My 13 year old son has developed a cough. He has been coughing for 24 hrs a day for 4 straight days now. like a tickle cough. He has been to the doctor, chiropractor and the emergency room. He does not have asthma, bronchitis or pneumonia. They are calling it reactive airway disorder. He has been prescribed a breathing treatment with albuterol and liquid steroids, pill steroids, an antibiotic, steroid inhaler, codeine cough syrup, singulair, and something sprayed in his throat in the ER. He has not responded to anything. I have taken him off all dairy and grains, but nothing has helped. He has missed almost a week of school and work. There is no fever and he is not ill. He's just aching and miserable from all the coughing. The doctor's don't seem to have a clue. They say there is something irritating his airway. All his vitals are good and his lungs are clear. My next step is a pulminologist or allergist, but we have no medical insurance. So I'm looking for any advice to narrow things down. Has anyone else ever experienced this??? We are desperate to find some answers. He just keeps getting medicated, but the root of the problem is not being explored. He was a perfectly healthy football player and wrestler until this hit him like a ton of bricks! The bottom line is this, we just need to find something, anything that will stop the cough. Please help if you can. Thanks!

Sounds like the same problem I have. Went for all that testing and did the drug thing and nothing helped. I discovered an antihistamine helps alot. You can get a severe cough from sinus problems too. I was almost choking with mine. The DR. didn't think it could be a sinus thing tho. Try a night time sleep aid---like the kind that have acetominiphen with dyphenhydramine in them . This will help him to sleep and relieve the aches from coughing. The dyphenhydramine is a antihistamine. Talk to the pharmacist first tho. All I can say is this helped me.

The antihistamine thing makes sense -- since it's entirely possible for you to be allergic to things that you can't see, that produce a reaction.

Why the albuterol didn't help, I have no idea.

There's LOTS of good OTC antihistmaines -- there's the stuff like diphenhydramine (or Benadryl) or dimenhydramine (known colloquially as Gravol) that'll knock you out, or stuff like Reactine (cetrizine) that won't.

Only other thing I would suggest would be maybe have a culture done for respiratory infections, or a mantoux to check for TB, but these seem pretty unlikely.

[This message has been edited by wrin (edited 03-14-2003).]

Thanks for your advice. Michael ended up being hospitalized after I posted this message. He had a bronchialoscopy and an upper GI done on him. The good news is their is no infection, but they did discover he had acid reflux pretty bad. He is now taking Zantax and has slept for the first time in a week. Hopefully this will not hit him again!

I cough every day for the last 20 years. I am allergic to dust mites. There are dust mites everywhere, especially in bed and carpet. Sadly, there is absolutely nothing that can be done about it. If that is the reason, your son will just have to get used to it.