My DD keeps waking between 1am to 4am and coughing for an hour and sometimes being sick

[MyCatIsAFleaBagNoMore]

This has been going on for about 5 days. We are all shattered and I really need to find something to help (she is sat next to me whinging and yelling about everything because of tiredness.. bloody lovely)

She started with a cough about a week ago and since Tuesday has been waking in the night, coughing and then throwing up. We have tried linctus (she is nearly 4 so can't get anything too strong useful these days), steam in her room at night, nurofen (advised by Dr), keeping her off dairy products but nothing at all is working.

Been to Dr twice who palmed us off helpfully told us it was a virus and there was nothing he could do.

We are all shartered and I could really do with some advise on how we control the cough. Help, anyone.

sorry~how old is she?

She'll be 4 in October.

dark chocolate has theobromine in it and some studies have shown theobromine to be more effective than codeine for stopping coughs.
Whether you get enough in chocolate I don't know but dd has a strong belief that it does

It sounds as if she has a virus which might have triggered an asthma type response.This can be just a night time cough in children but her cough on exercise is also suggestive.
Whether or not this becomes actual asthma[chronic hyper~reactivity of the airways] or not is not definite at all at this stage.
If she has not been at all wheezy or out of breath then it may just be a virus causing the cough.
I agree with whoever said post nasal drip of mucus from the virus [which she then coughs up and swallows].
Can you hear any whistling when she runs around or at night/early morning?Does she have or has had any eczema or hay fever?The presence of these make an atopic asthma more likely.
Whooping cough is characterised by bouts of severe coughing ending in being sick,sometimes with an inspiratory whoop.Has she been immunised?

Hi Labyrinthine - thanks for the response. She does get slight eczema (she's sensitive to the wrong soap in washing clothes and in the bath) on her arms. She's had all her immunisations up to the final pre-school mmr (not starting school til 2010 so doing next spring). She's not wheezy or out of breath but does cough when running around, quite a hacking cough that can make her wretch - don't hear any whistling. No hay fever. Yes I agree it is post nasal drip at night, but I have put a humidifier in her room and that seems to have pretty much stopped it at night.

I am taking her to the Dr again tomorrow because it hasn't improved in the slightest in over 2 weeks (other than me managing to calm it at night with the humidifier).

I'll let you know how it goes, but I am starting the think that a virus has left her with an asthma response as you have suggested. I'm not sure what can be done about this to clear it up (I know asthma can stay around but I'm hoping that this is more of a reactive asthma that can be dealt with rather than onset of the full thing).

I'll let you know how it goes.

Badbadkitten - thanks for that on chocolate - I suspect that DD will also rather like the chocolate remedy.

Asthma

All my family have this type of asthma. You don't think it's asthma, because it's not what we believe asthma to be, and so, if perfectly fine the next day, no need to go to the doctor?!

Try a salamol inhaler... if it's asthma a few puffs of that will stop the coughing.

Yes, viruses and asthma set eachother off. sorry, op, you have been to the doctor. they should have been more helpful!!

My DD had a cough that lasted some months which always resulted in one final cough and her being sick - it was diagnosed as whooping cough, and once we'd been told that I did 'hear' the whoop - more of a panicky inhalation to get breath than the sort of "whoop" I'd imagined!

She had not been immunised (very premature baby - the jab was contra-indicated) but was only poorly for a week, really. The cough/vomit thing however lasted for months, and was always at nights - we got into a good routine rushing in to throw a towel over the bed!

But then again some children are sick with a really deep cough. I do hope it's not WC and that poor little DD feels better soon.

Hi all, she has been immunised so hopefully not whooping cough . Since being tiny whenever she has had a cough she eventually retches and is sick.

My asthma was like this. I wasn't wheezey but would get it from over exerting myself (which probably explains why I don't get it now - don't do over exertion!!) and also too much dairy product.

I am going to have a good chat with the doctor tomorrow and not be fobbed off again. There really has been no improvement at all. SHe is a very active little girl and loves being outside and running around, but at the moment everytime she does she starts coughing. That's just no good - I can't keep her in or not running all the time, she's 4 soon, not 40.

my son has the type of asthma where he'd cough and throw up - have you tried a humidifier in bedroom?? also a homepath has sorted my son out a treat. good luck

It does sound like possible asthma and her eczema and family history would fit with this,but whooping cough can occur in immunised children in a milder form~and tends to be commoner than you'd think and under recognised by GPs.
Hope your appt goes well tomorrow~maybe the Gp will give her a ventolin inhaler for when she is coughing and/or steroid inhaler to use at the start of colds.

thanks labyrinthine. I'll let you know how I get on.

Well, took her to the doc today who said 'yes, 3weeks is a long time to see no improvement' - You Dont Say!

Anyway, we discussed asthma but decided to give anti biotics a go first, so she is now on amoxycillin for 5 days. If that doesn't help then we'll give an inhaler a try.

Still got the humidifier on in the room and the sudafed plug, we're trying to dose her up on minadex, medised and no anti biotics. I'm working on the total bombardment principle to see if we can get her well again.

Hoping the antibiotics do the trick.

well it's good that you have a plan~perhaps he heard something in her chest.
Hope she feels better soon

I've just found this thread again (boring afternoon - the DCs have gone out!), and I just wondered whether it'd been cleared up with the antibiotics, or whether it'd turned out to be asthma?

HI GhostlyPixie. Thankyou for asking.

The antibiotics worked and she is fine now. Took 3 visits to the doctors before they finally gave in and gave her something.