What is the Whoop in Whooping Cough?

[TieDyeMom]

Am I too paranoid? I selectively vax on a later schedule and am constantly questioning myself about the vaxes and their diseases.

On July 22nd my 10 mo dd had her second DTaP vax (alone not with HiB). July 24th she started to cough. I was paranoid then but tried to tell myself it was probably a cold or teething. Into the second week of the cough, it has gotten worse. It is wetter and she often gulps afterwards. It bothers her mostly at night when she is trying to lay down. Last night she finally fell asleep between my legs with her head on my pelvis so that her body was at an incline. She is otherwise happy and seems fine except for her frustration at not being able to get to sleep fast enough when she was so tired.

The gulping afterwards is the part that has gotten me really paranoid. Should I wait and let the cough take its course for awhile and see what happens (this is the first time she has ever been sick and I don't want to rush her to the ped needlessly) or should I march to the ped and demand a pertussis culture?

I worry that I am being too paranoid? (but just because you think their out to get you doesn't mean that they aren't). Thanks.

[DarkHorseMama]

Well, if Google just doesn't beat all

Here is a link to a sound file of a child with whooping cough.

I actually had undiagnosed whooping cough during my first trimester with my DD. We had recently returned from South Africa and my onset of symptoms begin not long afterwards. I did not have the "whoop" following the coughing spasms, but most adults do not. My coughing spells could last continually for up to 30 seconds which would leave me breathless, gagging and often forcing a vomiting episode. Imagine morning sickness AND dealing with a cough that makes you gag...ugh! :

My cough hung on for several weeks, but the spasmodic coughing spells probably lasted around two weeks and gradually decreased in severity. The worst side effect, for me, was the involuntary incontinence the coughing often caused. Well, that and not being able to breathe, of course.

Funny that the medical establishment considered the side effects to be too "dangerous" to routinely give adults the Pertussis vacc, but they have no problem pumping babies full of it. :

[Tracy]

I am sure, hilary or Insider might have a thought for you on this one...we'll wait and see.


in the meantime, this thread might be of interest:

http://mothering.com/discussions/sho...ssis+treatment

[TieDyeMom]

Dark Horse Mama~
The link you gave showed an error. Please try again. Thanks.

Trabot~
Thanks for the link as well. It helped me feel a bit better and more prepared to fight whatever this is.

I'm still not sure what to do and if I am being overly vigilant. I will give her Vitamin C though (can't hurt) as well as myself. She is BF'd.

Her cough is not a bark but a chest cough. From things I read they say there is a whoop at the end when it is Pertussis, what exactly is the whoop? Like I mentioned earlier, she is gulping loudly after she coughs and that, plus the cough starting 2 days after she was vaxed is what is making me nervous.

[princess buttercup]

My DD did the same gulping coughing routine. Her doc says it's Asthma. When she has "an attack" she is usually asleep but it is always a coughing spell, never and outright gasp and wheeze. She takes singulair to control it.

[DarkHorseMama]

The link feature, when posting, is truncating the link (even though that is the whole point of attaching the HTML code to a word...grrr).

Try this one, it doesn't have the Unix coding that seemed to be irritating the message board's link feature:

http://www.whoopingcough.net/symptoms.htm

Has four different sound files on that page. HTH!

[suschi]

In case you missed it, the "whoop" in whooping cough is explained by Hilary,

"then they start the odd cough, and after about two weeks, it starts to get strong. If you watch them, they go cough, cough, cough, cough, cough, cough, cough (and at this point are starting to go pink in the face, cough, cough, (and at this time are starting to wonder when they can have an in-breath) cough, cough, and then right at the end, they stop coughing, and the inbreath is really fast, because they want to expand their lungs."

The WHOOP is the sound made when breathing back in quickly as they try to catch their breath.

Christine

[TieDyeMom]

Thank you all for your posts.

I will wait and see what develops. Hopefully it is just a cold. I will let you know if it turns out to be pertussis. I feel a bit more educated about the nature of the disease now. I am giving her vitamin C because is can't hurt and am upping her fluids. She went down okay tonight. We'll see how she is about midnight when I move her to "the big bed" (with mamma & dadda).

Thanks again for your prompt responses. MDC is so supportive, I'm so glad I found like-minded mammas.