a question about normal cough vs. asthma

[**guest**]

i am not sure it is the right forum, but not sure where to ask fellow moms.

what are your experiences with cough in children? does it always go deep into the lungs, or it can remain at throat level?

i am a bit paranoid about cough, as ada was diagnosed with asthma 1.5 years ago. then the specialist said it was more like 'chronic bronchitis' (though she had one episode only) but only time could tell if she would outgrow it. then our traditional healer said that according to his opinion, she 'did not have asthma anymore', which we would like to believe, but we are not sure -- her asthma was mild and viral (only with colds), she has no allergies, and she never had breathing difficulties, so there was no dramatic change or anything.

the last 2 colds (in april and 1.5 months ago) we did not give her asthma medication, and the colds behaved normally -- 4-5 days of cough, then 7-10 days of very infrequent, light cough, which sounded more like throat clearing). she practically did not cough at night, and when she did, she did not wake up.

she has a cold again, and is coughing. it sounds like a throat cough, but it has been only 1.5 days. in a non-asthmatic child, can a cough just stay like this, without going into the lungs?

i feel that i can be out of luck -- 2 colds with no asthmatic reaction, almost too good to be true, and now it is 'the fall season'. i am hoping it will stay like this, but what if it goes worse this time. trying to figure out whether to give her meds or not.

so how does a normal cough progress?

[loudmama]

I'm not sure I have any advice, just a "me too." DD has cold induced asthma. She gets a cold, & the cough lingers for weeks. I haven't tried not giving her inhaler when she gets a cold, but with the last one, we didn't give it for very long & it cleared up quickly. She's only mildly allergic to ragweed & dust.

We'll see how this season goes. We just found out about a year ago.

What does your gut tell you?

L

[**guest**]

thanks for responding.

my gut? hm :LOL my gut is severely compromised by the fact that i don't want to give her the steroids.

the specialist told us that we could skip meds once, to see how it is going, so that's why we skipped, and it worked out, so we skipped again.

when we gave her flovent, the cough never lingered, really. but last winter i was recovering from a broken foot and we did not go out from december to march, and then several times only. she did go out with dh, but not to busy places, so she did not have a cold last winter, maybe only once.

she is coughing worse today, and seems to be indrawing a bit, but is very active, so i am not sure. if she is like this by the evening, i will give her ventolin and see if it helps, and then flovent tomorrow. if she gets worse, i will give her flovent sooner.

oh gosh, i now i am overreacting, and maybe i should just give her flovent and not worry about it, but i hate giving it to her.

[Wugmama]

I also do not want to give my dd, 3.5 yrs old, steroids. But she is on an inhaled steroid which supposedly has much less side effects than oral - which she has had to take 4 times in the last year when her asthma attacks got away from us (took 3 trips to the ER and one admission in 4 months just to get a diagnosis and see a specialist).

When she does not have a cold, she is perfectly healthy. She just had a checkup with her spec and her O2 sats were at 100% for example. It wasn't the brochure entitled, "Billy's Mother Didn't Know Asthma Could Kill" that made me agree to have her on the preventative inhaled steroids during the cold/flu season. It was the trip to the ER driving on the shoulder running red lights with her in the backseat turning grey and vomiting all over herself not 20 minutes after she had been running around the house playing that convinced me. I hope things go better for your child. You really need to make sure you at least have the right meds for emergencies available.

What I've noticed about my dd's cough is that if it is an asthmatic cough, it is quieted by the meds (she gets xopenex, which is similar to albuterol but much more refined and much less side effects - the docs don't like to prescribe it because it costs so much). Then the cough will start to come back after 3 - 4 hours. Also, wheezing is something to listen for - a sound you hear when she breathes, not just while coughing. We are not the best at this - still learning. It is difficult. Our dd just got her maintenance dose lowered because her doc has more confidence in us now to know when we need to "dial up" on her meds to prevent it from getting out of control. I have over-medicated her, and have under-medicated her - it really is difficult.

Best wishes,
Tracy

[Village Mama]

Just sending a hug.... I also wanted nothing at all to do with the steroids. All last winter though, my then three year old would end up in emergency 24 hours after the first sign of a sniffle. We got through most of the spring and summer symptom free. We were seeing a homeopath because I wanted to avoid the steroid. So last weekend the cold came on. We used the ventolin through the night but it was so bad that it was only working for about an hour. In the morning I took him to a doctors office in my community ( long story... i thought it was a walk in but they used to keep spots open for babies for walk in) They said they couldnt see him and sent me to the clinic in a neighbouring town. I dont drive and by the time I got home to get bus fare he was turning bluish. We had a friend drive us to the emerg. So the next morning his newly turned two year old brother was rushed in.... with the same thing and admitted for two nights. Most of my reservations about the steroid have gone out the window. But for someone who takes a completely different view of health care it was still sooooo dissappointing to have to use it. I will be using the flowvent now at the first sign of a cold. One doctor told us to use it all of the time but another said it would be all right to use it just at the onset and through the duration of a cold.
It is stressful and frightening for the whole family. I have purchased a very expensive vacume cleaner with special filters, homeopathic constitutional treatments, special filters for the furnace, allergen matress cover ( still need one for the younger ones bed) and tried lots of herbal therapys. We are low income already and my partner is layed off next week. We have borrowed a hepa filter for thier bedroom in the meantime but will need to come up with the cash to get on soon. It seems to be helping as I know my oldest is allergic to dust.
The cough you were talking about I know that I had a constant barking deep cough with my breathing stuff as a kid. I do notice the light cough as you described with both of my little guys. Good luck though. I hope they all grow out of it fast!

[**guest**]

thanks so much for the responses.

this is so scary -- er trips, real breathing difficulties.

since her asthma has been so mild, we have been a bit in denial, i guess. it was diagnosed after a bronchiolitis, by a family dr, and then the specialist was not even sure of the diagnosis.

well, she is asleep now, and her breathing is 36-40bpm (normal is 18 to 30bmp for her age), so this means she is haveing a flare up, and i am going to give her ventolin and flovent when she wakes up.

she is not wheezing (she wheezed only once, the day she was diagnosed) and her cough is better, but thanks for the reality check -- i really don't need an ambulance ride to the er. sigh.

thanks for the supoort.

[hopeland]

I have a brother(adult) who has asthma and he swears by eating raw garlic and says it makes his cough go away. I dont knowif you could get a child to eat it though...

[**guest**]

:LOL actually she eats raw garlic!

i love garlic, so i eat it all the time. for her, i mince it, and mix it with honey. she would eat a clove of garlic a day, if i remember to give it to her. sometimes i freeze it too, she likes it 'like icecream'.

i just gave her a puff of ventolin and 2 puffs of flovent, and some garlic (on her request :LOL ) and she is doing great.

i hope she won't need much more flovent.

thanks for posting about it -- now i feel useful with my garlic obsession :LOLi thought it was mostly for the immune system, but if it helps the cough, that's great too.