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Children's health

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Original poster

Calming an uncontrollable cough

24 replies

MissRatherTired · 09/01/2020 04:10

Me again :( DD age 7 was diagnosed with a chest infection last night, and started on distaclor (antibiotic). She was ok today, but in the evening started coughing more - normal enough. However when i was putting her to bed her cough became totally uncontrollable. It is dry and unproductive and she coughs until she vomits, keeps coughing etc. Finally at 4am she's asleep on the dining room couch, where i have made the air humid by boiling lots of water in the kitchen. She wakes up, coughs, has a sip of warm water, and back to sleep. And repeat. She is beyond exhausted.
4 puffs of ventolin did nothing for her.
We have a follow-up doctor's appointment at 10:15 this morning. If I was at home I'd have had her in A&E already but it's not so easy here to get to one and we could be waiting all night anyhow. Hoping to stay awake so I can watch her until the doctor!
Counting resps occasionally, so far below the doctor's threshold for A&E.
Apart from sipping warm water, sleeping sitting up and humid air, I am wondering if anyone knows how to calm down this cough?
X

OP posts:

AlCalavicci · 09/01/2020 04:18

Can you give her small amounts of honey ? I have found that a coating of honey on my sore ( from coughing ) throat helps ease the irritation. It's only useful if it's taken before the coughing fit starts or after , not during it.
I did a teaspoon in and let almost all of the honey run off the lick / suck the spoon .

Sips of very cold water also help ( not st the same time as the honey)

AlCalavicci · 09/01/2020 04:19

dip a teaspoon

AraGrand · 09/01/2020 04:20

No advice and I'm asthmatic. When she has a chest infection, she's going to be extremely unwell. I would advise you to stay awake.
Tbh I couldn't care less about the doctor's threshold for breaths per minute. She needs a nebuliser. Has she a temp?

AraGrand · 09/01/2020 04:22

I'd also give her another shot of ventolin. Don't take the ventolin for an hour before GP tomorrow though, so that he can get an accurate picture of what she's like.
TBH she needs A&E IMO.

Original poster

MissRatherTired · 09/01/2020 05:15

@AraGrand If I went to A&E I expect she would have steroids maybe neb but ventolin doesn't seem to do anything for her, she's not been diagnosed with asthma (yet, anyway) and the inhaler was initiated on another severe coughing occasion she had age 3, but wasn't needed then as steroid tablets worked very fast.
A&E in Ireland is overrun atm so we could end up waiting longer than for her doctor's appointment. I am asthmatic too, and this happens every time I get a resp virus, but was especially severe for my dd. She has not got much temp now - 37.7. She has woken up for the loo and gone back to sleep in bed without having another episode. I am staying with family as we were both too ill to fly back to the UK from our Christmas visit, otherwise would be in A&E hours ago. However OOH doc saw her 32 hours ago and will again in 5 hours.
Just staying awake to watch her.

OP posts:

AraGrand · 09/01/2020 05:21

Hopefully the antibiotics kick in soon. I'm surprised you've to wait until 10 in the morning for an OOH appointment - I'm Irish btw.

AraGrand · 09/01/2020 05:26

Just something else to note - I was admitted to hospital recently where I felt I was having an asthma attack. Everyone kept telling me that my lungs were clear. I was diagnosed with a UTI. Eventually, they prescribed me antibiotics for my lungs as I was needing oxygen constantly. No amount of telling them that there was something wrong with my lungs would get through to them. I ended up walking out of that hospital and going to another one. They took an xray of my lungs which I could see on the screen. The whole lower half of my lungs was white. I said to the doc - that's exactly what my lungs feel like - like as if the bottom half is full and I can't cough up anything. He explained that I actually had fluid on the lungs not inside the lungs (organs were all malfunctioning). So I really think you should bring her to A&E if she worsens even slightly.

AraGrand · 09/01/2020 05:28

The reason for the above story btw is because ventolin and nebulisers were doing f all for me either. The problem wasn't inside my lungs you see.

LongLiveThePenis · 09/01/2020 06:00

Can she have a nasal spray? Just a thought but I get post nasal drip.

Original poster

MissRatherTired · 09/01/2020 06:14

@AraGrand that is scary. I hope you are better now? Ooh doc was concerned enough Tuesday night that he offered to see us both at his usual practice having given the antibiotics 36 hours to start working. My dd's most frightening issue then was a huge fever and she was vomiting and could not get down any meds for it. Now it's her cough - they dealt with the fever but that's another story...
The same ooh place gave her steroids when she was little and fixed her right up so am hoping the same can happen now. Although I am on my second course of pred tablets in a row and am still also doing "that" cough though not as severely as dd... so maybe they aren't the answer on this occasion.
Not sure what else they can offer dd...

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babba2014 · 09/01/2020 06:22

My LO had the same.
Local honey is good but when I didn't have any I went to the local homeopathic doctor to try it out and it worked by calming the cough down over a few days.
When the cough came back I tried the homeopathic remedy again and it took two days to go away.
Now that cough hasn't ever returned. It would happen several times in winter when the temp outside dropped and when the cough was all night and then all day too I'd go get the treatment as that's too much to hack. They help build up immunity. Also avoid dairy in winter.

Original poster

MissRatherTired · 09/01/2020 06:26

I've just remembered. When I was newly pregnant I had that cough too. I went to a gp who prescribed antibiotics, and said they were ok when pregnant. Just before swallowing the first one I read the leaflet, and they were NOT ok. So I freaked out and went to an ayurveda practitioner. While there I had a full-on episode of the coughing. Other people on their way to their yoga classes were kind of offering water or else edging away. She gave me something called sitopaladi. Half a teaspoon mixed with honey at bed time. It shut the cough right up long enough to get asleep.

OP posts:

Original poster

MissRatherTired · 09/01/2020 06:28

@babba2014 thank you. Do you know what the remedy is called?

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AraGrand · 09/01/2020 06:33

Has she managed to sleep? 37.7 is a temp albeit not too high. Had you given her Calpol or is that without any analgesics?

Original poster

MissRatherTired · 09/01/2020 06:33

@LongLiveThePenis i don't think its that it's so dry and itchy and tickly.
She's very allergic.
I wish they still had Intal. That's good for allergic asthma. I had it as a child along with theophylline but it's no longer available :(

OP posts:

babba2014 · 09/01/2020 06:35

@MissRatherTired unfortunately I don't know the name. If you message me I can give their number? They don't charge for appointments.

Original poster

MissRatherTired · 09/01/2020 06:46

She's asleep beside me. Breathing sounds better. Her temperature is 37.7 with a load of paracetamol via suppository. The nurse at ooh administered what seemed to me a huge dose via paralink suppository and then the gp insisted the dosage should continue. It brought her fever down dramatically like never before, but it creeps up again eventually, though slower each time. Her fever was terrifying. More terrifying than tonight. It's not the first time for that either.

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AraGrand · 09/01/2020 07:06

I suspect the doc will send her to A&E to be honest. Keep us posted. I'm hoping doc thinks she'll be fine to just start on steroids, but I really think you're going to have to brave A&E. You've 3 hours to go - that's a long time. I wouldn't take my eye off her if you're not willing to go to A&E yet.

BabyST · 09/01/2020 08:28

It's going to get worse before it gets better to be honest the antibiotic will take 24-48 hours to get into her system. This is totally normal

Booboostwo · 09/01/2020 08:44

My son has cough-variant asthma. He has his preventative inhaler but if he can't stop coughing we do four doses of Ventolin (which take one hour) and if that doesn't work I give him steroids. The steroids have always sorted things out and we've never needed to go to A&E. If I were you I would go back to the GP for steroids.

cultkid · 09/01/2020 08:55

She doesn't have acid reflux or nasal drip does she can you try cider vinegar in water for her

It really really helps me

Codeine is a cough surpressant I have no idea on paediatric dose
What about anti histamines

You must be drained

Iesugrist · 09/01/2020 09:00

Do not give codeine to children please!

AraGrand · 09/01/2020 09:00

Hope she's a little better now she's presumably awake?

Original poster

MissRatherTired · 09/01/2020 13:16

Well the doctor said the antibiotic is already working for her, chest is better, and the coughing just has to be managed calmly and is no danger to her. He is happy with her progress and when i looked at him kind of incredulously he said we both need to rest and keep calm. I am ill too which isn't helping . However she's in better form today and temp is staying down without any help.
Thank you for all your advice and suggestions and helping me stay awake and sane overnight x

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