Hi there. My 18 month old son had a cold in July and August. Late August, he deveolped a cough that wouldn't go away. It sounded EXACTLY like whooping cough. I took him to the pedatrican and she said it was probably asthma. He would wake up at night, cough really hard, cough with laughing and running. She ordered an x-ray and gave me a prescription for him which was Flovent.
The x-ray 'showed' asthma and an infection. He was on antibiotics for 10 days and supposed to use the Flovent for 2 weeks, and she then said hopefully this is a one time event. I should mention that 5 days before he started on the meds, he stopped the 'whooping' cough and didn't wake up from coughing.
Next week he caught my horrible cold and cough, went back to pedatrican for his 18 month check up.
She said it could take another 2-3 weeks for the cough to clear up, if not, come back and 'maybe she missed something'.
It has been 2 weeks, and the cold sounding cough, (productive) has gone, but not his cough. He doesn't wake up at night, mostly in the morning, and sometimes with laughing. We could be out walking for 2 hours and he won't cough for a second, but sit down at home and start.

My question is, do people with Asthma always have a cough? It doesn't really bother him and he has no wheezing, shortness of breath, etc. I don't know what could be triggering this, (we do have a dog, poodle) I vaccum 3-4 times a week, dust, etc. Or, should he not be coughing at all? As of right now, he is only supposed to take his medication until his cough clears, and with the onset of colds.

I really do appreciate any advice from someone who has asthma, or knows someone who does.

Thank you,
Ranna

I'm sorry your son is having such difficulty. My son who is now 6 went through the same thing. Cough when running, laughing, and at night. Took him to an allergist but cannot determine at such a young age. Colds were horrendous and we eventually ended up in the er and had to be put on the nebulizer. The problem is it could be caused by a host of factors. Asthma, allergies, ect. So..your first step should be to see an allergy/asthma doc, and ENT and/or a pulmonologist. You do NOT want this to progress. We determined my son has asthma. No allergies showed up on his tests. So he is on flovent. He was on it 2 puffs 2x day. Then through trial and error determined that he is okay on 1 puff at night every other night, and we up it to 2x day when he has the beginning of a cold. If the cough gets bad, we also give him salbutomal 4 x day until his cold is finished. We take him to the doc as soon as he starts coughing to see if its in his lungs. If it is he is aslo put on antibiotics to avoid an infection which he would always get. I live in fear of asthma attacks for him every day. But we seem to have it under control so far. We have also started him on a "wellness" diet. We avoid milk, and dairy (except the occassional pizza). That seems to help huge. He eats no sweets, except cookies. You have to make sure he eats well. It is a very important factor in controlling his asthma. Search the archives here, there is a host of info, and other posts that will be able to help. You are your childs advocate. Make sure you get as much info as you can, so you can make informed decisions.
Good luck.

Yes, I have had a bad cough for the past 6 years since my astma got worse and it never goes away but is lessened by meds.

I have had astma my whole life and is this a gagging cough? I have always had this gagging cough since I could remember. Does he get excited or run and play and start sounding like he is gagging?

krissy

Hi. I'm sorry that your son has been sick so much over the past few weeks. I have had asthma for years and do have almost a persistant cough. I would definitely recommend that you see an allergy/asthma specialist. Asthma can be brough on by so many things including allergies so it is important to have him tested for allergies to see that you avoid the things that might be triggering it. Hopefully the flovent has also helped with his problems some. I would not worry about the cough too much if he is not weezing or going into an attack from it.

Good luck for you and your little one.

hugs,
Amanda