My little boy is 21 months old, still breastfeeding, completely unvaccinated (and FWIW, he is allergic to eggs). He developed a strange dry cough that would come out of the blue a couple weeks ago, no other symptoms, and only a couple times a day, he also had loss of appetite. Last week it progressed to occasional low fever and a wet mucousy cough where he seemed to choke on it. I took him to my doc, who knows his vaccine status, and he said he was fine- almost seemed to patronize me a bit about being over-reactive. But my ds had choked on phlegm the night before. His lungs were clear, but doc said it was likely a mild bronchial infection so he prescribed a ventolin inhaler for the coughing spells. During the day he is happy and playing normally, so I figured it couldn't be too bad, plus he slept peacefully at night, except for 2-3 fits. Friday night we ended up in ER, he had a coughing fit so bad I freaked and nearly called 911, he would just cough till he had no breath, but of course it completely stopped after we got him in the car and we spent 3 hours in the waiting room in the middle of the night. The nurse just told us since he was stable now our wait would be a very long time. Our ER SUCKS, no one was going in or out of the ER treatment rooms in over 2 hrs. There was an 80 yr old lady in a wheelchair coughing till she vomited on the floor and she was crying for help. No one came to attend her. We got nowhere with 2 nurses examining him in triage, we basically had to wait till he nearly choked to death again to get any help. :ventI've had him on lots of natural supps for over a week- garlic on his feet at night, super silver (colloidal), immune srength compound, Anti-Viral, Vit D, Respir-Actin for kids, plus the puffer my doc gave to me last week. Nothing is helping.
We're all off wheat and dairy for over a week, as they produce mucous. I've had the vaporizer running 24/7 (cool mist) for days in our room. Night and naps are just the worst.Last night I was able to do some more research on pertussis and I was shocked, I didn't know that a child could appear completely normal in between spasms, and that they can often only have about 10 spasms a day. It all added up, he has a classic case of whooping cough! For 2 nights now he has the textbook whooping sound between coughs, with gagging at the end. My God I can't stand it, I can't handle the look in his eyes when he is turning red and purple and flailing for breath, then finally whooping loudly and bawling in terror. I thought WC could be easily treated with antibiotics, but in reading it seems AB are not effective as the host has usually left the body once the whooping is heard, neither are puffers or steroids. And there is basically nothing one can do but wait it out, which will likely last weeks of him having this every night!!!! I haven't slept much in a week, last night I didn't sleep at all, I was awake worrying all night, just laying there watching him and nearly having a panic attack w/ every noise or move he made, thinking he'd spasm again.
Top it off, my older kids are 6 and 8, unvax'd, and both have come down with typical cold symptoms, I myself have been fighting a cold for a few days and have what appears to be bronchitis (coughing up lots of phlegm), plus I already have bad asthma. How will I take care of us all if I am sick too? How can I care for 3 kids w/ WC even if I am well myself!? Not to mention, how will I survive emotionally? This is really traumatizing me.
My dh is likely not immune to pertussis anymore, how can he support the family if he gets it!?My niece is 13 months and she was here when he first started the dry cough, she kept taking his sippy cup. She is unvax'd and still mostly EBF, hasn't been around my ds in 9 days and has no symptoms. How long is the incubation period? When will we know if she's in the clear?
Is there any benefit to treating the rest of the fam w/ AB at this point? I have read this in a few places, it may stop the bacteria from developing if taken before coughing starts up. FYI, I am allergic to "mycin" drugs and my dd is allergic to penicillin.
Dh is out right now trying to find ascorbic acid, he'll probably come home with Esther C- is this the same stuff!?? I dont think the HFS is open today, and we should have been on it long before now, I am kicking myself.
Please help, any stories of hope out there from other mothers who's children have suffered from this and they were fine, how did you deal with the "paroxysms" when it seemed your child would never draw breath? How did you treat it? how long did it last? I am on the verge of full on panic at the thought of weeks more of this, weeks more of my poor baby feeling like he is dying whenever he coughs at night.
I am freaking out here! If I have to take him back to the hospital and tell them I am certain he has WC, what would they do?? Isolate him, call CPS? I am going to call my doctor in the morning, but I need to have my ducks in a row so I can make an informed decision in how to proceed. How can I go to the doctor and expose all his patients to WC? I suppose I'd have to tell the receptionist and see what the doctor says...? I'm afraid...
Told him at night he was awful, whooping all night long, and perhaps the kids were just in the first stage with cold like symptoms- exactly as my ds had been just over a week ago. He said bacterial illnesses don`t usually spread that fast, and that the cough could be caused by a few illnesses. He is an old doc, been in practice a loooong time, said he hasn`t seen a case of pertussis in 20 years. He said my dh and I couldn`t have it because we were fully vax`d and I said I had read that vax immunity often wears off by adulthood and he basically said no.
Are you kidding me!!!! We have gotten the run around like crazy, and now they want us to drive all the way back to the doctors office tomorrow (35 mins each way, and we`re SICK!!). What is WRONG with this town! Urgh! 
Not gonna happen. Anyhow I am just curious enough I will get the swab done if possible, but I requested they find somewhere local for me to get it done so I don't have to drive all the way out there again, especially considering they have dropped the ball on us a few times now.
Immediately gave the baby 1/2 tsp (2gms) and 2 hrs later he had diarrhea, so I guess I'll try to spread that out over the day and see how he does.
