Saturday, October 31, 2009

Coughing Fits

I wrote up a post for Halloween and set it to post here at midnight or thereabouts but I'm here now to post something in real time, or something.

Yvie's not been feeling well of late but she just had a major coughing fit. About 10 days ago, she had several of these in about a 24-hour period. They're severe enough that she wakes up from a deep sleep, and some have even led to her throwing up. Like the one she just had. I walked into her bedroom and she'd been in bed for about an hour but coughed herself awake and was crying, telling me "I don't want to cough anymore" before the coughing got worse.

We'd been treating it with Triaminic but it didn't really clear anything up. We took her to the doctor about a week later after she got a fever because up until then it was just cough. She didn't have the flu but the doctor said she had some sort of bacterial infection and prescribed her prednisolone and albuterol.

Nothing seems to be working, as she's been taking those for four days now and the coughing is as bad tonight as it's been.

Anyway, have any of you had any experience with this sort of thing, either personally or with your own children?

10 comments:

Amanda said...

I was an asthmatic as a child and was on those medications a lot to help with inflamation. My advice is to try a little honey to coat her throat so it won't be scratchy. Take her outside if it's cold- the cold air helps. Hot drinks if there's any mucus it will break it up. Just try to keep her as calm as possible and her throat non irritated. My parents used to have me watch my fish swim in my fishtank while taking a treatment to relax my breathing.

Is she taking these medications by breathing treatments or inhalers? Breathing treatments tend to work better.

I hope she feels better soon :(

L.B. said...

Thanks for your advice Amanda.

She was getting worked up and has been - understandably - while she's been getting these fits. Getting her calm has been a challenge but I try and tell her to relax, take deep breaths. It's been hit and miss though. I'll have to try the honey too.

We've got a humidifier in her room and put her back in her bed. She was out in the living room with me on the recliner, as we tried to prop her up a bit as she slept but not sure that did anything.

We thought about urgent care or the ER but my wife said it'd be a waste of time because the ER takes forever and urgent care closed at 9 tonight.

It's such a harsh-sounding cough too. There doesn't seem to be mucus involved, just a guttural cough. I hope she gets some sleep tonight.

Raoulysgirl said...

The craziest bit of advice...actually given to me by Willoughby over at the Exchange many months ago (and I use it whenever needed)...Vicks Vapo-rub. Put it on her feet...then put on socks...then put her to bed. I do this on my girls and they stop coughing within, like, 5 minutes. Some people, it doesn't work for...but it does for my babies. It's worth a try to see if it works for Yvie. Anything for a good night's rest!!! Hope she feels better soon!!!

Unknown said...

Asthma and/or reflux could be the culprit. Put the head of her bed up on an incline (place some books underneath the head board). If it's reflux, that should help. Gargling with lemon water also is helpful. She can only be worked up to determine if it's asthma at the doctor's so I won't play one here. I so understand your concern because we went through the same thing with Bethany at approximately the same age. I remember being so happy that we actually had a diagnosis and could begin treating her appropriately. Has this ever happened before? My son's croupy cough has finally abated after 3 weeks.

Willoughby said...

My daughter has something similar right now. It kept her home from school on Friday and kept her from going trick or treating yesterday. She got some relief from the Triaminic for Cough and Runny Nose.

Willoughby said...

Argh! I hit publish accidentally!

I was going to ask you if a cold bug is going around where your daughter goes to school. I just thought that might help you decide if she had a cold or something like asthma.

I hope she feels better soon!

L.B. said...

Thanks for all your advice. Yvie had this type of thing last week but not before then, at least not recently or as bad as it was last night. The doctor said she had some wheezing in one of her lungs. He prescribed her some antibiotics but she's gone through it already.

There's not really anything going around down here. Kennedy was diagnosed with croup and was also given the predsilone or whatever. Her coughing isn't and wasn't as bad as Yvie's has been but she still has the cough.

And there's no history of asthma on either side of our families if that makes a difference.

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