3 Yr Old w/ Nagging Daytime-Only Dry Cough - What is this???

[Selbym]

My three year old girl had a little cold two weeks ago (followed, bizarrely, by an eczema-like rash in all her skin folds which is now clearing). Several days after the cold finished and the rash appeared, a continuous little cough developed. At its worst each day, she produces a little dry cough each time she breathes in. It does NOT happen at night. Only in the day. She seems otherwise completely fine. No fatigue. No fever. No personality change. She is having trouble speaking however, because she has to stop to give little coughs continuously.

Nothing online describes a situation in which a child presents with a continuous cough which stops at night and has zero accompanying symptoms.

Anyone heard of anything like this?

As a side note, my girl has never taken an antibiotic of any kind. We have been blessed not to absolutely need one. We also tend to medicate with a mind to treating the source of the illness and not its symptoms.

I have an “atopic” child that always got viral wheeze/asthma following a viral cold. (Asthma is diagnosed after so many wheeze episodes in a given time)

A persistent cough is often a wheeze/asthma symptom in children, It really concerns me that she cannot get her words out when speaking. How long has she been like this? They can turn very quickly!

Take a look at this symptom list, then decide if dd can wait for you to take her to GP tomorrow or if she needs treating now.

www.asthma.org.uk/advice/child/diagnosis/spotting-symptoms/

My son also always gets excema when he is unwell

Should her symptoms not require any immediate medical help, it could possibly be an allergy to something that she is only coming into contact with during the day.

Ds also has allergies and always had a night cough - he was later diagnosed with a severe house dust mite allergy. Once we sorted out his room following consultants advice, the night cough went.

He also has allergies to tree pollen, but actually suffers more in autumn than spring. (Baffling,)

Thank you very much for your reply. I also have been making an assumption that she is very allergic to something. We recently had an odd struggle in our house with fleas, though we do not have pets. To combat this, we've been doing extensive cleaning of every room, and while avoiding harsh chemical cleaners or pesticides, we have been liberally sprinkling salt on our carpets. We practice NAET here at home. So I've been treating her for salt but to no avail. We took a day away from home also. The cough remained. It's puzzling.

Meanwhile I think she needs to see a GP she sounds like she might benefit from a short course of steroids to stabilise her breathing.

You could also ask GP for an allergy referral but it took a couple of years of symptoms for us to get that far (UK) sadly!

Did you look at the symptom list?
The fact that your dd is struggling to talk shouldn’t be minimised- asthma is a serious condition that needs to be properly treated.

You're right of course, and that will surely be our next step if no improvement today or tomorrow. Her breathing really is fine though. It's when she tries to talk that the coughing increases. And certain times of day she seems more bothered than at other times. She's standing here now aggrivating me while I write this, for instance, and hardly coughing at all. Haha

We have worked extensively with our older daughter using an allergy elimination technique called NAET. It's my understanding that there are many practitioners in the UK. It kept our oldest off of steroids or inhalers for a night cough she used to develop after a cold. Doctors told us she would eventually have asthma. After several NAET treatments, she no longer develops that night cough. She is six, has only been on antibiotics once, and has never had to be put on any strong cough meds. Seems like it's the three yr old's turn for these treatments but I'm not expert enough at administering them. We unfortunately live far from anyone who practices NAET.

My daughter had a litte cough and throat clearing for a year after a virus.

It was a tic.

xx

Oh my goodness I’ve just posted exactly the same symptoms for my 8 year old. Maybe it’s an odd virus, it’s that time of year etc

Dear boble1 and mascarpone...how strange!!

What did you do to treat the cough boble1?

Mascarpone, did your son just finish a cold? My girl had a really weak cold then this cough came. She operates pretty normally except that talking makes her cough more. Have you been to see the doctor?

At the start he had a very mild temperature, hardly noticeable, and his nose was stuffy one evening, and that was it! Ever since it’s been this little dry cough cough cough. Thinking of going to the doctors this week if can get an appointment.

How strange. I will be interested to know what the doc says. My daughter has now developed diarrhea and so it looks like we're headed to the doc afterall. I've tried to avoid it because here they just treat everything with antibiotics.

Hello @Selbym

my daughter coughed from July until May.

Countless GP appointments - everytime told it was a virus. The maybe allergies, or maybe asthma.

Prescribed anti allergy meds.

GP finally gave us a brown inhaler to use.

Referred to the local hospital.

Typically, 2 weeks before the appointment - it stopped!

I described the cough to the consultant and he said it is very common for kids to end up with a tic after a virus.

Hope you daughter gets on OK at the GP xx

Sorry, forgot to say that she was also given a nasal spray incase it was post nasal drip.

xx

I'm so sorry you and your daughter had to go through that! Was she having a night cough? That's been the strange thing for us. No night cough. Just constantly through the day, especially when she tries to talk. Here's a sentence from her when it's at its worst: "cough Mommy, cough can you cough cough put cough my dolly's cough cough head cough back on? cough cough

Seriously.

Hello

Absolutely never any couhging at night.

Doctors said no coughing at night ruled out asthma.

My daughter said her throat felt tickly all the time and it made her cough, she was also clearing her throat constantly. I couldnt sit next to her sometimes as it was so annoying or Id have to leave the room to stop me from telling her to stop.

Im sorry your daughter is going through this - it is very draining.

Is she aware she is coughing all the time?

xx

Most likely post nasal drip. See your GP if your email concerned but don’t go expecting medication.

Thanks Boble1. She actually seems unaware/unconcerned about the cough. Only once did she get frustrated when she was trying to cough out a sentence. It's so odd. I'd be pulling out my hair if it were me!

I get annoyed by it too. In the interims when I'm not thinking she's having asthma. That's great news your doc ruled out asthma! We all took that as really encouraging. We're now focusing on the possible allergy component to get cough. If you're familiar with muscle testing and allergy elimination, I'm clearing her today for sensitivity to plastic. Muscle testing indicated plastic was her top priority "allergy" to treat for this condition. Who knows. Giving it all a shot.

Went to the gp today who said all was clear with DS’s chest ears and throat. Got a “just in case” antibiotic prescription but not used it yet.

Hi

That is exactly what we had - there was nothing wrong.

Thinking about it - we even had a chest x ray. Again - clear.

It is tiring for a child to cough all day long.

Where do you go from here? xx

Okay well here's our update. I performed NAET (allergy elimination technique) as best I could for my girl for her allergy to plastic, which was the top priority for her body according to muscle testing I did.

The next day (yesterday), her cough was about 50-70% improved.

But last night when I checked her to see if she completely cleared the allergy, muscle test said no. So I treated her again. I'm monitoring her today and sensing she's not done with the allergy clearings. Plastic is a tough one because it is literally everywhere. And for 24 hours post "treatment" the "patient" is supposed to avoid the substance s/he is clearing. It may take a few tries.

Regardless, I was very relieved to at least see the cough lessen by such a large degree.

Would you all be interested in a link or something to give this a try? My husband is the most sceptical about alternative therapies like this being worth the time/energy, but with our hands totally tied like this, and doctors unable to provide much assistance...

I used this as our last ditch effort for our oldest daughter when she was fighting an ugly night cough post-cold. At that time I knew less about the treatment than I do now. I've been studying it a bit this time around. But even with my rudimentary knowledge back then, her night cough went away. And she didn't take any of the meds the doc prescribed. We were told she was pre-asthmatic!

Hi

Oh yes, please send a link. Sounds very interesting.

Im so pleased your daughter is improving!!

xx

I'm sorry for the delayed reply. I was hunting for the best videos to send to explain the concept of allergy elimination as opposed to the more conventional and mainstream allergy treatment paradigm. The two are diametrically opposed.

I once was blessed to work for an acupuncturist/allergy elimination practitioner. As a bonus I got loads of free treatments. This was about ten years ago. I learned so much. I've been antibiotic free ever since!

Anyway, I remember feeling at the time that she was so learned and experienced. And of course she is! But that doesn't mean we can't do our own version of treatments at home and still have success. Of course if you have the resources to just go to a local practitioner, yay. Go for that! We live in a country where it's not an option. So desperation leads to finding ways that work.

First, learn about muscle testing. My six year old daughter and I have become a great team. I use her as a surrogate tester for my three year old, our nine month old boy...and my husband. There's really a lot that can be checked using this tool.

Here's a link to more info:

Here's a link explaining NAET in detail:

The guy who taught about muscle testing has developed a slightly different at-home allergy treatment and I haven't looked at this full video yet, but I like him and he seems to have a good practice. Since it emphasizes at-home, it could be useful.
Link:

Another good one about seasonal allergies:

Really wishing you all good luck. My daughter is improved by about 50%. But she has times in the day that her cough is noticeable. We treated her for plastic. Twice. And now outdoor allergens. And today it looks like she's picked up the cold virus her sister's been fighting this week.

But her muscle test tells me we're not done. Crossing my fingers we'll hit on the right thing to solve it.

Hello

Oooo, thank you!

Looks very interesting.

Wishing your daughter well.

xx