My 4 yr old daughter has asthma triggered by colds. She is on singulair, nasonex, and qvar as controller meds and we increase qvar and add albuterol when cold symptoms appear. She has had the skin testing which all came back negative for any allergies. At times she has trouble with her breathing and the albuterol helps. The majority of the time she wheezes at night, and coughs awful! THe cough is continuous. She and I do not sleep. She coughs and gaggs and complains with her stomach hurting from coughing. The drs always say that the albuterol is supposed to help with the cough but it does not, and of course, he never sees her at night when she is at her worst. The last 2 flare ups they had to give her an antbiotic, so they are thinking this may be sinus related. The dr is talking about doing sinus x-rays when she flares up again. Just curious if anyone has a situiation that is similar, or could share some advice. It is sooooooo frustrating knowing that she is coughing her self to death at night, and the drs not taking you seriously because they see her in the daytime.

Thanks :)

Hi,

My 12 y.o. daughter & I just went through the same thing last night (my ears are still ringing). She started with a sore throat the day before, and turned into congestion with lots of mucus & flem, and wheezing. She vomited from coughing so much. I took her to the ped. today becuse she has had pneumonia with complications, but the dr. said to just keep nebulizing her with albuterol or xopenex, drink hot liquids, take otc antihistimine, decongestants, Robitussin, etc (temporary relief). If she's worse tomorrow, they will prescribe oral steroids - which we try to stay away from, but have used them as a last resort when she was younger. Now her cough is looser, not as croupy, and she's spitting out lots of mucus.

Just curious, how many nights in a row has she been coughing all night? With my daughter, it's almost like she has a bad headcold (and half her school is out sick), and that always trigger her asthma.

Wish you and your family the best of luck. I need to go get her another tissue box.

I cough like this every night too...it's a gagging cough trying to catch your breathe in between the gagging. I have for sometime now it's usually the worst at night and mine last till I fall asleep. I will cough maybe for about 30 minutes then fall asleep, maybe it exausts me or something, during the day, I still cough, but not as bad, as long as I don't have anything to trigger the cough.

but why would this get worse at night then in the daytime, is this from asthma?

krissy

It's usually 3 nights in a row, that we we basicly stay up all night. She can't sleep for coughing, it's continuous.She coughs some during the day-more like you do when you have a cold. This happens every time she gets a cold. Dr gives us Oral Pred and that doesnt seem to help, although the antiobiotic does, but that takes two days to be effective, so it's hard to know if it's that that is helping. The specialist is thinking sinus infections that are causing athma flare-ups and the cough is from the sinus's.I dont know. I have been through a pediatrician that wouldnt help, and recently switched to this specialist, who at least seems to be trying to solve our problem. I just get sick to my stomach when I think she is getting a cold, because I know what is in store. I feel like I am a germ a phobic.

hrtprice- I hope your daughter gets well soon, and doesnt have to do the oral steroids.
krissy- I have no idea if it is even from her asthma. At this point, we know she doesnt have allergies, and the dr is trying to narrow it down -sinus & reflux-are what he is thinking right now.
Thank you both for your help.

but why would this get worse at night then in the daytime, is this from asthma?krissy

The body produces natural steroids that have levels that fluctuate throughout the day. These steroid's level is highest at 3 pm, and lowest at 3 am - meaning that generally for most people, asthma symptoms are least noticeable in the afternoon, and most noticeable in the very early morning.

Another reason asthma can get worse at night is acid reflux triggering the lungs.

thanks now I know why I'm gagging at night. I have noticed during the night trying to sleep, I wake up and start gagging and have to get up off the bed and go lay down on the couch so that I don't wake my husband up, he needs his sleep, he's gotta go to work early in the morning. This morning, I woke up at 4:00 AM gagging for a hour, so loud my husband woke up and I was in the other room. And that does sounds right, I am always waking up around 3:00 AM coughing, I get so congested then. He;s kinda worried about the cough, since he has never in his life had a gagging cough. and asked if I had lung cancer or something, so I told him, no I have done this my whole life, had a lung x-ray done a few weeks ago in the emergency room and they said my lungs were fine, but she did fail to see the asthma. and I take herbs to keep my lungs clear, so that is why the congestion didn't show up. But I didn't go into the ER for my breathing I went there cause my blood sugar level was going crazy and went up to 164 and has since stablized and back to normal.. and they said mild hypoglcemia.

Listen I think it possibly could be sinuses, but I have had asthma my whole life and I remember when I was a kid and I got colds, I would be just like your daughter. I would gag and cough all night long, I would get really ill...I remember my mom would do a few things to try to help me out, she would take the milk away from me, cause milk is very mucus forming, She would take away all mucus forming foods. she would give me juices instead, rub me down with vicks vapor rub several times during the night. she did this till I got over my cold. I hated it cause it was so strong, but it opened my breathing tubes and was greatful anyways. and she used to give me cough syrup, lots of cough syrup, rotflmao

help this help some. :)

krissy

Thanks Krissy, I am glad your blood sugar is back to normal, how scary!-We use Vicks, and I somewhat limit her milk products. I asked her dr the last visit, if I should cut out milk products all together, and he said no, although increasing water intake is always a good idea.As for cough syrup, anything with a decongestant seems to make her even more congested.When you cough, is it pretty much all night? I mean there isnt a period where she stops coughing to where she can sleep. When she was small, I would sit on the couch and she would lay with her head on my chest and sleep that way. Now even being propped up doesnt help. I think I am going to buy a small tape recorder and record her at night the next time she gets like this and take it with us to the dr.It's the only thing I know to do. She starts kindergarden next fall, and she wont do well in school when shes up all night coughing her head off.

well yea, I have had plenty of night when I can't sleep cause I'm coughing way too much. Gagging more likely.

If I get really bad, I will take something herbal to make me sleep.

you could try essential oils in difusers in her room at night, lavender, peppermint are really good essential oils to use. They will help her to breathe.

Also I recomend that you get an air purifyer if you don't have one, this will help get rid of the allergens in the air.

My mom took the milk products away during the first part of the cold and limited throught the rest. And my mom never gave me milk or something like that at night...so you may want to limit the milk products to certain times of the day. At night, it's all going to build up. I never understood why she did all of this till I got older, but now I'm greatful for it.

My father came over and I just talked to him and asked if this gagging happened even when I was a baby, he says yes, So he said he thought this was a asthma symptom too. He said this has happened since my birth. By the way I'm 35 years old now and still alive, so my mom and dad must have done something right! :)

The cough medicine, I'm the same way, My mom used to give me some kind of medicine, I can't remember what it was, but had the name old fashioned in it I think, I will see if my dad knows what she gave me. It didn't work completly but it did help out alot. It had a very distint molasses taste to it.I will try to find out what it was and get back to you on that one.

Yea, my blood sugar went high and I was about to collaspe and drove myself to the hospital, scarey huh? I didn't know it was that high, I just knew something was wrong and I was about to collaspe. So I'm wondering what role my asthma played in that!

I will ask my dad some of the other things they did for me and get back to you :)

I do hope your little one is feeling better soon, I got a cold and spent this morning gagging. I know what she is going through, my prayers are thoughts are with her!

OK, this may be a bit out there but when she says her stomach hurts what does she mean by this? Does it hurt before or after the cough. If you would not have said that she does not have allergies i would have said it was allergies but with the mention that her stomach hurts, it gets worse at night and that she is coughing i am wondering if she might not have some sort of Acid Reflux problem that gets worse when she lays down at night and causes her to cough. I used to have acid reflux (which could probably be brought on by some of the daily meds for Asthma possibly) and at night (a couple hours after I ate) the acid would start to creap up into my lungs (more so after laying down flat) and ti would trigger asthma attacks and coughing spells for me. I don't know if a child this age could have this problem but I don't see why not. Might be a route to check into other than the normal allergy routes etc. Hope your daughter feels better soon!

Amanda

Krissy- I will try your suggestions.You drove yourself to the hospital!!?? Had you been on prednisone?

Amanda- She usually complains with her stomach hurting the morning after the first night she is up all night coughing. Her dr has mention that reflux is one of the the things he does want to rule out. Just curious, what did they do/prescribe for you?
Thanks again,
Lisa

Lisa,
I know how difficult it is to not be able to determine what the problem is etc...especially when it is your child. I was prescribed Prevacid for the acid reflux. I lost a lot of weight and it went away but one does not have to be over weightto have a problem such as acid reflux. Hope they can figure out something that will help your daughter.

Best wishes,
Amanda

It would help if she has lots of pillows, and sleeps with her chest in a sort of sitting-up position.

She always sleeps on two pillows, and when she has flareups we add another one to prop her up even more. It doesnt really help,she cant quit coughing long enough to get comfortable to try to sleep, but thanks for the suggestion.:) The weird thing is the last cold she had, we were not up all night......it was like a normal cold, and her asthma never flared-up.(this is a first) The only things that were different was that she had gotten her flu shot 2 weeks before, she was out of school for Veterans Day, & the weekend- so I was able to limit her exposure to being outside,running around in the cold, and I worked harder at limiting her dairy. So, now I dont know what to think.

Has she ever been tested for CF? I just ask because I have CF and those were some of my first symptoms. Gagging,choking cough(although mine was worse in the morning after I got up), stomachaches. Mine got misdiagnosed as reflux for years, as well as allergies(testing showed no enviromental ones) and other things.

No, she hasnt been tested for CF.Can you share some of your experience/knowledge with me so that I can be better prepared when I talk to her doctor?
Thanks alot.:)

Just curious if you have pets in the house? I can't stand dogs,cats ETC.
I know there is allergy induced asthma and if you do keep pets,that might be it. I know that anytime I have a cold or flu--nights are much much worse.Also I have Multi-chemical sensitivities,and if I use any kind of cleaners at all,I choke so bad,when I go to bed. The houses in winter are so toxic b/c of everything being closed up all the time. I use 3 air cleaners in the house and that helps a lot.
Shirley

Hi Shirley D.-No, no pets at all- in or out of the house.Thanks for the tip on the chemival sensitivities, something to bring up with her with her dr on Tuesday.:)

Just a quick update. Dr agreed to do sinus ct scan and chest x-rays, also doing immune system blood work, and cf sweat test. We have already done the ct scan and x-ray, they show mild asthma, and bad sinusitis. so the antibiotic she is on she now has to stay on for 28 days instead of the orginal 14 . saying my prayers on the cf testing, we do that on tuesday.

Good luck Up...

I was diagnosed with CF last year (at age 21) just letting you know it stinks, BUT it was a relief to know what was wrong, so it could be treated and I feel so much better, better than I have my whole life, because things can be taken care of properly.

Thanks Chipped away. We just got back this morning from the cf testing. The tech doing it was very good with my daughter and very knowledgeable. I learned alot about cf. Now the wait to hear from the dr begins.....

Got a call this am the cf test came back negative!:)

Hopefully they'll get it figured out -- Did they give you a number (level) with the sweattest? DS' was considered normal at 35. His genetic blood testing showed CF :(

No they didnt give me any numbers. Thurs night we took her to the emergency room, they did more x-rays and they now show pneumonia.:( It's one thing after the other.