Constant Cough - Roanoke,TX

Just wondering if she is still having coughing. Mine started this way at 4 yrs. old. After a couple of months they said it was asthma. I ended up naturally treating it after months on inhalers, nebulizers, and prednisone. I give him one tablespoon of liquid lemon flavor fish oil (Carlson's) every morning with his breakfast. It took all the inflammation out of his airways and he never coughs at all anymore. Omega 3's are antiinflammatory. If you're on them consistently they keep all inflammation out of your body. This works awesome for asthma. My mom is pain free from arthritis too. She now never misses a day. Good luck.
D.

No advice here, just an affirmation to the Vicks on the feet, WITH SOCKS. IT REALLY WORKS!! (Not sure why, but it's not as effective without putting on the socks). People sometimes have a hard time believing it, but once you try it, you'll see the results. I haven't used it on myself yet, but it has worked multiple times with my (near) 2 year old. Glad to hear it provided your daughter with some relief as well. All the best to you and your family. :-)

I know you already got a response, but wanted to let you know something that happened to us. My daughter has allergies and we were using a humidifier but it was hard to clean and we somehow missed some mold that was growing in there. Turns out she's very allergic to mold and got very sick. If you're using a humidifier, make sure it's one you can take apart completely and clean often! So glad to know about the Vicks on the feet, too! =)

I know this was from a long time ago just wanted to share my son who is now six had very similar situation from 2/09 till present after 5 doctors allergy testing (not allergic to anything) and being diagnosed with asthma he was given all the below mentioned meds I finally got a call last night that he actually had pertussis(whooping cough). He started out with a bad cough in Feb/March and then it was only when he laughed or ran around he would have attacks they totally thought asthma anyways he started the correct medication today and I am hoping he will be on his way to being better. If your child is still coughing I would have them do a simple blood test to check for this. Good luck

I heard something in the news about using Vicks Vapor Rub on small children, that it wasn't good for them (I thought.. great, since I put it on mine as toddlers!) I didn't hear the whole story, it was just the lead in blurb that it was coming up on the news. So, you may want to research it first. It may have only been with putting it on their chest and nose area, and it may have only been that it didn't work for stuffyness. Just thought you'd want to check that out first. I know I will, using it for the cough situation sounds like a great trick!

we had the same problem with my two year old. a cough that lasted literally for six to eight weeks before it was diagnosed. the first pediatrician told me that kids just get coughs and it would eventually go away. after a month she prescribed a nighttime med but all it did was put him to sleep not take care of the cough. i had transferred to this ped because she was closer to our home. after eight weeks i drove him back to our original ped because i just knew something was wrong. she diagnosed him with asthma. he never had any other symptoms besides the coughing, but she said that was quite common, in his case his airways just start to tighten and the way his body fights back is to cough. but we dont use an eveyday inhaler. they put him on a nebulizer which has been our saving grace for the last two years. we started giving breathing treatments of xopenex (he got sick on the albuterol) and pulmicort every four to six hours and literally the difference was instantaneous. my son literally started telling me when it was time for a breathing tx because it just opened up his lungs so well even he could tell the difference. now we just have a supply of meds, and in the beginning we had to use them maybe every month once we got the massive flare up under control, but now almost two years later you can tell he is growing out of it because he only has symptoms usually if he gets sick, or we have a rapid temp drop. i would really have your ped check her out and ask about the nebulizer (my brother had really bad asthma as a child twenty years ago, whenhome nebulizers didnt exsist, and this would have saved many visits to the emergency room, his daughter inherited his asthma and her ped in a diffferent state put her on the exact same course of tx as my son. alot of his younger years would have been spent in the emergency room if not for his nebulizer, and dont wait to long to take some sort of action because if it is asthma it can take a terrible turn really quickly/

My 2.5 year old son has been coughing for what seems like forever. I tried the Vicks on his feet last night and it worked! I also tried it on myself as i've been coughing nonstop for the past week - have tried cough syrup, honey, lozenges (non worked). The Vicks for the most part has killed the cough in me. I still get a few random episodes but I haven't been drinking enough fluids either.
The Vicks worked for us - though I've heard it not working for everyone. No harm in trying for anyone over two. The Baby Vicks doesn't work (tried that before he was 2). If the Vicks doesn't work for you - at most it makes your feet soft. :-)
For allergies - i'd cut the humidifier. I noticed it was making things worse. Things like bed mites thrive on humidity. I ended up buying one of those Vicks Waterless Vaporizers and keep it by his bed when he gets stuffy. If you don't have problems with dry air in the room - this is a great thing to have.

Vick vapor rub can make asthma symptoms worse. Use bleach when cleaning the humidifier then air dry. Make sure it is all dry before you use it again as bacteria can live on the wet surface. She is old enough for allery testing which would help you identify what is making her cough. Call the local children's Hospital for an appointment with their Lung or Chest clinic.

Does she have stuff animals because dust mite on them form and if you do you need to get rid of them. Do you have allergen covers for mattress and pillows they help. Everyday you need to keep up on dusting. If she was a little older I would suggest to get allergy shot, they help my daughter before she got them she would always be coughing at night and I thought she was getting sick with bronchitis again and it was her allergies.

OK here is one more...to know you are not alone. My son (5.5 years) has used a neb since 6 weeks old. We had a terrible year last year and in hind site and with testing, I am convinced it was his allergy to cats (we were in an apt for 6 mo that allowed pets...although we did not have one...and then the house we bought had pets, it had been about 6 mo but, still took several mo for it to not affect him). He is back to only getting flare ups when sick. Before he would barely have a cough or none and wake up with stridor (not able to breath in like croup) and no barky cough. It was terrifying, but, no episodes this winter. So the moral of this story is with Asthma or reactive airway diagnosis and something changes in your kiddo, look at allergies.

My son had a constant cough that would start to get better, then get worse again -- an ongoing cycle that was exhausting. We finally discovered a doctor who checked him for allergies and found out that he was allergic to soy and gluten. As soon as we took him off all soy and gluten the cough went away and he stopped getting sick. Now, he rarely gets sick -- and this was after getting rid of carpets in our house, getting special mattress covers and pillows, making sure all shampoos and soaps were allergen free etc.... Good luck.

A friend swears by this...puts Vicks Vapor Rub all over her feet, & then put socks on her feet all night. She swears this will get rid of the cough. Oh, and she's an ER nurse.

Is the cough dry and barky? if so this might be croup which i easily fixed you will be to see the doctor. nose drops will help as well.

Hello H.,

there is a couple of things you can try. one is to increase her magnesium intake.

two: use essential oils
put 4 pepper mint oil drops on a tissue
then 2 rosemary oil drops
and 2 basil oil drops
put the tissue in whichever room your daughter is in.

that combination is very helpful to control coughs.
good luck!

Hi H.,

I have another suggestion for you. I have a friend who's daughter has allergies and asthma. She was on several (more than 5) medications and an inhaler and had many emergency trips to the hospital. Just about 1x a week. She finally heard about a wholesale club that only sold environmentally safe products. So she converted her home over to everything they sold and within 6 months, the inhaler was hardly used, the emergency trips stopped and the medications were reduced to only 2. If you'd like to find out more, let me know. This cough could be triggered by something in the air at your house or your laundry detergent or even the bodywash / shampoo that you use. Switching out those simple products made a huge difference for my friend.

Glad to hear that the vicks was a good temperary fix though. Let me know if you want to find out more about that wholesale club. You can shop right online, you don't have to be local to the store.

S.

I'd ditch the humifidier. My asthma is worse in very humid weather--to the extent that I frequently have to stay indoors.

Try a litle honey mixed with lemon or lime juice with a piece of crushed garlic. Keep mixture in fridge and give a teaspoon 3 times daily

My 2YO son had something similar--constant cough that led to gagging and puking. It turns out he has seasonal allergies. We also were prescribed a nebulizer with Xopenex, which works well during the day. But it hypes him up and it's difficult to get him to nap or sleep after a treatment. At night we use a humidifier, too. But sometimes his cough persists despite the treatments.

A week ago, we tried the Vicks on the feet with socks at night--AND IT WORKED. My son's cough just quieted down and he slept through the night. We don't even need to nebulize before bed! Just spread a dab on the arch of her feet and put some socks on her, and that's it. We do it for nap and at night. We've tried it during the day, but it doesn't seem to work, go figure.

BTW, I came down with a cough shortly after my son did and I tried Vicks with socks and it worked on me, too. Pretty nifty trick if you're trying to use as little medication as possible overall. Good luck!

My son is always like this too. Keep up with the humidifer and try to put vicks on chest and under feet with socks. This helps him sleep through the night. My son has allergies so us parents its hard to deal with child always coughing but thats what we need to do is help our child. My son takes zyrec on a regular and if really bad his takes bendrly too.

My 7month old son had a constant cough for 4 months straight (beginning at 2 months) I went thru 3 doctors, x-rays and bloodwork. Two doctors told me to just not worry about it, but how do you not worry about your tiny baby coughing constantly? Finally I got with a great doctor in Denton and she put him on Pediox. Cough gone!!! It was allergies the whole time. Two doctors told me that babies cannot have airbourne allergens, that it's not possible, but guess what- it is! You are the mom, and you know when something is not right with your child. Just keep driving your doctors crazy until you get the answers you want. Remember that doctors work for you and you pay them!! Good luck.