I'm trying to arm myself with information in the event that pertussis comes for a visit in my home. My DD#1 is almost 7, unvaxed, and we were just alerted to a case of pertussis in her classroom at school. From what I hear, the child had been in school for up to two weeks with a "bad" cough before it was identified as pertussis. He's at home now, but I assume that there was already ample opportunity to be exposed over the past 2 weeks. As it happens, my DD developed a cough late last week. It's just a nagging fairly persistent cough. Seems to flare up at night, but it's not wet/chesty/congested at all. She doesn't have a runny nose, fever, or any other symptoms other than the nagging cough. That said, I tried to do my research today and started dosing her with sodium ascorbate around noon today. I got about 3000mg. in her before bedtime. Tomorrow, I aim to get around 5000mg. into her throughout the day (she's about 50 lbs.) I am also giving her homeopathic cough medicine (Chestal), zinc lozenges as needed, and warm tea with raw honey. I've ordered homeopathic pertussin (pertussinum) but I won't receive it until Friday (in 2 days).
So now my questions (thanks for hanging in with me)....when/how aggressively should I treat what is at this point, just a run of the mill cough? When/if it does worsen, how should I treat (not sure exactly how to dose the Pertussin-freq/duration)? I read that I should aim for closer to 6-7g SA/day or to bowel tolerance for her weight, correct? Any other remedies (natural, herbal, etc.) that I should try or hold in reserve to supplement the SA/Pertussin? Now, what about exposure to my DD#2...the girls share a room and DD#2 gets breathed on by DD#1 all night long. Should I try to put them in separate bedrooms for the time being or will interacting all day with one another pretty much guarantee exposure regardless of nighttime, especially since she's already had the cough for 6 days by now? Any great SA advice for DD#2? DD#1 can swallow pills so I encapsulate the powder for her, but DD#2 can't and she won't consume anything I've tried to mix it in including lemonade. Not sure how I'll get 4000mg+ into her every day if needed.
As an aside (to give more to think/worry about) there are also confirmed cases of chicken pox and H1N1 in the girls' classes at the moment, and I'm 30 weeks pregnant and have been on bed rest for 15 weeks already due to pregnancy complications. I have visions of the plague descending on my home when I can do very little to help and then I give birth-yikes!
So now my questions (thanks for hanging in with me)....when/how aggressively should I treat what is at this point, just a run of the mill cough? When/if it does worsen, how should I treat (not sure exactly how to dose the Pertussin-freq/duration)? I read that I should aim for closer to 6-7g SA/day or to bowel tolerance for her weight, correct? Any other remedies (natural, herbal, etc.) that I should try or hold in reserve to supplement the SA/Pertussin? Now, what about exposure to my DD#2...the girls share a room and DD#2 gets breathed on by DD#1 all night long. Should I try to put them in separate bedrooms for the time being or will interacting all day with one another pretty much guarantee exposure regardless of nighttime, especially since she's already had the cough for 6 days by now? Any great SA advice for DD#2? DD#1 can swallow pills so I encapsulate the powder for her, but DD#2 can't and she won't consume anything I've tried to mix it in including lemonade. Not sure how I'll get 4000mg+ into her every day if needed.
As an aside (to give more to think/worry about) there are also confirmed cases of chicken pox and H1N1 in the girls' classes at the moment, and I'm 30 weeks pregnant and have been on bed rest for 15 weeks already due to pregnancy complications. I have visions of the plague descending on my home when I can do very little to help and then I give birth-yikes!
