Coughing Associated with Allergies/asthma???

T.

You may also want to try MSM in a powder form. It is amazing for Allergies and Ashma. I use it for my daughter who is slightly allergic to her dog. you can reasch there is a book called the MSM Miracle. Hope this helps.

My daughter went through all the allergy testing this summer. She used to cough all night long. We only made 2 changes, and it worked. We got the allergy covers for her mattress and pillow, and she is taking Singulair. Problem is all but gone. Thank goodness I don't have to do all that crazy ritual cleaning and sanitizing, how exhausting!

Maybe you can find a solution without the use of medication. You daughter is still so small. Good luck.

HI. My daughter was diagnosed with reactive Airway Disease, which is a form of asthma that is induced by environment. There is coughing associated with this, and it is controllable by changing what allergens she is exposed to in her environment. You should remove any carpets, mini-blinds (use a roll-shade instead), drapes or curtains - basically anything that can hold dust & dust mites. Her mattress should have an allergy-reducing cover over it and her sheets should be washed in very hot water with free & clear type of detergent (no dyes or perfumes) at least once a week, if not twice a week. Same thing for the comforter - it should be cotton or natural fiber, not down, even a duvet cover will not prevent the down from coming through the threads. Make sure you air out her room on a regular basis and that if you use a humidifier (use sparingly as humidity can cause fluid in the lungs that will irritate & cause cough)that you sterilize it well between each water filling.

If you absolutely have to have carpeting, get a throw rug that you can wash weekly.

Also, if you have gas-forced air or basically any other kind of heat besides radiators, make sure your vents are cleaned of mites every season & install filters on all the registers, in addition to getting the super hepa filter for the furnace itself. Don't buy an air filter for the room, as air filters have been known to create ozone as a by-product and this agravates asthma.

Here is a good website where you can purchase these items: http://www.natlallergy.com

This kind of asthma is very controllable, once you have your home set up properly. My daughter's pediatrician wanted to put her on year-round asthma meds but I was sure i could control it by changing the environment - and I was right. She was diagnosed at age 2, and she is now age 8 and has not had to use an inhaler in the last 2 years.

Please try this advice, it really could work for you & keep your daughter off meds.

Good luck!

I'm asthmatic for 25 years and have never had an ttack where I gasp; I cough. A nurse on a plane told me I had asthma or I would have never known. I went to my dr. as soon as I got home from my trip. Goose down or any down blanket will affect her. Even my pillows had to be changed to hypoallergetic...no more feathers. Strange that my parakeet doesn't bother me. Maybe because he was domesticall raised and not wild. ??? Good luck

T.,
hey there. I am someone who is allergic to everything under the sun, and have been since I was 8. My asthma was really out of control. When I was first diagnosed I was having upwards of 10 to 12 attacks a day. So my mom minimized my exposure to things and then slowly started reintroducing me to them in an effort to really understand what I was having the most problems with. I had lots of coughing and still do (it's now 14 years later) when my allergies are bothering me, but not all off it is asthma, some is just the drainage.
I would say the down comfortor should probably go. They have some great synthetic down comfortor's for those with allergies. I got one recently and it is fantastic (Target).

I know it is hard to have a 3 year old tell you what is wrong, but she and you will eventually learn what is a crisis and what isn't. I think it took my mom a couple of years not to panic when i started having asthma attacks. I hope this helps. Good luck. It may take a couple of years, but you and your daughter will find a balance with this. It just takes some time to understand what is going on.

Good luck to the both of you.

T.,
In my experience coughing goes hand and hand with alergies. Both of my kids coughed all night long. I thought it was a cold/flu. Tried (with my older child) about 4 different cough medicines, nothing worked. The doc and pharm. both suggest alergy medicine. I think my husband buys walitin. I also think zertic works well too. But it takes a few nights to kick in. I would talk to the Dr. or pharm. about it.
Good luck,
K.

Down is a common allergen. Sounds like the the cough is asthma in reaction to the down. I would either get rid of the down or get an allergy cover for it

My son's asthma was diagnosed because I took him to the doctor for a chronic dry sounding cough which lasted for weeks. They diagnosed the asthma by giving him a bronchodialator in the inhaler form. The cough then stopped. He eventually outgrew the asthma. A.

It's the down. It's feathers. She's alergic. Switch to a regular old comforter. Something with a synthetic filling. Stuff that into her duvet.

T.,

My daughter also has allergies. Like you I thought she had a cold that had been lingering (runny nose with a cough). My Pediatrician told me it could be her allergies. So I put her back on her claritin and it got sooo much better. So YES it could be her allergies!!! It wouldn't hurt to put her on her allergy medicine and see what happens. Just remember some allergy medicines(like claritin) can take several days to reach it's peak effectivness!! GOOD LUCK!!!

It has gotten colder lately....do you have a humidifier. The dry air causes a cough at night. Mine also contracted some kind of little bug that causes coughing as well. I doubt it from the allergies unless it is a congested type cough and then it could be from the drainage going down her throat at night. If it is a dry cough, I would say it is from dry air.

Hi T.,
Yes, you cough with allergies. I would get rid of her down comforter. Ask her allergist for some alternatives to her down comforter.

I would strongly suggest getting rid of the down comforter as well as any other down in the house. My husband and 2 year old both have pet allergies, as well as food and seasonal allergies, and just being next to me while I was wearing a down coat was enough to trigger symptoms in both of them. If you don't have a pediatric allergist maybe you can get a referral from your pediatrician. I love ours! That way any symptoms the pediatrician is unfamiliar with you can get specialized help. Please, please take a few moments to research the bad side effects from allergy medication on babies/children. A little goes a long way. Another piece of trivia we came across, try to always use the dosage cup or dropper that comes with the medication. We dicovered that a dropper we got from the pharmacy for general use was measuring his benadryl at a larger portion than he could have!

Anyways, removal of the down and pets from our home have made a huge difference in my huband and son's allergic reactions and we very rarely need meds at all. As for the coughing, maybe it is your daughter's body reacting to a throat irritation that she cannot describe to you in words. It is so hard to tell with these poor babies that can't really tell us what is wrong. Keep up the good work at paying attention and never overlook the little reactions (my son also gets a skin rash from pets so petting zoos are just not somewhere we can go either). For mild skin rash I use a little topical cortizone.

Best wishes!

T., yes, coughing is a fairly uncommon, but known symptom of allergies. It is horrible. My son, had a cough with his allergy to our cat (who we have now found a new home for). You have to remove the irritant and then her cough will clear up.

No suggestions here, just comiserating with you. I just posted something simaler today. We just left our doc with a similar diagnosis. Hope you can find one that works out for you.

We just completed testing with our daughter..coughing was her asthma symptom

Have you tried using dust mite pillow/duvet covers? I am terribly allergic to dust mites/their waste and would cough soooo much until I added these special covers. I've purchased them at Target and Sears, you can also find them online. I'd try them before trying any kind of medicines...

Also, talk with her doctor.

Good luck,
M.

My 3 1/2 year old suffered horribly with coughing at night until she was diagnosed with asthma and put on a nebulizer. She uses a medication called Pulmicort through the nebulizer before bed (it's to prevent asthma symptoms), and she has no cough any more! If changing the bedding doesn't work and the cough keeps up, I'd ask the doc about treating her for asthma. We actually ended up going to a pediatric pulmonologist at Childrens (located at Central DuPage Hospital). Good luck!