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Hi Beth,

We got a nebulizer for my son when he was a baby. The doctor prescribed it and the insurance company paid for it. When he gets a cold really bad, it triggers really bad coughing attacks where it sounds like croup, too. The nebulizer treatments help break up the mucuous (sp.) and it's something I can use on him every 4 hrs. The medicine that gets added to the nebulizer is called albuterol (sp?). (You need a doctor's prescription) It's like a little cool steam machine. This has really help my son. The last time he had a cough so bad, it was accompanied by strep. So... sometimes, of course, the nebulizer will not be the only treatment used. I still use the nebulizer from time to time on him and he is almost 7 yrs. old.

I hope this helps some.
Joy

My son is also 3 1/2 and has asthma, but no allergies. His asthma is triggered by colds...when he gets even a little runny nose he starts coughing. (a "croup" sounding cough) We take him to the pediatrician and he can hear the wheezing in his lungs. (We can't hear the wheezing, only the coughing.) He is taking Flovent twice per day everyday to try and keep the asthma under control. When he begins coughing, we use Albuterol or Xopenex (sp?)in a nebulizer to help open up his airways. At first I thought the pediatrician was overreacting by having us bring him in any time he developed a cough, but it's really important for the doctor to be able to assess the cough and breathing so the asthma is managed. From what I understand, the side effects of the medications are not as adverse as the effect of having asthma that is not under control. (We were also worried about the possible side effects of the different meds.) Good luck.

Hi Beth,

My 3 1/2 year old daughter has had the same thing, almost her whole life. At age 3 months she had RSV, and since then she has never caught a cold without getting the croup cough. She has also had pneumonia twice. On the advice of another mom, I took her to see a pediatric pulmonologist last year through Childrens at CDH. They were great, and gave us a plan to follow. She uses a medicine called Pulmicort through a nebulizer to prevent the cough, and one called Xopenex if the cough is present. We start it as soon as she gets a sniffle, and it really helps! The doctor explained that even though people worry about the meds, when they are inhaled they do not enter the bloodstream. Before we met with this doctor, we were frustrated because our pediatritian never had a good solution for us (which is why her colds went all the way to pneumonia twice!) We spent many nights sitting up running steamy showers for her to breathe. I feel like now, we have a plan that keeps it under control. The good news is that kids usually outgrow this! Good luck!

Ask your doctor about reactive airway disease. My 20-year-old has had it all her life. Every time she got a cold, she would have a horrible asthma-like cough that lasted for days. She was on two inhalers at times -- one steroidal. There are side effects for all of the inhalers, but breathing sometimes trumps the side effects. She would be on her inhalers for maybe a week to keep her airways open so she could breathe freely. If the airways were constricted that would cause the cough.

I have the same problem with my 5 yo and have had since he was born. I finally found a doctor who diagnosed him with reactive airway disease. He uses Xopenex in a breathing machine. It really helps. He was also put on Singulair. He developed these horrible temper tantrums and would hit me. I heard about the side effects of Singulair and immediately took him off. Within 2 or 3 days, he quit hitting and temper tantrums turned into whining instead. I also have a friend who took her son off the Singulair and noticed big (positive) results in his behavior. If you decide to use the Singulair, monitor your child. It does not cause problems for everyone and it does work. Unfortunately for us, my child was one that it seemed to cause problems with.

Beth,
I would suggest taking a good look at his diet and try to strengthen and support his immune system with food and nutritional supplements. These things can have a huge impact on overall health. Let me know if I can help you with more specific recommendations.
Carri

My son was diagnosed with asthma at 21 months old. His asthma is triggered by colds and always turns into coughting - continually coughing - it's difficult to listen to after awhile. I can tell you that your son needs to be monitored very closely when he begins coughing like this as it can turn into wheezing and eventually his lungs may begin to close altogether. This happened to my son - and we were admitted to the hospital with him labeled as intensive care. Consider taking him to an asthma/allergy specialist. They are going to be the most proactive with a treatment plan that will work for you and him. I can provided you with my doctor's name if you are so interested.

My son takes Flovent twice per day and Singulair everyday to keep the asthma under control. When he begins coughing (even slightly), we use Albuterol in a nebulizer to help open up his airways. It has worked very well for us in keeping his wheezing under control. You'll find the nebulizer is the best type of "cough medicine" you can do for your asthmatic son. By the way, no cough medicine for asthma kids.

Good luck to you and your son.

Unfortunately he needs to cough to eliminate the phlem...it is very important that he spit out that phlem. The stomach can't digest it and the cough stays longer. Vaporizer helps a great deal also.

Hi Beth~

My Daughter was diagnosed with asthma & year round allergies at the age of 4 1/2. She also was given Zyrtec, but it made her worse. We did stop using that product. At that point I didn't think giving my child meds that had side affects was healthy for her so I did a little research and came upon a natural alternative.

I also realized that once I took out the harmful chemicals out of our house (that where in the cleaning products that we use to clean with)....the allergy symptoms went away & she was not have asthma attacks....they did disappear.

When doing my research I found that there had been Studies shown that indoor air is more pollutant than outdoor air! Also, I found studies that showed that household chemicals & cleaning agents have been linked to cancer and other diseases! Well that in itself was alarming to me!! So we did find a solution to my childs health concerns!

If you would like to talk further about this, please email: [email protected]

Jennifer T.

Hi Beth,

My son is on Singulair and Zyrtec/ pulmicort, and xopenex inhalers, since he was 18 mos. I fear the long term effects, but 3 different pediatricians ASSURE me this is the way to go. Sometimes the allergist and your ped. can work together to find what is the "absolute best," for your precious child.

God Bless.

My eight year old has had asthma with colds since he was a baby. Our best success has been to start him on pulmicort either via neubulizer when he was young or via an inhaler now as soon as he started a cold. Doctors have wanted us to have him on pulmicort daily during the cold season but I wanted to limit how much of medication he would need. As long as I am able to control his asthma doctors agreed to it. We rarely use albuterol. I think we have to be careful of what medications we give to our children and monitor when it is necessary but with asthma we cannot skip medication usage. Like another post stated, breathing is essential. Good luck!

My daughter has asthma and gets this type of cough seasonally as well. She takes Zyrtec year round. She is not on Singulair but takes pulmicort respules when she gets the cough (it is an inhaled corticosteroid). You will need a nebulizer to asminister (a machine that makes a mist your child breathes in). My daughter only needs to use it a couple times a year for a few weeks (it actually prevents the cough too in the spring or fall when we have flair ups). Don't be worried by the steroid component as it is inhaled and not systemic. It affects the lungs but does not have any serious systemic side effects that we have encountered. Talk to your pediatrician. I know several other children on this regimen.

I have a son that has allergies and asthma. You might want to take your son to a allergy doctor or one that specializes in asthma. 3 1/2 they can still grow out of things. the cough is usually do to the drainage running down his throat and into his chest. But a cough also can come from his windpipes in his chest not getting the air he needs from his asthma. so now you have to get educated if he is whizzing so you know if it is his asthma. we run our air conditioner late into the season and we are one of the first ones to turn it on in the spring even if it is not to hot because it filters the air and they can breathe better. check these things out a diagnois of asthma on his record will cost more insurance also

My son is 12 and developed a croop sounding cough and after going to pulmonary specialists and telling me he has asthma which he doesn't I took him to an ENT (ear, nose , throat) at Childrens Memorial Hospital on Lincoln avenune and he said he had acid reflux. When I said my son had no symptons and it couldn't be acid reflux he said there is a silent kind and it is the worst because your esauphogus has damage and you don't realize it. He put him on prevacid for 3 months and he is much better and no croop cough. Don't know if this info is relevant to your case but the bottom line is keep taking your child to doctors until you are satisfied.

Beth:

I agree with what others are saying: the cough is most likely related to the asthma. My daughter was diagnosed with asthma at 2 and is now 6. She was on Singular and had major behavior issues while on it. In addition, it has aspertame in it which is NOT good for kids. We found an outstanding pediatric pulmonologist at Lutheran General. He took her off the Singular saying it has no real effect on asthma. As I mentioned she is now 6 and is virtually free of all asthma systems.

We have used an approach of knowing her environmental and food sensitivities as well as homeopothy. Our pulmonologist has supported this approach as well. I would be happy to share names of doctors with you. Feel free to email me directly.

Both of my daughters had this same problem(2 1/2 and 4).We tried all the meds the docs gave us. It didn't stop the symptoms. They were miserable and sicker than ever after monthes of trying. Go to Mertz, the natural pharmecy on Lincoln, in Lincoln Square Chicago. Tell the "pharmacist" your symptoms. They gave us many suggestions and all worked! They are not easy, but they managed my daughters allergies, and poor health. We went off dairy during the very sick periods, cut down on sugar, and took the hoeopathic remedies they suggested. Yes, it was work, but being sick was much more work. We are one year later, in the midst of allery season, and in great shwpe. I go to Mertz now everytime we have a problem. With that said, shortness of breath and cough is nothing t o treat lightly. Take the docs meds now , and continue to see the doc to keep it under control and visit Mertz when the cough is handled.

Are you going to a pediatric pulmonologist? If not, I'd highly recommend it.

For times when he is getting sick, or his asthma is really kicking into high gear, you may want to consider using a home nebulizer. Ask your doctor about this. Nebulizers treate the asthma directly.

The Zyrtec works as kind of a preventative measure, trying to head off the allergies before they have a chance to kick the asthma up a notch. Or trying to keep them at bay so the asthma doesn't worsen. It's not directly addressing the asthma, other than to reduce the things that can worsen the asthma. It is not a cough med or an asthma med. It's meant to affect the asthma triggers. If he's coughing that badly, he may need to have meds that address his asthma directly, like an inhaler or a nebulizer, or something of that nature. (Yes, you can use an inhaler on a toddler - they have products that can help make that a less awkward procedure.)

Cold and allergies can trigger bad asthma reactions. A simple cold can rapidly develop into bronchitis or pneumonia in someone with asthma. Colds hit them hard and fast. If he is coughing that severely, you may need a more effective treatment. Be sure to thoroughly discuss all your concerns with your doctor. Make sure he is seen by a medical professional when that bad cough is happening.

Because your son is so young, you truly want to limit his perscription medications. As with all medications, if taken for a significant amount of time, the body becomes immune. My advice would be to focus on his nutritional intake. The more whole food he recieves, the more balanced his immune system will become and change in his symptoms will occur. Many families also consider pediatric chiropractors and have been very happy with the results. Anything you can do for your son naturally without additional medication is something many parents are searching for, wouldn't you agree?
In good health,
Nancy-Nurtition Naturally
www.jp4ahealthieryou.com

Beth,

   My son is now 6 but from the time he was born he had asthma. When he was 2 they put him on Singulair and it did wonders for him. But yes when he did have a cold he did have a croup sounding cough, and really there was nothing I could do for him. I did put a viper riser in his room with him and it seemed to him help him. Because of asthma you can not put viper rub on his chest and when your little one is sick it is hard not to try everything for them, but with asthma you have to watch.Good luck.