Am I crazy if I don't take her to a Doctor?

[shnitzel]

DD has a bit of a cold with a very congested cough but she only coughs in the morning and a bit at night. No fever at all, no lethargy at all. Her cough sounds like a very sick cough and she is full of mucus. She hasn't had any coughing that she had trouble catching her breath after, no wheezing and no vomiting from the coughing. She coughs on average about once every couple of hours but hen she coughs it sounds like a bad cough but she only coughs for a second.

DH is really mad at me because he thinks she needs to see a doctor. DH has quite severe asthma (the whole triad severe asthma, eczema and allergies) and is freaking out because he wants to prevent her from getting asthma. Am I missing something here? Can you actually prevent asthma? Nothing sounds asthmatic unless I am missing some data about asthma. And what exactly can you do for a cold. DD has had DPT a few months ago so I am not that worried about whooping cough. We don't currently have insurance it ran out on Sept 1 and we need to get DD medicaid but I need a letter from his employer. We really don't have the money to spend on an unnecessary appointment.

DH said he will take her himself he just needs the pediatricians number its been posted on our whiteboard since DD was born. I don't think he actually will but he's trying to guilt me into feeling like a bad mother.

[MrsJewelsRae]

My ds currently is sick with a really bad cough, I think it is Whooping Cough (he is unvax'd) and I did take him to the doctor. I have gotten NOWHERE! Seriously. I had him in last week, was given a ventolin even though I tried to describe his cough at the time as choking- no wheezing, etc. The ventolin did nothing at all. We ended up in ER on friday night as he choked on his mucous and could not breathe, I freaked, phone in hand dialing 911, went to ER. Did not even see a doctor after waiting around for hours. 2 nurses said he was stable and sounded just fine so they left us waiting indefinitely and were not even concerned when we decided to leave. Back to doc on monday for an appointment. Doc had left early. Back to doc on tuesday, was told my child was no sick enough to have WC, probably just a nasty cold. Told me to get bloodwork done to test for WC. Drove to lab for bloodwork- told they don't test for WC through blood, must be done by swab. Called doc again, they said to go to Public Health Unit for the swab. Called my PHU and was told they do not do the swabs- go back to your doctor for it. So you can see we are getting a huge run around here from one place to another (and might I add they are all about 30 mins from each other!!). Lotta help going to the doctor has been.

In your situation I would only go to the doctor if I noticed wheezing, coughing so much it was keeping her up at night or gagging and vomiting, having trouble catching her breath after coughing, or otherwise if your mommy radar is saying you need help.

[sahmmie]

As an asthmatic I can understand your dh's concerns. However, if she's not wheezing or having any difficulty with breathing, I think you could probably ride this out a bit. It sounds like a cold. If it goes on for more than 10-14 days, or if she gets a fever, or develops any other symptoms, I'd take her in right away. All of my dc's have had colds with coughs that lasted up to two weeks. I have asthma and thankfully, none of my 3 dc's has ever had any asthma symptoms, even while sick.

You could try some mucinex. I've given it to my kiddos when they are congested and it does seem to break up the mucus.

[Marnica]

sounds like your DH is a bit of an alarmist!

From what you described, I would not take my DH to see a doctor. It sounds like your DD has a run of the mill cough. The only reason that would make me seek medical attention is if there was wheezing and trouble breathing. Otherwise I would focus on boosting immunity. Id be giving copiuos amounts of SA among tohers things we do when dealing with ickies.

Although it certainly doesn't sound like WC, I just wanted to point out that the DTap does not prevent transmission of the bacteria, so vaccinated children often get WC. The vaccine is designed to lessen the symptoms and severity of the cough which is produced by the bacteria. This is actually why vaccinated kids often get misdiagnosed. They actually DO have WC, but there symptoms are not "typical" in that they do not have the whoop or cough to the point of vomiting and gasping for air, therefore they are given a diagnosis of something else and proper testing is never done.

[CarrieMF]

Unless she's has been sick with this for 10days or longer I wouldn't take her in. I probably wouldn't take her in unless it was more than 2 weeks without showing any signs of getting better. Does she cough up any of the mucous?

coughing once every few hours in the morning & at night isn't anything to be concerned about.

[shnitzel]

Good to know I am not underreacting. I understand why he is worried but she really seems too healthy. She has vomited a few times from the mucus but never while coughing. She doesn't even have coughing "fits" she just coughs for a few seconds. I know vaccinated kids can get WC but I figure it is less likely with the vax and unlikely to begin with and she is barely coughing.

I am almost finished a degree in health sciences and DH really had very little knowledge of medicine/health. Truth is this fight shouldn't surprise me because last time we had this fight was over DD's mosquito bites & heat rash. He was convinced they were some contagious disease.

At this point I don't see a need for any intervention. Her body seems to be fighting off the infection very well. So even if I did take her the doctor I wouldn't want to do anything. There is no way I am hooking her up to a nebulizer for a very mild cold.
The doctor has also been pushing me not to freak out that DD will have everything DH has, so far she is perfectly healthy and DH and his brother had obvious allergies and eczema as infants. I don't know why DH thinks I have no clue when to worry, I was the one who told him when asthma was out of control and that he needed to see a doctor.

[laohaire]

I would not take her to the doctor for the symptoms you described.

However, I am always careful to respect my husband's point of view on things, and it goes both ways (so he's open to relaxing about things too). I don't know your dynamic though. Are you brushing off his concerns? Personally, I see your post as a relationship issue more than a health issue.

[shnitzel]

I agree it is a relationship issue, I was just making sure I wasn't being unreasonable. I agreed that she might need to go yesterday when she was coughing in the morning but she was fine all day. When I told DH last night that I didn't take her because she wasn't coughing he agreed with me. When we woke up this morning he got really upset with me. I try not to brush of his concerns but I do know he thinks I often take medical stuff too lightly since I like to watch and wait.

Truth is if we had insurance I would take her in a heartbeat just to make DH feel better but we don't (and I keep bugging him to take care of it) and spending several hundred dollars on a neurosis when we are likely not to have enough money to pay for food in a couple of months is just something I personally can't bring myself to do.

[childsplay]

Just a question....does she drink a lot of cow's milk?

I'm asking because I've have a daycare boy with what was suspected to be asthma, he was put on a puffer which didn't help, finally his Mother requested a second opinion and saw a ped. turned out it was the milk, it made him wheezy, choky and cough. So she got rid of the puffer and cut way down on the milk and he's fine now. Just a thought : )

[californiajenn]

I'm be the lone voice of dissent and say this does sound like Pertussis (WC) to me, as my dd had the same symptoms a few days ago. Six of her friends have confirmed diagnoses in the last 2 weeks though 2 of them had no symptoms at all.

That said, it's probably not going to hurt her. You just need to be concerned if she's around babies as it is very contagious and can be dangerous to them.

[shnitzel]

No cows milk unless I am distracting her from my coffee and make her some cinnamon milk, most of which ends up on the floor. So probably a couple of tablespoons a week would be a generous guess. She drinks tons of mama's milk though.

It could be WC but it's more likely to be a cold.
Why were the kids with no symptoms diagnosed?
If I have to keep her away from other kids I will go insane! But I guess it can't hurt to be on the safe side.

[~Demeter~]

I went through this 2 years ago when my then 13 yr old had whooping cough. The cough wasn't bad... it just lasted forever. I finally took him in to shut everybody up and was handed antibiotics and sent on my way. They did nothing for his cough.

My then 1 yr old came down with it, too. She was fine... unless there's a fever and other symptoms coughing just doesn't make me want to run into the doctor. I can't stand it when people think I should take my kid in for every sniffle and sneeze.

[shnitzel]

Irony of ironies.
We had to call the doctor tonight after hours because....she dropped a bunch of pots on her big toe and woke up screaming in pain unable to walk with a blue swollen toe. Poor baby. We will probably be going anyways tomorrow just to check it out. There isn't anything they can do but poor baby is in so much pain, she kept asking us to kiss her toe and had so much trouble falling asleep.

I listened to what WC sound like online and DD's cough is very wet not dry. Problem was she came over to hear too and kept imitating the coughs.

[Beppie]

I recently read an article about whooping cough making a resurgence throughout the US, among both vaxed and unvaxed people, adults and kids. The article said that many people don't realize they have it, their only symptom is a bad cough, and that by the time they seek treatment it's too late to heal the disease (it's best to catch it early for the meds to be effective, apparently).

Anyway, I just heard it on the news or on line (New york times maybe? i can't remember) within the past couple weeks.

[Marnica]

Originally Posted by shnitzel

Irony of ironies.
We had to call the doctor tonight after hours because....she dropped a bunch of pots on her big toe and woke up screaming in pain unable to walk with a blue swollen toe. Poor baby. We will probably be going anyways tomorrow just to check it out. There isn't anything they can do but poor baby is in so much pain, she kept asking us to kiss her toe and had so much trouble falling asleep.

I listened to what WC sound like online and DD's cough is very wet not dry. Problem was she came over to hear too and kept imitating the coughs.

vaxed children more often than not do NOT have the typical sounds of WC (which is what you will hear online). Not saying I think it is or isn't but I don't think you should dismiss the possibility. Anyway regardless of what it ois. If you begin giving her Sodium ascorbate to bowel tolerance, I imagine she will be on the mend sooner reather than later.

Beppie - WC is endemic. It is always around and usually peaks every 4 years or so. You are correct in that this is a peak year and we are seeing more cases being diagnosed than usual. Antibiotics do nothing to alter the clinical course of the disease (ie they do not "heal" the disease) in fact they can make the cough worse and last longer. What they probably do in the early stages of the disease is make the cough no longer contagious. WC is contagious until about 3 weeks after the coughing begins. Often people are not diagnosed until much later (based on the fact they have had a cough for 6-8 weeks that is not going away) but they are not contagious at this point anyway. This is precisely why WC continues to circulate. People have it, don't know they have it or believe they don't because they have been vaccinated and do not confine themselves to home or take ABX early on and thus spread it to others.

[The4OfUs]

Personally, my first thought was like bronchitis or pneumonia. This is exactly how my son's pneumonia presented. No major cold symptoms, no fever, just a lingering sporadic wet cough that was only in the morning and night for about 10 or so days. Then one night all of a sudden he spiked a fever to 104 and was breathing rapid and shalllow and distressed, and it turned out to be pneumonia. I hope the doc listens to her lungs at the appointment today and she's all clear.

[californiajenn]

Originally Posted by shnitzel

No cows milk unless I am distracting her from my coffee and make her some cinnamon milk, most of which ends up on the floor. So probably a couple of tablespoons a week would be a generous guess. She drinks tons of mama's milk though.

It could be WC but it's more likely to be a cold.
Why were the kids with no symptoms diagnosed?
If I have to keep her away from other kids I will go insane! But I guess it can't hurt to be on the safe side.

They each had a sibling that was sick and diagnosed so the entire family was swabbed.

The poster who said the antibiotics won't help the cough is right. It does just make them noncontagious after 4-5 days.