Persistent cough

[Emmaaa1990]

Hi guys

My little girl is almost 2 and a half and has coughed (changing in severity) for over a year. She's had pumps, told it was viral constantly. It was waking us all up regularly and she was coughing so much she was being sick.

We had a referral finally on the 2nd September, she had bloods done to check for allergies, a chest X-ray, cough swab and given 2 weeks worth of antibiotics.

The first week the cough seemed to disappear fast forward to the second week (this week) and she seems to be coughing abit more again. I don't understand it as it seemed to help the previous week almost instantly (within a couple of days)

The doc said it could be persistent bacterial bronchitis hence the antibiotics however now I'm at a bit of a loss as to why they seem to not be working this week & she's coughing more again. Not as bad as it was but yeah. We have to call for results on Friday for bloods etc. he did also mention acid reflux but as the medicine worked one week I'm now not sure if it's that or the bronchitis.

I wondered if anyone else has experience with this, did anyones child get a bit worse before better? Does she need a stronger dose?

Any experience or ideas would be great!

Anyone?

No experience but will bump for you.

Is it a night cough ? If so, asthma.

@KangarooKenny no she coughs in the day too. It changes in severity but it's both I just don't get why it stopped then bas started again but it's not as bad

Is there asthma in her family ? Have they ruled it out ?

@KangarooKenny yeah she's had pumps for over a year blue and brown not much change that's why we pushed for referral. The hospital still wasn't convinced it was. She's too young for them to properly check and diagnose I guess they just guess at this age. Her dad had it when he was little and grew out of it. Hard to know when they are so young so frustrating!

My little one had a cough for c.18months and was given antibiotics for the same thing.

They worked temporarily.

Lots of chest infections, hospital visits later we had a referral to S&L. Diagnosed unsafe swallow- cannot tolerate normal thickness fluid so has to have a thickener in it now. Taken a while to get this right but we're now on 3 months with no cough/ chest infection.

Sorry I can’t give any advice but had to post just to say I’m in a similar situation. My boy is 6 and has had a persistent cough all his life. I constantly got told he had croup when he was a baby but nurses/gp always confirmed it wasn’t.

Generally the cough would start in the autumn and carry on through to early spring. Horrific bouts of coughing to the point of wrenching and no pattern to what sets it off. He’s had it all through the summer too this year.

Some gp’s say chest infection so he’s been on several doses of antibiotics which sometimes help a but other times not. He’s had both the blue and brown inhaler plus been told to take a daily antihistamine. I am so fed up with it as it feels like I’m just throwing all these medicines at him, none seem to make a marked difference, and it’s not getting to the bottom of the cause.

I feel so bad for him as it must be so exhausting, although generally it doesn’t bother him as he’s so used to coughing now. It’s been delightful being out in public when he’s coughing and everyone’s terrified it covid 🙄

The docs keep saying suspected childhood asthma but he has no other symptoms and neither inhaler makes a difference.

I totally sympathise with you as it’s so hard to deal with and just awful to listen to. I hope your little one finds something that helps soon.

@winterincoming oh that's really interesting, I wonder if that could also be her problem! It's hard to go through it all with them and feel so helpless isn't it 🙈 happy to hear your little one is doing much better and Thankyou for commenting that's really helpful.

@Pebbledash23 oh my god that is terrible! You would have thought something would have been diagnosed and that he would be sorted by now! It's a nightmare isn't it. I feel like docs are very quick to throw inhalers our way without properly knowing if it it's asthma.

That's exactly like her with the almost being sick and she has been sick multiple times from coughing so much!

It's sad that they get so used to it poor thing that's a lot of years to deal with it. Hard on everyone isn't it, don't know about you but I'm always on edge waiting for a coughing fit to happen at night. Worry about taking her out and she's a wreck from coughing. It feels like we go round and round and i also sometimes think the doc thinks im a nutter! Like I want to be in and out of there with my sick coughing child coke on!

I'm wondering if her bloods and X-ray will reveal anything else due to get those Friday.

Let's hope both our children can get some relief from this soon 😩 Thankyou for commenting it makes me feel less alone with all of this

Hi OP - we are the same as @winterincoming my child now 6 from basically 3 Months to 14 months had continued cough & unwell ranging from viral, chest infections to bronchitis - 14 antibiotics before she was 1 - sent to chest consultant and seen about 14 months and asked about how she drinks - any spluttering/coughs etc - her hunch was unsafe swallow -
Sent for a video fluoroscopy which showed there was a delay in the flap closing off her airway so thin fluids were getting into her lung - aspiration also from reflux -

We had a prescription thickener to drinks and a million times better - she needed preventative antibiotics over winter for many years & now weaning off both as her swallow matures -

MRI showed no reason for delay but subtle to make a problem for water but ok for smoothies-

Ask about it or if no luck push for a second opinion-

Swallow and chest aspiration is quite new in medical terms so depending on location May need to highlight or seek a different path to get help -

@gamechangling wow I didn't realise that was so common! That's never been mentioned to us at all. Maybe I should look into this and get them to check her over for this too?

Very interesting that you and @winterincoming both have similar experiences with this!

I appreciate you commenting, you've given me a lot to go off of and maybe I can get her checked over again.

Hi @Emmaaa1990

did you find out the cause in the end?

My little girl is 14 months and has had a cough since January. She’s had 4 courses of antibiotics and they do help. She has just come off a month long course as the doctor suspected PBB and it made the cough go away within 3 days of taking them. 3 days after finishing the course and she’s coughing again. It’s horrific she was coughing every 5 minutes last night between 10-2 I’ve had 4 hours sleep it’s horrible.

I had to go private as the gps wouldn’t listen to me. I’m seeing if any alternative suggestions came up before I have to pay to go back to the doctor. I’m going to try piriton for babies tonight as that’s something I haven’t tried

Would be very interested in hearing the outcome of this also. 4 year old son multiple chest infections/pneumonia requiring hospitalisation and 2 confirmed bouts of pbb with relentless wet cough day and night which antibiotics helped to clear but now after a short cold the dreaded wet cough is returning. Lucky to have been referred to paediatric specialist at the hospital who we have an open line and they assure this is not something underlying and rather, just bad luck. Meeting soon to discuss overall health and if any significant updates will post as information and hope to put your mind at ease. One thing to note mentioned at every hospitalisation/ gp visit - this sequence of bad luck/illness (which has now lasted an entire year) can be attributed to low immunity in young children due to lack of exposure to everyday viruses while locked away from Covid.

Hi both

Been trying to reply on and off for ages but mumsnet kept saying there was an error! So sorry for the delay!

She still coughs to this day it's like she went to nursery feb 21 got a cold and a cough and it's always been there pretty much constantly since.

Inhalers, medicines later and then the trip to the peadetrician she had 4weeks of this white antibiotic and it went away and I mean for a couple of months it was amazing. She was allergy tested no allergies, she had blood tests a sweat test, chest X-ray the lot and nothing was found.

It's not as bad now don't get me wrong and we never had a follow up from the September visit which we should have done. As weird as it sounds I tried cutting up a white onion and leaving that in her room and that helped nighttime coughing. Room smelt like kebab but it definitely helped doing that for a few days. I've also noticed when she gets the cough her nose is streaming so it seems abit hayfever like so sometimes piriton can help abit!

But yeah she's not unwell as such it's bizarre and the doctors make you feel stupid but it's not normal to cough for so long is it! It's changed in severity etc but it's always there in some form.

I'm hoping she will grow out of it! But yeah no further news really just trying to make it through

Hi both

Thanks for replying.

My daughters cough has not gradually better these last few days. I think we’ve had covid for the last few weeks and the week before that after her rounds of antibiotics I’m assuming she picked up a viral infection straight after coming off them from nursery.

The only thing I’ve been doing differently is putting in 2 x 2.5ml of manika honey in her bottle every day for the last three weeks. Maybe it’s made a difference?

Hope you both get a resolution in the end or the coughs naturally improve it’s such a stress.

@Ac1234567 it's so strange isn't it! But yeah covid and viral infections probably haven't helped!

My little girls cough has phases of being alright as well. Yes to be fair honey and warm water seemed to help a little bit. You just end up researching and trying to help them anyway you can. Another thing I tried was cutting an orange in half forking it and sprinkling with salt, microwave for 1min 30 drizzle in honey and squeeze into a bowl. Then syringing some into their mouth once it's abit cooler, all these old wives tales/Instagram videos have weirdly helped to some extent. Lets hope they do eventually grow out of it, just so bizarre never know anything like it!