So, tell me your whooping cough stories...

[japonica]

I'm pretty positive my DS, who is nearly 2, has pertussis. He started with the cold/runny nose about 10 days to 2 weeks ago and now we've been at the coughing stage for about 3-4 days (yeah, I know, a long road ahead of us). I'm treating him with SA (375mg per kilo) spread out through the day...he's pretty much to bowel tolerance with that dose. I also give him homemade herbal cough syrup (Aviva Jill Romm's recipe). So far, he's been doing okay. He's not bringing up a lot of mucus yet, but he's also not incapacitated by the coughing. He pretty much does his usual thing in between coughing fits. He's only whooped or gagged once so far. Aside from that, he's sleeping through the night (he coughs a bit, but I have the vaporizer going all night so I think that's helping). I'm also giving high vit CLO, multi with extra zinc, elderberry syrup (just to help as an immune builder). I also read someone recommend colloidal silver. Would that be worthwhile adding?

Ironically, I think he got it from DH, not some other kids. DH has had a "bronchitis" type cough for the past 6 weeks that he never bothered seeing anyone for (not that a GP could do much anyway). My DD seems fine (I'm giving her extra SA just in case) and I had full blown pertussis in my teens, so I hope I have a bit of immunity left. Probably not a lot, but I feel fine (seeing as DH has been coughing all over me for 6 weeks, I'm sure I would have caught it by now). Oh and DH had an adult booster (Tdap) in 2002. So, he should have still been protected...but we know how well those pertussis vaccines work.

I was wondering how you all did with treating pertussis with SA or using other natural means. How long did your LOs cough for? Any complications? Full recoveries? I'm a bit worried about pneumonia and my DS, but I'm hoping with adequate care we can avoid that...I'm not going to the GP unless he has trouble breathing as I know antibiotics will just make the situation worse.

[tanyalynn]

I don't know if it's what we had, but last November we had a prolonged coughing illness. I finally clued in when DD had been coughing to the point of throwing up for a week--she felt fine otherwise and I've always assumed WC would hit us all fairly hard. I give a lot of supps on a daily basis for our health issues, so it may have thrown things off a bit.

Things that I noticed:
-Being really on top of the SA dosing helped, and for us 4x/day worked better than 3. It was really only a week or so after I figured out what the coughing was that the 4x/day made a difference.
-Overall, I think DD threw up 12-13 days? But only once a day, except 2x on one day. But the cough lasted longer. Both kids had fine energy levels through this.
-Zinc. My kids tend to run low anyway, but still, this is the first illness they've ever had where they got low (both started mouthing things partway through the illness and I had to up the amount I give by about 50%).
-DS, my sicker kid in general, had a lesser cough than DD. DD was 5 in Nov, DS was 3.
-DH and I both had a low level cough, it stuck around but wasn't problematic, I'm guessing it would've been worse for us if I hadn't spent much of last year getting our vit D levels more normal. Our fall flu-like illness was also very mild in DH and me.
-I looked up the contagious period, which of course I now forget, and we stayed home through that. I went out for groceries a couple times, tried to cover my cough and not touch anything extra as much as possible. I don't know where it came from, no one in our group of kid-friends+parents had a similar illness then. I have to wonder if DH's office was the source, the whole office was basically coughing all winter (small company).

-I think DD is more prone to coughing illnesses since then (we're about 4 mos after her coughing ended). She got a cough this spring that really hit her hard, and that's unusual. For _this_ cough, when it got heavy, a eucalyptus/menthol-type shower tab helped--a pressed tablet that goes on the floor of the shower, our grocery store sells them. I don't think she needed it in November, but for this newer coughing illness, it really seemed to help.

So, I'm really not sure if WC is what this was, but whatever the illness was, it was unlike any I've ever dealt with before, not in intensity, just in oddity.

[Peony]

4 of us had it 3 years ago. DH also brought it home. DD1 and I just coughed for several weeks, not too bad. She was 3 almost 4 then, no lingering effects. The coughing and vomiting stag lasted forever it seemed, and any cold/congestion that we got brought back that cough for many months. DH had a severe case for an adult, he lost 10 lbs in the first 2 weeks for example just from vomiting so much. He took longer to recover then DD1 or I did. DD2 was a newborn so didn't fair as well either. She still sufferings from residual lung issues but does well considering how ill she was.

I do believe that SA made a huge difference, every one but DH took it.

[japonica]

Thanks for the info. And yeah, I'm keeping the kids home, both of them, even though my DD doesn't have the cough...sucks for her as it's school holidays right now and she gets to look forward to spending all of it at home...

The SA seems to make a big difference. He coughs a lot less when I'm dosing regularly and the coughs are not as bad.

Did anyone need abx? Just wondering...I read a couple of sites that say that the antibiotics, besides preventing the spread of the bacteria, will also "prevent" the secondary infections. I really don't want to give him antibiotics for all the reasons Hilary mentions...it seems counter productive to stress his body and immune system even more by endotoxin from system-wide bacteria die-off...

[Bird Girl]

Friends of ours had WC when the older girl was in kindergarten and the younger one was two. The two girls, and their mom, had it for two months. They did not stay home and spread it far and wide when they finally got a positive test. I know that their friends with the newborn who was hospitalized for two weeks with it really appreciated their no-drugs approach. It's best to get vaccine-preventable diseases as soon as possible--so infancy is really the best.

[japonica]

Thanks for that...is that a dig? Perhaps the part about us being housebound until the contagious period has passed was not relevant. As for the no drugs approach, I have looked at a few studies now that suggest that antibiotics do nothing to ameliorate the course of the disease whatsoever, just stop the spread of the bacteria, which we are already doing by quarantine. And if the antibiotics lead to endotoxemia, then it's not a great scenario for the person taking them. But thanks for the input.

Edited to add: taking the coughing kid to a doctor's office and exposing everyone there is not something I would think is a great idea anyway.

[Rainy229]

Ugh!

I had WC 3 times as a teen. I had the vaccinations as a child, and the horrible side effects - I screamed for DAYS afterwards.... glad I don't remember that part, but my mom still reminds me...

I was given abx (erythromycin) to kill the bacteria each time - once the abx are onboard for a while, you're "no longer contagious." The problem is that it's not the bacteria that causes the problems, it's the toxins that the bacteria produce, so the first time I had WC, I waited nearly 2 months before being seen, which put abx about 3 months out. I was sick for a LONG time. I slept either in a recliner, or sitting virtually upright in bed for almost a year. (N.B. I was a generally healthy kid - no major issues) The 2nd and 3rd time I thought I was coming down with it, I went straight in for tests, which came back positive, and abx. Now, I was told that just because the test (kinda intimidating - as a teen, I had to be held down for it - they stick a LONG Q-tip up your nose... ) is positive, that doesn't mean you have WC, just that you've been exposed, and with a history of it, I could have had the common cold and still tested positive.

Anyway... I know the cough, and the near-vomiting at the end... none of it is fun, but the longer I waited for abx, the worse it got before it started improving. The only thing that helped was relaxing in the hot-tub occasionally. I didn't try anything other than "mainstream normal," because back then I didn't really know much other than the MD or the chiropractor for back/neck pain. At this point in my life, I would see a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine before an MD...

Just my $0.02.

-Rainy

[tanyalynn]

Originally Posted by japonica

Did anyone need abx? Just wondering...I read a couple of sites that say that the antibiotics, besides preventing the spread of the bacteria, will also "prevent" the secondary infections. I really don't want to give him antibiotics for all the reasons Hilary mentions...it seems counter productive to stress his body and immune system even more by endotoxin from system-wide bacteria die-off...

My understanding is that bacterial infections are most likely to set in when phlegm is being coughed out of the lungs inefficiently. The older kids are, the less likely it gets.

It seems like things that help coughing, in a physical sense, would reduce this. A while back (and of course I forgot about this when DD was coughing so much), our DO recommended a back-and-forth rowing action, two people sitting, facing each other and holding hands, leaning forward and back as much as they can, maybe google lymphatic pumping? I think that's the name. And these rib cage lifts, hands at the bottom of the rib cage, either sitting or standing, gently lift, and slowly work up the rib cage. My kids cough more after this, but it seems more productive, helped with DD's cough last month.

[japonica]

Thanks Tanya. He's running all over the house, doing lots of activity so that helps I'm sure.

Rainy...yeah, I've been there done that. I had pertussis as well, and the antibiotics did nothing (well, except reduce the possibility of transmission). They definitely didn't shorten the severity or duration of it in my case. I coughed for about 8 weeks with three types of abx. And since I'm already treating the toxins (which was never done in my case), I'm thinking this will make a huge difference.