Coughing for 2 Months!

My son had a cough for about 2 months that one doctor said was allergies. When he finally got a high fever (104) another doctor in the pediatricians office decided to give him antibiotics and the fever and cough were both gone within a couple days. Good luck - hope she's feeling better soon.

Allergy testing can be done several ways...skin prick tests waiting for a reaction and a RAST test done with a blood draw.I think you get the best results with the least amount of discomfort for the child from the blood draw. The other option is to do an elimatin diet, but if it is fully environmental this will do nothing. My daughter also has celiac disease and had plenty of allergen reactions and dermatitis herpetiformis which all went away except soy when she went gluten free

I sympathize with you on your situation with your daughter. Your doctor visits will become more frequent, exspensive, and the condition will altogether worsen.It's as easy as changing what your already doing. Get the chemicals out of your house! I've had these very same health issues with myself and my 3 children. I now educate on them. Feel free to email or call me @
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I've recently begun working with an Allergist/Immuninologist (Dr. Majmudar) with my daughter who is two. She has severe eczema which looks like a complete body suit. They can run blood serum tests and skin testing. Dr. Majmudar has been wonderful at explaining 1. the celular biology, and chemistry 2. options for diagnosis, 3. options for treatment and 4. prognosis. Most of all she is fabulous about leaving the ultimate decesion up to the patient. I am a person who belives strongly in addressing the cause and not "band-aid-ing" the symptom. I would think that you could see 4 different doc.'s and they would all tell you to try 4 different treatment options. I've watched my husband who has been on Allegra since childhood suffer with multiple long term side effects. Consider seeking out a specialist in the allergy/immunology field

Sure sounds like allergies. Rash on back, rubbing eyes and nose. Have you changed laundry soap,softener sheets or liquid, shampoo or conditioner? Switch to Ivory soap or liquid mild things like woolite.

I would definitely think it's allergy related. My daughter got scratch tested both on the back and then what didn't react (which wasn't much) on her arm. After finding out what she was allergic to we were able to rid some of the dust producing stuff in our home, get rid of the down comforter, removed most stuffed animals in her room etc. We have also switched to non toxic cleaning supplies and non scented laundry detergent. I think it's hard to clear the air when you don't know what they are allergic too. We were told that Zyrtec is best however making a mommy decision we switched to Claritin and it has been SO much better. Good luck.

Testing for allergies is pretty simple. They do a skin test on there back while you hold them tummy to tummy they put a range of possible allergins on their skin with a tiny tack that's like a prick. My son has done great with it, more curious of what they are doing than anything else. It takes 20 minutes they look for a reaction (hive) on the skin. According to how large the hive comes is how sensitive they are to the allergy. I like my allergist office they are in St. Charles and Carol Stream, Il. ###-###-#### they also have rooms with a library of VCR kid tapes for the kids to watch. GREAT distraction.

I was dealing with Allergy to dogs and dustmites. The allergist said to get rid of the dog. I didn't...I just googled all info I could find. I am more diligent in vacuming where my son spends most of his time and I give the dog weekly baths and feed him healthy food (NO more problems at all) The allergist goes well I guess it was good you didn't listen to me. Allergies are an over sensitive immune disorder. The objective is to try and get the healed through diet and lessen allergins. Hope this helps. I feel your pain!!! Also an air purifier in the bed room might help.

I have a 2-1/2 yr old with food allergies and some enviormental allergies.

Sounds like my daughter last year and I was told she had cough variant asthma. Went through the whole steroid thing and nebulizer and I just in my gut knew that wasn't it...BUT I listened to the Dr like a good mommy and tried this all for a week and nothing was helping, I then demanded that we try something else and then the Dr ordered a chest x-ray and the poor baby had pneumonia! Seems Docs are pretty quick on the allergy/asthma thing these days and sometimes, just sometimes the kids really do need an antibiotic! Call me old school.....

B.,

My daughter is 2 as well, and was put onto medication (Singulair) to treat asthma and allergies. She too had the same cough for months on end that would go a way for a few days then come back. I kept thinking she was getting another cold, until her cough caused her to have difficulty breathing. I took her to my allergist (seeing me and my 5 year old daughter both have asthma and allergies), and he checked her out and all the symptoms showed signs of allergies.

At the allergist, they used a "Scratch test" to test my daughter for cats, dogs and dustmites, the things that would be most prominent in a home during the winter, where with my older daughter the tested her for 13 different things including mold, and trees. They also test by injecting a small amount of the allergen underneath the skin, which I refuse to have done to my kids this young.

My allergist is in Carol Stream with an office in St. Charles too if you need a name I would be happy to share.

On eof my daughters has allergy induced asthma. We did allergy testing on her when she was 5. They do the skin pricks on the back. It was like a tray with about 12 different allergens. They press it onto the back. They wait a bit, an then measure the size of the bumps left behind, and then can tell you what they are allergic to.

My daughter (now 3 1/2) would get like that in the fall/winter 2006 and 2007, we found out she has viral induced asthma, (she gets the asthma wheezing when she gets sick). She was put on the Albutrol inhaler, and we did a couple days of Orapred, a steroid, and that knocked it out. Also, in case you didn't know, Albuterol comes in a liquid form, which worked A LOT better than the mask and inhaler. This past winter we put her on the liquid Albuterol as soon as she started getting a cold and she never got like she did before. Also, she has been on Singulair which is for asthma and allergies since January, just keeping her on through the allergy season. This has helped, other than a little cold, she hasn't been sick. Good luck!

I read in a parenting magazine that honey helps with coughs. We put 1/2 a teaspoon in our daughter's milk at bedtime and it really seems to soothe her scratchy throat. She seems to cough less during the night when she has it. Good luck!

Sounds like allergies to me. Especially since the excema apeared. Had a similare thing happen to my son, it was allergies to laundry products and all cleaners, even anti- bacterial hand soaps. I let it go so long, nto knowing that was the cause that he ended up with severe asthma. I lived for 7 years with that! Then one day, I was sharing my delema to a woman who had 6 children. She suggested getting rid of the chemical cleaners and get him on an excellent vitamin to rebuild his immune system. I noticed a extreme difference in just 2 weeks.

Although this may be a result of allergies, it could very well be asthma induced by allergies. In that case, if you manage the allergies, you manage what is causing the asthma. These are likely seasonal allergies or allergies to something in the home. Regardless, ask the doc if you can have a trial of allergy medication, preferably a non drowsy formula-it worked wonders for my daughter. We noticed the constant cough prior to asthma problems, turns out it got much worse when school started. We never tested for allergies we sort of hit and miss-since they were not food allergies we decided that the "what" wasn't all that important, but the allergy medication was, since no matter what the result was, the solution was allergy medication..by trial and error, it was mold, mildew, formaldehyde, and a mild pollen allergy. The problem got worse when school started, since formaldehyde is used in most science class areas...eczema is a definate sensitivity, switch to clear products or melaleuca products, and really consider melaleuca products since inhaling most cleaners and detergents can REALLY have a big effect on asthma symptoms. I know a melaleuca rep if you need one. This helped with my daughters eczema too, as well as the grandkids. They all have eczema, asthma, and allergies. It helped--along with zyrtec and claritin.

You can do a skin prick that individually tests for many different allergies. However, my daughter just had that RAST test (actually it was called something else - it's the newer version of a RAST test.) It's a simple blood draw (as simple as it can be, though, for a two-year old!). You have to be off any antihistamine for at least 48 hours (i.e. Claritin).

This is a very allergy-prone season for some with the trees pollinating - usually is between March - May. Big culprits are: Maple, Birch, Beech, Oak, Elm and Ash. There are several others, too. Grass pollinating will start some time in May, or sooner depending on weather conditions.

The cough sounds like it could be allergy induced asthma and once the allergies are under control, the cough will lesson. Have your pediatrician recommend a good allergist or he can even give you a script to have allergy testing done, depending on your insurance. Also, do you have your own small, portable nebulizer? (i.e. the device they probably used in the dr's office with the mask) Probably something you should talk to your doctor about owning one. Your insurance may cover it.

Good luck.

Definitely schedule your little one for a doctors appointment with an Allergy/ Asthma specialist. They tested my 2 year old by pricking her back various times with needles. It sounds horrible, but she didn't seem to mind until one started itching! The sooner you get a diagnosis, the sooner you will get the medications you need to prevent this. They will likely prescribe an everyday medication (Singulair and Flovent), as well as rescue meds for the rough times. If the inhaler isn't working, ask for the nebulizer. I find it works MUCH better for those late night coughing attacks. Good luck.

All I can tell you is that my son's chronic coughing and sinus infections ended once he began shots but he was 5.

Yes, I agree that it sounds like she is reacting to something in your environment, triggering the allergic cough and/or asthma.

We see Dr. Mary C. Tobin at Rush University Medical Center. There are two types of allergy tests that I know of that they use: one is the skin prick test, which can be done on little ones. You sit them chest to chest with you and the testing is done on their bare back. The other is a blood draw, cast a RAST, which is taken from the arm.

They can test for food and environment allergens (pet dander, dust, mold, tree, etc.)

Do you have a pet?

Here's a reputable link: http://www.foodallergy.org/

Good luck!

It sounds like allergies. My kids get tested with the allergy specialist by pricking their back with some allergen. If it creates bump, it's positive. I was tired of guessing of my child never ending sickness. He is a lot better now once we can avoid the allergens.

Vicks vaporub on the bottom of their feet then put the socks on before bed usually helps with cough. My pediatrician recommend zyrtec (last longer than benadryl).

Just a thought....I had a little one that had a cough for the majority of two years. I had heard everything in the book from doctors. Then I saw an Oprah show that talked about how cleaning chemicals can affect kids-especially ones with asthma or allergies. I switched my products about a year ago and I saw a dramatic difference. It was so nice to go through a winter season without all of the upper respiratory stuff. Good luck!