whooping cough?

[lilyplant]

my daughter is 4 1/2 not had her pre school booster and had a cough for weeks, at night its terrible, she can go for several hours thenhas a coughing fit where she sounds like she's choking and is almost sick but hasn't vomited yet. She salivates a lot. She can get very distressed with coughing.

Son just over 1 also has same sort of cough but has only been bad the last two days.

baby has had cough for about 3 weeks, it started when he was 5 weeks old. Wasn't able to register with dr until 6 weeks but it jst seemed basic cough at ths satge anyway. Two weeks ago he had sudden bad "choking" coughing fits, getting very dsitressed, appeared to stop breathing momentarily on some occasions, sometimes had vomitting but has reflux so is sick a lot anyway. ON this day 2 weeks ago although he had dr appt for 6-8 week check the next day i went to emergency dr during night, as he sonded rattly and as i was worried about his breathing, (to the point of expecting him to die in my arms) dr said he was fine. However he has not improved, was due to have his imminisation this week so is unimmunised. WHen my daughter was bad last night i wondered if maybe it was whooping cough, and i am worried sick because if she has then thers a good chance that what the baby has too and he is so young it will be extra dangerous for him. I am beating myself up for not doing anything sooner as i did think about whooping cough for my daughter before but only considered it for a second as she wasn't whooping but found out last night they only make that sound in half of cases and she has had a few coughs and colds anyway cos of damp house

rouble is if dr isnt going to take it seriously what do i do, esp as there can be a long time without symptos and there seem well inbetween

sorry this is long and rambly, i'm pretty sleep deprived!

Have a look here We all had whooping cough last year - and both my children had had the vaccine. It was horrible and it went on for ages - but it did go in the end and we were all fine. The thing that helped my two most with the coughing fits was iced water to sip.

Don't beat yourself up about it - it's not your fault. Easy to say, I know....

It sounds typical of whooping cough.

It's very unlikely they'll die from it. They'll have wretched broken sleep for awhile. 100 days cough it's known as.

The vaccine is sometimes effective, sometimes not. It's associated with problems dating from the 1970's. Not sure on the research but could be the reason why take up isn't so high.

Basically, you've got to sit it out until the cough gets less and less.

Search 'whooping cough' on YouTube and see if the examples on there match your DCs.

will be back to post more on this later but i think you are absolutely right it does sound like whooping cough

in the meantime here is a useful website with more info
(recommended on the hot topics course for updating GPs so used by med professionals too)

www.whoopingcough.net/

sorry is your son a year or do you have 3 dc?

how old is your youngest and how is he know? any more severe coughing fits?

oooo same website seeker - only just checked your link

will check in on this thread later

Sorry, have I misunderstood - you have 3 DCs, lilyplant?

if your youngest is a baby - under 6 months i would take him back to your usual GP, and say you are suspecting whooping cough.

i think you are right from the history.

there have been a couple of articles in the medical press over the last few years about the re-emergence of whooping cough, even in the vaccinated population. big BMJ article 2007 i think. obviously not all GPs will have read this, and it is only recently that whooping cough is being considered as a diagnosis in a chronic (ie over 2-3 weeks ) cough again.

vaccinated children are less likely to make a whoop.

take the child to the doctors tomorrow (well today now) and if he is under 6 months, i would expect him to be referred to paediatrics for assessment. he will most likely be fine, but you have to be more careful in younger babies with whooping cough

hope that helps

thanks everyone, have 4 children, one of them got slight cough, other 3 are bad, one (the one has seen 2 doctors and whom i've spoken to nhs direct about twice) is just 9 weeks and i know its more serious under 6 months

There have been quite a few cases in the Czech Republic this year for some reason, despite vaccine rates being high.

Good luck, lilyplant, definitely push to be taken seriously. Don't beat yourself up - I didn't know they didn't always whoop.

bump
lilyplant - how is your ds - did you go the docs??

My DS (4) had a bad cough for approx weeks last year....the GP finally admitted that it was probably whooping cough, despite him being vac'd....I dont think they like to admit that there is more of it around in vaccinated children than we would like to think

that was for approx 14 weeks......sorry

no thats not true magnumnuts

I'm a GP. It is only recently that there has been research that you can get whooping cough, despite being vaccinated. Its not a cover up! The kids who get whooping cough who have been vaccinated have a much milder version, and it is not as dangerous. They are also less likely to whoop, so it is not as clinically obvious. In some cases it looks like bronchitis - a chronic cough.

But is out there, and some GPs aren't aware of that