athena1277 Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 My 7yo dd gets the sniffles for a day or 2, then coughs for days (often at least a week). She had the smallest bit of sniffles Sunday and Monday, so now she’s coughing a lot. She’s on Zyrtec and Flonase daily because pollen season has arrived and we all have allergies. I can give her Delsym, but it really doesn’t do anything. We have a really big event this weekend and she needs to be over this cough. Getting her in to the pediatrician to get RX cough medicine is difficult lately, as they are always booked up and I don’t want to sit in urgent care and pick up something worse. What really helps your kids get over a cough? I’m ready to try just about anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmasc Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 Coughs are the worst! Other than the things you already do, we will do hot tea with *lots* of honey. A squeeze of lemon juice too if the child doesn’t mind. Also, a humidifier in the room can help sometimes. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KatieJ Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 Dh and I are struggling with that this winter. Tea , honey and lemon help. You can add cinnamon and tumeric. We are doing Ricola lozenges when we are out of the house, church etc. it really stops cough for short periods of time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
athena1277 Posted March 27 Author Share Posted March 27 36 minutes ago, mmasc said: Coughs are the worst! Other than the things you already do, we will do hot tea with *lots* of honey. A squeeze of lemon juice too if the child doesn’t mind. Also, a humidifier in the room can help sometimes. She doesn’t like tea of any kind. I’ve tried honey in the past, but it doesn’t last long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomeAgain Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 It depends on where the cough is - chest or throat. Alka-seltzer Cold & Flu works for chest coughs here. It helps to break up the mucus and tastes like a cold orange drink. I don't know how low it's rated for, but I was comfortable giving it to ds at age 9. Cough drops work otherwise if it's coming from a dry/scratchy throat. We end up eating a lot of Chinese food, too, when kids are sick, because I can load up noodles with ginger, chilis, etc. and balance it out with a honey-sweetened stir fry dish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 Have you ruled out allergy induced asthma? There are some people who have cough variant asthma who really only have flareups around illness or peak pollen times. The cough resolves if you give a bit of albuterol because the underlying problem is inflammation in the airways. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 16 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said: Have you ruled out allergy induced asthma? There are some people who have cough variant asthma who really only have flareups around illness or peak pollen times. The cough resolves if you give a bit of albuterol because the underlying problem is inflammation in the airways. I agree that this is worth checking into. If it's not asthma, antihistamines work better for me for a persistent cough than anything else. Maybe try xyzal or even benadryl along with or instead of the zyrtec? (Most of my family finds that xyzal works better for us than other antihistamines.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 25 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said: There are some people who have cough variant asthma who really only have flareups around illness or peak pollen times. This. My cough is mainly from hayfever or low humidity, rarely from illness. The Flonase nasal spray helped DS19 since he has nasal congestion with hayfever. My nose on the other hand requires lots of tissues. I am not sure if you are referring to the Flonase nasal spray or the tablet. The Flonase tablet helps me since chlorpheniramine works for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klmama Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 Does she know how to use a netipot or other sinus rinse? That has always helped here to reduce sinus drainage that's causing the sniffles and cough. My kids always resisted using it until their cough was really bad, because they were just sure they didn't have sinus drainage, but then it helped so much they were sorry they waited. Once the sinuses are cleared out, you may find the meds you chose may be more effective. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
athena1277 Posted March 27 Author Share Posted March 27 1 hour ago, prairiewindmomma said: Have you ruled out allergy induced asthma? There are some people who have cough variant asthma who really only have flareups around illness or peak pollen times. The cough resolves if you give a bit of albuterol because the underlying problem is inflammation in the airways. I hadn’t thought of that. Unfortunately, I tried to get her in to the pediatrician, but it would be 2 weeks before I could get her in, so that doesn’t help me right now. I’m going to have to find her a new doctor as this has happened several times. Would they be able to diagnose this at urgent care? If it’s not better tomorrow, I’m going to have to go there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paige Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 17 minutes ago, athena1277 said: I hadn’t thought of that. Unfortunately, I tried to get her in to the pediatrician, but it would be 2 weeks before I could get her in, so that doesn’t help me right now. I’m going to have to find her a new doctor as this has happened several times. Would they be able to diagnose this at urgent care? If it’s not better tomorrow, I’m going to have to go there. My daughter got an inhaler at urgent care for cough. I have cough variant asthma and she had typical symptoms. They can also give a shot to kick the cough. It will work faster than anything else. You might need to ask to try the inhaler if they don't think of it themselves. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 Yep, urgent care can prescribe inhalers and listen to her lungs. A wet junky cough sounds different than a crackly asthma cough in the lungs. It’s not always so obvious just hearing it from the outside. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 Ps—I am not so wild about the shot if you dont need it. It’s a higher dose of steroids and while it can be awesome at avoiding pneumonia, etc. it can really jack some people up emotionally. Try an inhaler first, iykwim. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ema Posted March 28 Share Posted March 28 I recently did the hot onion treatment for my ds‘s cough that he‘d had for awhile. Sliced onions thinly, put in paper towel and set on his chest, covered with another paper towel, and placed a hot water bottle on top. He lay there for maybe 10-15 minutes each time. I did this twice one day (once in the morning and once in the late afternoon), and then one more time the next day. and I was amazed at how quickly his cough disappeared. Worth a shot? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted March 28 Share Posted March 28 8 hours ago, athena1277 said: Would they be able to diagnose this at urgent care? If it’s not better tomorrow, I’m going to have to go there. They would be able to. My friend’s kid prefers the nebulizer to the inhaler at your daughter’s age when he had to go to urgent care or his pediatrician. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
athena1277 Posted April 1 Author Share Posted April 1 Update: She made it through the weekend ok enough, but started back with the runny nose Sunday afternoon. I talked to a friend this weekend who had a similar experience with a kid who ended up having asthma, so I’m really thinking it has something to do with her coughing. Took her to urgent care this morning. The NP we saw said he thought it was just allergies (tree pollen is really bad here right now). He didn’t think she has asthma and we would have to see the pediatrician if we wanted testing for that. After talking to dh, we are going to get her switched to our family practice doctor instead of continuing to deal with the problems getting to see the pediatrician . 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted April 1 Share Posted April 1 If you want to try something while you wait to get her in with the new dr., start her on fluticasone nasal spray. It should lessen the runny nose and as it is inhaled it might also clear some of the cough. She’ll have to be off of it if you do allergy testing, but it shouldnt affect peak flow readings or spirometry if they do asthma testing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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