Help with Cough - North Aurora,IL

Updated on June 20, 2008
L.R. asks from North Aurora, IL
6 answers

My daughter has a really bad cold with a horrible cough. I have talked to her doctor's office today about her cough. The nurse said to just keep giving her Benadryl and make sure she has a vaporizer going in her room at bedtime. She also said to be sure to she is propped up so the post-nasal drip doesn't make her cough more. Well, we put her to bed at 6:45 with the vaporizer going propped up with pillows and she is just coughing non-stop. I gave her Benadryl before she went to bed and I even gave her some honey about a half hour ago because I have heard that is supposed to help with coughs, but she is just so miserable and asks me why she keeps coughing. :-( Does anybody have any other ideas on how to deal with a dry cough due to a cold? Please help!!

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So What Happened?

Thanks to everyone for your responses! I ended up giving my daughter two more teaspoons of honey and her cough finally went away. She was able to sleep through the night, but woke up at 5:30 coughing bad again. I gave her more Benadryl and three teaspoons of honey and she's not coughing. I guess the trick is more than one teaspoon of honey.

More Answers

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E.F.

answers from Chicago on

I use desymal (i think that's how you spell it). You can give it to two years old and up. It lasts 12 hours, but really only 8 but it works through the night. I also use vick's vapor rub. Some time if the vaporizer is on too high it will cause more coughing because it is loosing up the stuff in her lungs and making her cough it up. So keep it on but perhaps turn it down if possible. Switching to a cool mist humidifier may be better for her. That way you can keep it on a lower setting.

B.K.

answers from Chicago on

I have had some experience with this. My older daughter coughed all the time. She had a condition called reactive airway disease, where she would essentially get an asthma-like condition after EVERY cold! Her airway was restricted and she would cough and cough. When she got to be about your daughter's age, we would put her on an inhaler when she got her coughs. It was always a dry hacking cough NON-STOP. So, I think you should call your dr. office and let them know her cough is uncontrollable and she can't sleep. Maybe they could give her a liquid form of inhaler ( I don't know what they use these days) or a better cough syrup. Post nasal drip is awful and what you are doing is good. But if her airways are restricted it still won't help totally. Also, could she have croup? Just wondering. I think you should try to talk to the doctor instead of a nurse. I could call my pediatrician at any time. I hope you can too. Explain to him or her how bad it is. Let me know how you're doing. For many years coughing was my life! (My daughter is 20 now.)

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Y.S.

answers from Chicago on

My daughter had a cough for 5 weeks, She started coughing and I took her to the doctor right away because we were going to Europe and I wanted her healthy before the trip. Her doctor prescribed Benadryl as well. A week of taking it -it did not help !
Once I got to Europe I bought some over the counter medicine for a week- it did not help, then I took her to the doctor over there - gave us another medicine - it did not help, she was still coughing. After about a total of 5 weeks of coughing it went away on it's own.

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L.

answers from Chicago on

I would take her into the dr. My son just got a non-stop cough and had it for days, so we took him in. The dr. said it was like a croup-like cough, but not croupe because he was too old.

They gave us a liquid prescription cough medicine for night only and that has worked wonders! He is able to sleep through the night and it seems to have sped up the recovery process.

They also told us if he wasn't better in 5 days to bring him back.

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A.

answers from Chicago on

I try to only give medications for the problem. Does she have alot of mucous? Is she trying to cough stuff up? Triametic (sp?) has a just cough product and it is a thin strip so no yucky liquids. There is a night time version with a decongestant in it too. We all have had coughs the past month and it works great for my kids 2 5 and 11. I never been told to give benadryl unless it is to help them sleep or there is other symptoms.

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S.E.

answers from Chicago on

Make sure it is a cool mist humidifier not a hot vaporizer. Hot vaporizers breed germs. Did you try some childrens tylenol nighttime cough or check with your local health food store they may have a natural cough medicine. Ask the doctor for an inhaler, when we had the flu/colds around our house hold the doctor gave an inhaler because the more she coughs the more her Bronchial Tubes get inflamed and the mucus does not want to come up when she coughs making her want to cough more. If the mucus does not come up that is how pneumonia or bronchitis happens. My girl friend that works at Centgera as a respiratory therapist was the one that suggested asking for an inhaler and it worked great.

Think about it...

S.

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