DD coughing is driving me insane!

[bamzooki]

Dd (10) has had one of these nasty chesty viruses which she seemed to shake off ok, but now is left with a dry irritated 'unproductive' cough that is quietly driving me mad!
Sometimes she gets into such a spasm with it that it makes her vomit, esp when going outdoors from in/ in from outdoors etc.

I really really hope someone has some uber fantastic treatment for this so we can all get some sleep tonight.

She's tried honey/lemon in hot water, various shop bought cough linctus's, steam, radiators off in her room etc. Am I missing something obvious? She isn't unwell in herself now apart from being a bit driained from the coughing, and has one slightly bloodshot eye.

Any thoughts anyone? I know it's not her fault but it's like chinese ear torture.

DS1 (nearly 11) has quite a few of these coughs. The plug in Sudafed thing works for us - need to plug it in the bedroom for about an hour before she goes to bed.

A bit of vick on the chest also helps DS.

I just know how you feel - he gives me a headache listening to him, the poor thing complains that he has a headache with the coughing.

vick definitely helps

have you tried covonia cough syrup

works for these mind bending coughs

I feel for you ..and your dd

We had to stop DS1 playing in the local football team. The cough used to be even worse then. The cold damp Sunday winter mornings did nothing to help him.

I have had to go to school a few times to pick him up as he has been sick with coughing.

No Convonia we haven't tried yet, will trot along to Boots tomorrow.
Wasn't even aware of a plug-in sudafed thing. Do you mean a sort of menthol/'olbas oil'y type smelling tablet in a vapouriser - like the Boots one? If so, that seems to aggravate rather than soothe for some reason.

porr girl

ear plugs for you then

Yes it is menthol and Boots probably do have their own take on it. The little tablets are all wrapped separately, one lasts eight hours in the plug.

I am working on the theory that it is the parts of her throat that were most phlegmy that are now in an 'itchy healing' phase, and that it will pass in a day or two.

Please don't tell me I am deluding myself. Its the one thought that is keeping me going!

oh I so feel your pain.
Really dark chocolate is supposed to help. Also a humidifier.
Its awful. dd has had a lot of those. dark days.

A cough that gets worse at night, after excercise or changes in temperature can be a classic sign of asthma. Have you asked your GP for advice?

Kitten - I've been trying the chocolate approach all evening, hasn't helped dd much, but I feel loads better!!

lol bamzooki - I still think you have time to hit the whiskey approach hard!

Not much good to you now but we use Benylin Coughs and Colds. It has something that makes them drowsy, dries up the nose, if necessary and stops the coughing for a few hours. Works even for those really annoying coughs. Only problem is that for a bad cough it can wear off after 6 hours or so and then they start coughing again at 2 or 3 in the morning. Another dose usually sorts them out though but it takes a little while to kick in. Sometimes though, a bit of respite from the cough is enough for the irritation to subside a bit and for them to stay cough free at night, ime anyway.

Hope she feels better soon and the chinese ear torture ends soon. Drives you mad doesn't it!

Ah - not sure that whiskey will be totally compatible with the wine i used to wash down the chocolate, but purely in the interests of research I could be persuaded to break out the Jamesons 12yr and report back in the morning...

hic

Sorry Niecie - meant to say that the Benylin is the medication of choice tonight, preceded by 'head over a bowl of boiled water' steaming . So far results are an improvement on last night.

Hope last night was better! (and that your head is ok!)

You could just try a teaspoon of really good honey. worked for my dd.

Codeine linctus - the only thing that suppresses the cough reflex. Only to be used at night - it is important to allow the cough reflex to work during the day so that any stuff left in the chest gets coughed up. It should be reasonably cheap - ask for the generic version, not a brand name.

Well it was not too bad - at least until about 3 am.
But I did wonder - is it possible to have some sort of infection going on in her lungs, but not have a rattly cough, not much sign of phlegm?
Just don't want to assume it will get better when I should get it looked at iyswim. She was a lot better than this last week.

It never does any harm to get GP to check her over and listen to her chest - then at least you will know what you are dealing with.

I may be jumping the gun here but I think she may be a little better today. But I took her along to the chemist and said give me your best for this one, and have got a junior Sudofed (to help with her nasal congestion etc) and a bottle of pholcodine to take at the same time, and so far it looks promising .
I did consider taking her to the docs but on Mondays it is pretty impossible to get an appointment without some sort of death certificate so I figured I'd be wasting my time today.
So we will see what tonight brings.