Any experience with Pertussis?

[haydensmom06]

It's apparently in my area right now and we don't do vaccines. Just curious if anyone has experience with it. A friend of mine said her kids had it and it was so bad that she actually wished she had vaxed them. Do any others have a similar experience? different? THANKS!

[Evergreen]

My daughter had it when she was two. It wasn't really that bad. She coughed a lot for this whole time, coughed so hard she threw up two or three times but sleeps really hard so never was kept awake because of the cough. She never "whooped" so I didn't think it was pertussis until a mom in our playgroup had her dd with the same cough tested and it came back +. None of the kids in her daycare got it but nearly the entire playgroup did. The playgroup was pretty much all unvaccinated children.

The cough lasted about three months, and by the time we had the positive swab back it was over. They took three nose swabs to test and sent them to different labs. The first came back that day negative, the second about a week later negative, and the third three weeks later positive. We had to report it to the Health Dept. who made us put her on antibiotics which I promptly chucked when we got the script home.

I do selectively vaccinate, and I'm vaccinating my second child (now 3) for pertussis- not because I am worried about her getting it but because I am ttc and I wouldn't want a baby to get it. The immunity from both the vax and the disease only lasts about 2 years though, or doesn't fully protect just lessons the symptoms so I know this decision is controversial.

[susienjay]

My 3 year old dd got it at 4 months of age. She had one DTP about a month before she got it. She wheezed a fair amount and it did drag on for almost 3 months but it was never real bad. Ironically the doctor told me it was a virus and she'd been seeing a lot of it. This is in a practice we wound up leaving because they required full vaxing and would drop you if you didn't follow that. I don't have proof it was WC but dd was exposed at a retreat and several other kids all got it and I know a couple of them did get proof it was WC so that was enough for me. My fully vaccinated 10 year old also got it.

I've heard having the vax can lessen the symptoms but I'm not sure what the source is for that. My 10 year old's was a lot less severe and I think it was more her age than having had the vax. My baby that got it was 11 weeks premature and caught it less than 2 months after her actual due date.

[momma_unlimited]

My 2 yr old had it and coughed all over me and my exclusively breastfed 7 mo old. I caught a cold (which was probably the same thing, but adults don't really whoop) but my baby only got a very mild cold and never whooped. We all took pertussinum, the homeopathic "nosode" remedy indicated for prevention and treatment of the illness, and my 2 yr old's whooping was not very bad and didn't last longer than 3 days/nights. All in all, from initial runny nose, fever, and coughing, he was ill for about a week although I kept him in the house for two to be sure. We also did a lot of eucalyptus stuff (aromatherapy, chest rubs). He has a very clean diet (TF, so raw milk and sprouted grains, no processed stuff) and honestly I think they are healthier after every illness their bodies fight off- hardier and they seem to make developmental leaps afterwards.

[Sileree]

This thread from the archives might be helpful:

Pertussis: First hand EXPERIENCES - share your story HERE
http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=577493

[ZoeyZoo]

I had it when dd was about 7 months. It was going around work. DD was unvaxed (and I was vaxed) and she didn't get it. It was lots of coughing and phlem - especially at night. From the coughing spells my throat swelled so I had a whoop sound when I breathed in. I felt OK other than that. The biggest issue I had is since the coughing is worse at night I didn't sleep very well. I didn't do anything special for it like abx since I feel they're pretty useless.

The vax itself is not very effective for prevention. Most likely it will only lessen symptoms.