Chronic Cough 5 Year Old

[Bluetongue]

We have a granddaughter who stays with us for weeks at a time, then under informal arrangements, she also stays with her maternal grandparents. We never know when this is going to happen or have any prior warning when she is coming back. She is 5.

The problem is for at least the last 9-12 months, off and on she has had a chest cough that gets worse in between bouts of medication. Generally it is us who take her to the doctor who gives antibiotics, antihistamines and a cough medicine. Then when the course of medicine is finished the cough has pretty much gone away, then a week or two later it comes back. Sometimes this seems to coincide with her return from the other granmas place. I'm not sure because there are are a couple of things that happen here which might not be helping. However my wife is convinced that her bedding is filthy at the other place and the general care is lacking ie diet washing of clothes etc. This might be true and if she mentioned it to the Doctor this might explain the anti histamines. Yes/no?

From my own observation here the father often puts her in front of the TV for long periods of time with the fan blasting her, she sleeps with the fan on. We have cool nights. Her diet has absolutely no vegetables or fruit, only rice with fish, chicken or egg. Also she harasses him to buy her canom and sometimes fizzy drinks which she will happily consume instead of food at mealtimes. Overall I feel he babies her a bit too much but it does not seem uncommon around here. My reactions are ignored, what could I possibly know, probably true.

As someone who has no experience of raising children I am at a wits end to try and help her get rid of this debilitating and (seems to me) chronic condition. At present it seems like she will get another course of anti-biotics. Any thoughts welcome particularly helpful ones from experience or knowledge.

[kurnell]

Lots of kids get chronic coughs, especially in Bangkok. My girls get coughs quite often (they are 3 and 6) and we only give them ABs if they have an infection. I reckon most of the coughs are allergy related so I make sure their bedding (especially pillows) are washed in eucalyptus oil every few months to kill and wash away dust mites, we air out their room, clean the curtains, and don't let them sleep with soft toys. We also have an air purifier and I clean the ACs every 4-6 months. That's my 2 cents worth.

[Pormax]

It does sound more like an allergic reaction to me possibly the diet etc could have an influence.

Personally I would not go and see a general doctor in a clinic again but go to the hospital and see a Peadiatrician who can run tests and try to discover what the underlying problem is. Prevention is much better than a tempory cure. Besides too many antbiotics is not good for the immune system.

[MrRealDeal]

I would not relate it quite so much to the other living arrangements because you stated ..... sometimes it coincides ...... thats means sometimes it does not as well , so the problem would seem to occur in both locations , it sounds to me like the medicine is only masking the problem not solving it or curing it because you state the symptoms go away while the meds are used but return when they stop , so it's only stopping the symptoms not solving the underlying problem.

The lack of solution is a Doctor problem not a bedding or fan problem because a good doctor would have already asked about those issues , it's also not a diet problem as plenty of people eat that way and don't have a cronic cough , it's not helping but it's not the main source of the problem.

IF it's an infection you need to get it solved sooner than later as AB meds should be taken sparingly. It's possible that she has a lung infection and the medecine is not being taken long enough or is not strong enough , but since the AB meds are not working they should either be stopped or increased in dosage and duration.

Take her to a specialist and explain what you have done so far and have her tested for alergys but doing the same thing thats not working is only going to make it harder to solve later.

Like I said in the beginning I would really not place blame on the other people taking care of her or yourself for that matter , the blame is on the doctor who is so far unable to figure out why the cemotherapy is not working but seems to want to continue it anyhow.

[Sheryl]

Yes, you need to see a good pediatrician. Where are you located?

[Heng]

Some people think mattresses and pillows are forever, might be time for a change?

[bina]

ashtma? surprisingly enough it seems that lots of thais have asthma but it goes unidentified or untreated...

[MrRealDeal]

Ps ... a Doctor doesn't order anti histamines because people live in unsanitary conditions they tell them to wash the bedding more often. But sleeping on dirty bedding for a couple of weeks doesn't cause cronic cough it causes things like scabies or other infections like imphatygo. Things that float in the air would be a more likely culprit like dust from construction or dirt from the roads or smoke from burning fields. Absent those things an alergy or viral infection would be next on the list. The reason it's a problem in Bangkok is because of the things that float in the air , upcountry it would be smoke , in areas with a lot of vegetation especially flowers algerys , but a viral infection can happen anywhere and be caused by numerous things , an infection would be a wetter kind of cough and an iritation from particles a more dry cough that cough medecine would make feel better , an infection would normally have had some sort of whats called flu like symptoms , like a fever or common cold at some point in the beginning , a cought resulting from particle iritation normally would not at the beginning but can certianly turn to an infection later.

Try and think back to what was happening when it began and try and help the Doctor by thinking about these things and it will make his job easier. As simple as it may sound gargling with salt water is an old cure for both sore throat and coughing , but not much help for a lung infection or alergys. The Asian version is to drink the glass of salt water as well as gargle with it.

[Bluetongue]

Yes, you need to see a good pediatrician. Where are you located?

In Chantaburi, out of the city but the city would not be a problem. The cough seems to me to have morphed into a wet but more sporadic cough over the last few days since I posted, when it was a dry hacking cough very regular. The anti-biotics ran out three weeks ago, she went to the other place for two weeks with almost no symptoms and has been back here for about a week with a cough again. We'll be watching closely the next couple of days, it does not seem as debilitating at the moment, the fan use has lessened considerably too.

[Sheryl]

Afraid I can't suggest anyone in Chantaburi, but if it gets bad enough to warrant a trip to Bkk let me know.

I assume she has had a chest Xray already?