Productive cough making 8yo gag

[Hidingtonothing]

She's coughing so much she's almost throwing up, is there anything I can give her to dry up the mucus or ease the coughing? It's only during the day, Vicks on her feet is keeping it at bay while she's asleep but doesn't seem to work while she's up and about. It hasn't been going on long enough to be a chest infection I don't think, cold only started 3 days ago but cough has developed quickly. Have heard Piriton mentioned for drying up mucus, has anyone tried it and does it work? Don't tend to think OTC cough medicine does much good, has anyone else found one that actually helps? Am just giving her hot honey and lemon drinks so far but doesn't seem to be helping much. She's coughing so much her eyes are constantly streaming, just feel so sorry for her

Are you sure it's not whooping cough?

Don't think so, it's very mucusy and whooping cough is usually dry from what info I can find. She seems worse today and we have a walk in centre locally so going to take her shortly just to be on the safe side. Thanks for the reply Ave.

Whooping cough starts dry and can go chesty after. It doesnt always have the whooping noise but its most distinctive trait is that you cough and cough until theres no air left and you gag. Its unlikely at that age though as the vaccination is good until it wanes at about 11 yrs. You can still get a milder version of it though. If theyre sure its not that a short course of steroids could help.

Walk in centre said its just viral thankfully, no infection, no whooping cough and she's loads better than she was. Just scared me the way she was struggling for breath, never seen her like that before. That's good info to know about whooping cough though, thanks Realitea

I'm sure you're all sorted after going to the walk in centre, but I was just going to say getting her a chesty cough mixture would help. The only way to get rid of all the mucus is to cough it up I'm afraid (and if it's not cleared then it can get infected) and a chesty cough mixture will help break to mucus up and make it easier to clear.

Had exactly that thought today Spam, she's coughing a lot less and not so badly when she does and she seems a lot brighter in herself but I can still hear it all rattling round and she's not coughing anything up now so will grab something from the pharmacy counter when I go to Tesco tonight. Thanks