Coughing and Coughing and Coughing....

My family suffers from allergies but we typically do not have a cough involved. I had a couple of thoughts from your post.

Asthma can sometimes present itself as a cough.

As far as my allergist goes, he does not believe in air purifiers, dust mite covers etc.

Typically Claritin and Nasonex are enough to bring our allergies under contol. When my daughter was sick with a cough the pediatrician prescribed Pancof. It contains an antihistimine and cough supressant (I can't remember if it has a Sudafed component or not). Anyway why not ask them to prescribe something. (If they prescribe Pancof then you have to discontinue the Claritin but not the Nasonex)

Maybe you'd like to have him see an allergist and get him on an allergy regimen if this is a regular occurence and the pediatrician's treatment is not helping.

sounds like the post nasal drip causing the cough. go back to doc and make sure they check how congested he is and make sure not asthmatic cough is it like a bark?

I think I'd make an appointment with an allergist. Perhaps it is allergies.

Has your ped mentioned anything about croup? My son gets it several times a year, sometimes after cold-like symptoms, sometimes seemingly out of the blue. Tests for allergies and asthma come back negative. Chest x-rays and blood work back come back fine. The cough is mostly a dry bark, but sometimes sounds a little wet. Sometimes it lasts a few weeks other times it lasts about 10 weeks. A few things we do to give him some relief is raise the head of his bed by placing books under the head of his mattress, open the freezer and allow him to take in a few breaths of cool air (the ped explained that this can work as well as steam) and a sippy cup of water to keep at his bedside at night (my son says it helps his cough). It is frustrating but nobody can find any other explanation for us. Hope you find an answer and some relief for your son.

I would simply say that if your son's pediatrician is diagnosing him with allergies, it would benefit both you and your son to see a pediatric allergist, to have him evaluated. It sounds like your little guy has had a rough couple weeks. Best to you both.

You have got to try the Vicks vapor rub on his feet at night.... please read my story it's a little long but i'm very familiar with the dry cough i dealt with it for 7 years before finding an answer...

My son has had allergies from the time he was 3. It always started with a cold, we actually ended up in the hospital due to an asthma attack at one point, but it always seemed to be triggered by a cold... we were not told right away to go to the allergist and being a young mother with no friends with children I didn't know to ask. My son had the worst dry cough at times and it always happened after a cold was pretty much gone. Night time was the worst. I went through so many sleepless nights and the doctors would look at me like I was nuts when I told them the cough meds don't work for him with this cough. (I know now from news reports that I’m not crazy) but anyway, when he was 5, finally a doctor told me to go to an allergist and we found out what he was allergic to and I did my best to keep him away from that stuff so he wouldn't go into these episodes in the first place. (It was cats and dust and basically indoor allergies so it's not easy, especially in the winter) the allergist explained to me that the allergens started the asthma process not the cold. We still had these coughing episodes no matter what they prescribed to him always after a head cold – by the way, a doctor said the word habit to me once, and I looked at him like he was crazy this time – even tho it all just didn't seem right, I just figured this is something that we were going to have to live with - after 7 years of dealing I guess I just started to think, ok this is just how it is when he gets sick or is around the allergens... Anyway, Last year when he was 10, I heard about the Vicks on the feet... thinking it was ridiculas, but after 3 nights of little sleep from a dry cough (that came on him after he was sick), with lack of a better idea I tried it... guess what??? It worked and I was totally impressed. I’m not kidding when I tell you, it was like magic. Now... one thing I will say, when he gets a cough due to cold (the raspy cough), it does not work, but for the asthma type dry cough that you seem to be describing (and you say it is after a cold, which is the same time my son would get this dry cough)... it works for him. so, it's not going to cost more than $5 to try it, I wish someone would've told me when my son was 5, there would've been much more sleep in our lives :) It’s amazing that I have gone from just dealing with this situation to not worrying about it anymore – such a relief! Good luck to you; I can relate to what you are going through!!!!
S.

Hi M.,
With sinus infections often comes drainage in the throat and a cough from that. Maybe he has a very stubborn sinus infection. I would try running cool mist in his room at night. It might help and certainly couldn't hurt--if you're not doing that already. Hope he's better soon!

POOR thing! I only know vicks vapor rub on their feet at night really does work. It might be way too simple for your situation but I thought I'd mention it.

Probably best to go back to doctor, but if not possible, what has worked for my daughter with allergies has been Zyrtec--once a night--and nasal spray twice a day to help with the congestion. The nasal spray is just the saline spray--no medication in it. Not sure what's in the Nasonex.