... it was anything but). she was discharged with an inhaler - she will still get the dreadful and / or ridiculously persistant cough but if she does the inhaler just stops it dead on its tracks.

Just my experience but i'd go to dr's again... cough like that is not normal!

Have you given him any cough medicine?

Dd was 6 weeks early and got coughs like that until she was about 4. She had a brown inhaler and singular powder to sprinkle in her food all winter as a preventer. I think you need to go back to the doctor and have 02 levels etc checked. It is not normal and doesn't sound like its sorting itself out.
DD is nearly 6 and has definately improved over the last 2 years. She still gets coughs and colds but they clear up after the "normal" amount of time.

My youngest ds like this and suffering at the moment.
When he was younger occasionally needed dissolved steroid tablet to open up throat and airways. Take back to GP just in case.
Apparently most children grow out of needing steroid and I'm treating with calpol at the moment [now 4]. Horrible hacking cough though and had for at least a week now...

noble he's had some benylin although it's not helped I don't think. I gather cough medicine for this kind of age is pretty pointless anyway!

So it's been a week, how long would you normally expect a cough to last? Yesterday I thought it was getting better but last night was hideous. Having said that, he's not coughing too much this morning.....

Gah, my problem is also no way to get him back to gp before we're due to fly

Have you tried vicks on the soles of his feet with socks over in bed at night? My ds is exactly the same - his coughs used to last weeks until I discovered that trick. It really helps to stop them waking themselves up at night.

Have you an emergency walk in Gp centre near you? You do normally have to ring first and do have to go through wait while they get doc to ring you but then they will prob say come in for check up.
I have done this at a weekend.

Yy to the vicks on his feet, and raise the head of his bed/mattress if you can.
A couple of books would do.

May try the vicks on feet on my little one tonight!

It really does work. I didn't believe it until I tried it on ds.

Could you take him to emergency docs? Am sure they will get you an appointment if you explain the problem.

Ok, I called 111 and they've made me an appointment at the ooh centre this afternoon.

Bang goes my afternoon of sleeping while mil has him!!

Humidifier in room helps dd when she has a cough or nhs direct told me to take her into steamy bathroom for a few minute before bed. Do you have the heating on at night this can make coughing worse if so put wet towels on the rads to put moisture into the air.

Good luck.
You will feel better after seeing someone with him.

apply snufflebabe or vicks vaporub on soles of feet

You could try a damp towel or bowl of water in his room. Hopefully if there is any infection in his chest the anti bios will clear it. Poor thing.

Did the vicks thing. Still got a cough. Temperature seems normal though and he says cough doesn't hurt anymore. It's the night times that are bad and after running around.
How did it go with out of hours op?

Ooh dr was very nice but basically said the same. Chest clear, he's already on ab's anyway so nothing else to do. He did check his oxygen levels which were fine.

Last night I put Vicks on ds feet and kept the window open all night and although he was still coughing a lot he seemed to settle a bit easier, certainly I got more sleep!

When DS was a very similar age I self referred him to the asthma clinic after being told by the GP that after 3 weeks of listening to his hacking cough night after night that I was just fussing about nothing.
The asthma nurse couldn't have been nicer and immediately gave me a spacer and a blue inhaler to use. There was an instant improvement and it was a godsend. She told me that the airways get irritated by the coughing which then causes more coughing and it just goes on. Apparently infection induced asthma is common and the inhaler calms everything down and let's them breathe without having to cough constantly. He never needs an inhaler at any other time.

Time the cough mixture so you are not giving it before bed time - it will actually promote the coughing which you don't want at bedtime. Keep him up on pillows to sleep. Don't go swimming when you have been flying with an ear infection. Avoid milk/milk products as it promotes mucus production. Supplement with natural remedies like honey in warm water. You can also buy humidifiers which can help.

It sounds like dd who is now 4.10 and seemingly has asthma. As a toddler she always seemed to get coughs worse than other people.