Coughing in the night (a lot) but not during the day.... any ideas?

[fryalot]

ds has been up every night for about a week with a ridiculously bad cough. It's waking him up and keeping him up for an hour or so, by which time he's wide awake and wants to play (grr!)

He does get asthma, but when he's coughing he isn't wheezing - could it be connected?

I don't have a car till Wednesday so can't take him to the docs, and I'm not sure what the doc will do as he is absolutely fine during the day.

Should I be giving him his inhaler? (I have been doing, but it doesn't seem to make an immediate difference - maybe he's better than he would be without it though?)

It's not a chesty cough, or a particularly irritating throaty cough, it's just a cough - that goes on for hours.

Any ideas?

I don't know how old your ds is but my dd1 had a nighttime only cough last winter (when she was about 15 months) which went on for weeks. We took her to the doctor about three times and each time he said there was nothing we could do but wait it out - and he was right, eventually it went away. He told us the commercial childrens cough medicines were useless and not to bother with them.

However, my daughter doesn't have asthma so your situation might be slightly different.

Hope it gets better soon.

thanks clara. He's 2.6.

Your dd's cough just went?

hmmm....

yes, eventually it just went with no long term effects! co-incidentally she is 2.6 now! sept 05?

yep

1st September!!!

A cough, in anyone, is usually worse at night because of post nasal drip, and the lack of gravity to help the mucus to move around.

If his inhaler isn't improving the situation, then it's probably not asthma related. Is he on a brown inhaler too, and are you keeping this up?

she's the 13th - good vintage!

Hi Squonk - I have a night-time cougher (my ds), and I'm asthmatic, and tend to be a night-time cougher myself ... the following are (anecdotal) tips on how we've sorted the problem:

• put a pillow under the head-end of the mattress, to prop up head end - the snot doesn't drip onto the back of the throat so much.
• encourage ds to sleep on his side - wedge a pillow under his back to help - allows the drips to dribble out rather than irritate the back of the throat.
• put a wet muslin (with drops of karvol / olbas oil) over the end of the bed - humidifies the air, and soothes the trachea.
• give ds a dose of piriton syrup before bed: ds was on this from 18 months until last week - it helps to dry up the drip - this was GP advice, and it was prescribed, but you can buy it over the counter.

And yes, encourage him to use his inhaler at night.

hth

thank you.

He doesn't seem to have any snot though - it's not a phlegm-y cough, I suppose you'd call it a dry cough.

I will definitely follow your anecdotal advice, ejt - would you recommend giving him a blast of his inhaler before he actually gets into bed, or waiting till he wakes up coughing?

ST - he just has a blue inhaler (supposed to be connected to the teddy bear tube thing) and they suggested that we use it just when he actually has an asthma attack.

Not sure whether the asthma and the cough are connected. LIke you say, if the inhaler doesn't help, perhaps the cough is not asthma related.

Nightime cough is classical in childhood asthma. If he's doing it every night and requiring blue inhaler regularly, it's worth going back to GP to see if he needs a regular preventer inhaler rahter than just the reliever he currently has.

Give him a puff or two before bed - a dry cough at night is often asthma. Certainly DS would cough,cough,cough at night, and its the first sign that his preventer needs to be upped now that he's on it.

ok, thanks guys. Looks like my day with the car on wednesday will be spent at the docs after all.

(CMOTDibbler - any chance of a hot dog? )

Saaauuuuusssssaaaaagggge inna bun ? rat on a stick ?

Did you watch the Colour of Magic ? Still not convinced about TwoFlower meself.

I thought TwoFlower was ok. I thought David Jason did a passable "David Jason playing Rincewind" Rincewind.

I have an illustrated "Last Hero" and they couldn't have got Cohen the Barbarian better if they had based the book on the actor who played him. Was very impressed with the casting there!

Was surprised not to see you selling your wares though

In all honesty, they are never going to be as good as the books, so if you want them to be faithful representations, you will be disappointed (and I'm including Hogfather and Going Postal, which I believe they are making now) But, they stand alone as good films so I was impressed, yes.

Also, dp now knows what I'm going on about and can join me in my Pratchett obsession without having to go to the trouble of opening a book.

(gosh that was an epic post... see how discworld can take over - I've almost forgotten all about the four hours I was up between 2 and 6 this morning )

(just had a look at your profile - I finished The Eyre Affair last week - my first Jasper Fford)

Could it be a little bit of reflux irritating his oesophagus? If he's eating heavy food late he might have some acid coming up when he lies down. Ds often coughs at night when this happens.

Squonk - my DS1 (now nearly 11) has had a blue inhaler from about 3 years old. He gets these awful non-productive coughs that keep us and him awake for could be over a week at a time. The constant night time coughing would result in him having headaches and sometimes being sick.

When he was about 7, the Dr thought he could do with a brown inhaler aswell. This we do two puffs twice a day - although it takes a good two weeks to get into the system. This actually keeps it at bay. We then use the blue inhaler as and when he needs it.

Funnily enough back in Feb, we had an asthma review. We told the nurse that we had not used the blue inhaler for quite sometime and she said it looks like he has grown out of it and to cut down the brown inhaler to once a day then to 0. Well, a couple of weeks later the blardy cough came back - so we are now having to use the brown inhaler again.

I would make an appointment with the Dr to get him checked out.

Cohen was just perfect wasn't he ? I thought Nigel Planar would have been better as Rincewind - just in my mind TwoFlower was shorter and rounder. But thats always the trouble with films of books you love, theres just too many things to pick holes in, and I really did enjoy it (and Hogfather) overall.

And you enjoyed the Eyre Affair ? One thing I have learnt - never try to explain a Jasper Ffordde to anyone. It never works somehow.

I think that the way to go is definitely to ask the doc for a brown inhaler.

Thanks everyone.

CMOTDibbler - I made a mistake and read the back of the Eyre Affair before reading the book, and what it said was going to happen didn't happen till about twenty pages before the end of the book, so I was disappointed, but it was my own fault. I have The Fourth Bear to read, I suspect I will enjoy that one more.

I think you're right about explaining him to others... not an easy concept

hi squonk
night time cough is prob asthma esp if he is known to suffer from asthma. his chest may be a bit wheezy if you were to listen with a stethoscope but you may not be able to hear it yourself.
inhaler will help. does he have a cold that may have set him off a bit?
do you have a peak flow meter? if so do it first thing in am and last thing at night and show to doc on wed. it sounds like he needs a steroid inhaler tbh.

this info may help
www.patient.co.uk/showdoc/23068680/

that's fab, luvaduck. Will have a look at that link now. You can have a peak flow meter of your own? hmmm....

Ds was like this.
Has he got a brown and a blue puffer?

Try a humidifier. They really help.

yes gp can prescribe for free...its useful to keep an eye on whats going on with the asthma

even better.

Right, it's off to the docs for you, my boy!

Just read all posts.
Ds had a brown inhaler 2 puffs morning and night from 18m. Then was given a blue one at 2 to use as needed.
He now has a purple one , once a day as the brown stopped working for him.
I'd agree about getting him checked.