Persistent / recurring cough

[ioanna2604]

Hi parents ,
Just wanted to share this to see if anyone had a similar experience as I am getting worried. My almost 6 year old got a bit of
a cold end of September and he has had a dry cough since.

The cough was really bad keeping him up at nights for about 10 days or so and then it got better but never really went away.

We’ve been to so many doctors (peds, pulmonologist, ent, allergists) who put him on asthma inhalers and Singulair and they all say when we see improvements to reduce the dosage of the preventer inhaler. Well as soon as the cough stops and we reduce the dosage, it creeps up again. This time he was cough free for about a week before we reduced the dosage and sure enough, he started coughing again!

I’m getting quite worried as I don’t want to have him on inhalers indefinitely. I am also starting to wonder if we are missing something. Anyone with a similar experience to put my mind at ease? :)

Thanks!!!

Bump

I am a little bit upset at the moment. It's now been 2 5 months. He seemingly improved and just had a coughing fit tonight :(

If he has asthma then fgs don't stop using the singulair or inhalers!

We don't know if he has asthma, he was not diagnosed. Also, we reduced the medication (not stopped) after his doctor's advice. The doctor wants to find the least amount of medication that will keep his symptoms under control.

If the inhalers reduce the cough then it’s pretty clear it’s asthma! (That’s how my doctor diagnosed my asthma which I had as a child and then reappeared at age 30). If the inhalers are needed then they are needed. You wouldn’t try and make a child walk without a wheelchair if they needed it, trying to get a child with asthma to manage without inhalers is the same thing.

Just wanted to add my only symptom of asthma is a persistent cough. I don’t wheeze. I just cough. If it’s really bad I cough to the point I can’t breathe and that is terrifying. I use Seretide 250 and a blue inhaler to keep it under control.

The doctor wants to find the least amount of medication that will keep his symptoms under control

If he has asthma then this is a dangerous game. Can't your gp diagnose things?

It sounds like asthma, it could be seasonal my ds is worst from end of September to end March. This year I reduced his meds and had stopped them by July, but come mid October I had to start them again because his nighttime cough returned.
I would keep him on the meds but reduce them from March and see how he goes.

If you're not happy with your GP, switch to a new one. There's not much forum folk can do that a trained Doctor can't.
Either trust the GP or switch.

My 6yo had a cough, every month she'd spend a week coughing. I thought it was a reaction to the vaping her dad's new partner did. I took her to Doctor, he said it could be asthma, but there isn't really a test for asthma, just trial and error.
Her inhaler stopped the cough after a couple of days. Now it's rare, but still occasional, maybe one cough every three months. We just up the inhaler to two puffs twice daily then when it goes, 1 puff twice daily.

Whooping cough? I had a bug then a cough that hung around for months. I was eventually went to the hospital and the doctor said ‘oh well, whilst you’re here you may as well get a blood test’. Turned out I had had whooping cough and the cough does loiter for ages afterwards.

Hi, OP here
We don’t live in the UK so we don’t have a GP. We went to two different pediatricians (both considered top in the area), one pediatric pulmonologist, one pediatric allergists and one pediatric ENT. The general consensus is that it’s nothing dangerous, probably a mild case of asthma with post nasal drip. He was also prescribed antibiotics just to make sure he didn’t pick up a nasty bug in Oct that is still lingering, and a steroid nasal spray for post nasal drip.

We are still on the inhalers and Singulair, plus the nasal spray. In general he is better, though not 100% cough free (though I don’t really know what the doctors consider to be OK - perhaps a few coughs during the day is fine?)

Tonight though he had a nasty cough in the afternoon but I did burn some food in the oven so probably that triggered it.

As for getting an asthma diagnosis, they said to wait until springtime, gradually stop the inhalers and do a spirometer test. They can’t do the test while he is on inhalers or Singulair.

I do worry a lot still, and I do wonder if the doctors are missing something... but I try to remind myself that he was seen by experts and they all agree it’s nothing concerning :)

OP again
One of the pediatricians actually told us (and I am not too sure if I agree with this) that each child has a sensitivity. Some kids get frequent fevers, others ear infections, others tummy aches, and some kids cough. He said I need to accept it and live with the fact that my son will have a cough throughout the winter. When I asked him why do we give him all these medications then if the cough will not go away, he said the purpose of the treatment is not to make the cough disappear but make sure it doesn’t affect with the child’s daily activities, such as eating, playing, attending school, sleeping. As long as a child can do those things just fine and is otherwise well, he (the doctor) is not concerned with some chronic cough.

Any thoughts?