long term cough - now knackered 4 year old

[JingleyJen]

DS1 is now totally knackered because he has now had a wheezy cough since early October, he isn't sleeping well because he is coughing and waking himself and not getting past dream sleep and he seems to be having alot of nightmares (the last 4 nights I have been up every hour snuggling him through a nightmare (he is definately asleep not attention seeking)

I am minded to go to the GP to see if there is anything that can be done about his cough but I don't want to waste the GP's time, if he is just going to tell me we have to sit tight.

So as well as a cold and cough we are all grumpy and tetchy with one another. anyone with pearls of wisdom (or a couple of grand so I can go on holiday and leave the kids with their dad for a week! ) Please Help!!

have you tried buring olis in his room or having the window open a crack. fresh air seems to help dd with her cough (we saw doc and they said prob last all winter!) not sure about night mares though - avoid cheese for tea but otherwise not much help!

Just wanted to give you my sympathy. My DS has an almost permanent cough, and did so this time last year too (he is 21 months now). He coughs all night, which upsets him, keeps him awake, sometims makes him sick and means DH and I are awake half the night too. Even when we dont need to go in to him and he is coughing more or less in his sleep it keeps me awake.

We have tried calpol, cough medicine, a dehumidifier, wet towels on radiator, bowl of water on radiator, vicks rub, those karvol drops on a tissue, karvol plug in thing, offering him water when he is coughing...

Have seen three different doctors for his cough, one suggested asthma, and gave him an inhaler, but it made no difference.

It is driving us mad. I think he stopped in about Jan / Feb last year, after starting in Sept / Oct .

Def. go see your GP. I had this with dd2, though it was more chesty. First time I didn't see my usual doc, and he thought it might be asthma, so we had that inhaler rigmorole, which was a nightmare to give to her and didn't improve it. Then my normal gp said we could try antibiotics to clear up any infection - and that worked!

hope that helps

Egg, did no one suggest a chest infection? Not that I'm in any way medically qualified ...

We went twice last winter to two different docs, and have since moved house and have seen new doc here this winter, all have checked his chest and back with their stethoscope or whatever they use and said his chest is fine . Poor little monkey.

Thanks
I will make an appointment to see GP this week. His behaviour seems to be awful at the moment and when I try to tell DH and my Mum that we have to take into account that he is knackered they think I am pandering to him. I do tell him when his behaviour is bad but I don't feel he is being an arse for the sake of it.

Anyone got experience of medised type stuff... was wondering if a couple of nights of something that would help him sleep may break the pattern?

See what yr GP says, but I can't imagine there's any harm in trying Medised for a few nights to get him back to sleeping well.

Have heard Medised is great, esp for helping them sleep at night. DS wont take anything other than calpol now. We have tried slipping stuff into his milk etc but he always notices.

DS's behaviour also very bad when he is unwell. If he is really under the weather he is lovely as just wants to cuddle, but if he is just tired from coughing all night etc he is a real nightmare.

My DD2 has a nasty cough/high temp etc at the moment and medised has worked wonders for her sleeping the past couple of nights.

I would take DS to see your GP as he has had this cough for a while. If he's wheezy it could be bronchialitis. My DD1 has regular bouts of this and was given an inhaler for when its bad (not steroids).

Egg - Calpol now do "Calpol Night" which my friend swears by - I think it's strawberry flavour too.

Calpol Night .

The main thing is, is it pink. He wont take Calprofen as it looks "wrong*.

Calpol night sounds great!!

Will get Dh to buy some on the way home.
I have booked an appointment with GP for Thursday afternoon (can't go sooner) so will see what they say. You've all been really kind - thanks. Hope all the other little ones with coughs/colds etc are feeling better soon.