Diagnosing Asthma?

I am a Respiratory Therapist. You should probably not give your child a cough suppressant. If she does have asthma or a virul infection, the cough is a natural mechanism to keep her lungs clear. A cough that lasts that long should probably be diagnosed as something other than a cold. A medication called Albuterol is used for asthma. If they give her a treatment with this and she wheezes or the cough clears somewhat, then there is a possibility that she does have asthma or reactive airway disease. Is there a family history of asthma? Having her allergy tested is a good choice also.

I have heard of Dr Moore- he is good.
In the Pedi office I work for we tell parents that a cold usually last 2-3 weeks. You can try and treat the symptoms but it just takes time.
My son had the same cough forever thing and my Pedi (also my boss) put him on a Nasal Spray (Nasonex) for his allergies. He didn't have a runny nose, just the cough. It took about 2 weeks and FINALLY the stuff stared working. No more cough! We used it pretty much all Spring and into the summer.
Most of the cough and cold medicines (Traiminic, Dimetapp, etc...) are pretty useless under 2 years old.
My oldest son had chronic cold/congestion. They diagnosed it as "day care nose"- basically all of the kids in any small envirnment share the same bug. (I full expect to see school room cough very soon!)
If I can be of any help feel free to e-mail me at ____@____.com

D.

I have heard of Dr. Moore and I've heard good things. If the cough seems awry definately get it checked out. I suffered from the same kind of asthma and wasn't diagnosed til I was 14. Let's just say I had a pretty sickly childhood as a result of it. I also know people whose kids had allergies/asthma - and the parents couldn't figure out why their kids wouldn't get better. Or lacked the ability to notice that it happened at specific times of the year. So go with your gut - get her checked out. It's totally worth it. Good Luck!

LP

I completely understand and sympathize with you. Our 5 yo has had a persistent cough for several months. His pedi gave us an inhaler to use daily to treat allergy related asthma. This didn't help much. The cough still hasn't gone away. I just went today to his doctor and they changed him to a different medicine and we are now having to use a nebulizer twice a day. In addition to that, we have to keep giving him Zyrtec (anithistimine), nasonex, and an antibiotic for his ear/sinus infection. Our poor child is going to be taking alot!

His doctor hasn't used the term "cough variant asthma", but basically that is what they are calling it. When your child can't breathe because the bronchial tubes are inflamed, then the child will cough as a natural reflex.

Is you daughter wheezing as well? You can usually hear it if you hold your ear to her chest.

I think you are doing the right thing by taking her to a ped. allergist. We are going to do the same. Good luck with everything. It's hard when we know something is not right and don't know what to do about it.