Sinus Infection and Cough

Dear S.,

Michelle said the very things I was going to say. With my daughter, what worked best was Delsyn cough syrup and putting a vaporizer in the room. For my son, cutting back on milk products helped. Oh, and make sure he stays hydrated with water and juice halfed with water. It also sounds like it could be asthma.

Have you tried natural products such as echinacea? There is one liquid called First Sneeze tastes awful but works wonderfully! And it doesn't have the side effects that antibiotics have. It boosts your body's own immune system to fight infection.

Hope this helps,
A. S.

My son had a chronic sinus infection for a while. He ended up having a CT scan to check his sinuses. He was on antibiotics for 21 days. He has mild asthma and his sinus infection made his asthma flare up. It sounds like the antibiotics are not working. I'm thinking that they put him on amoxicillin. He is currently on Zithromax for bronchitis but still has his cough but thankfully the wheezing has stopped. I'm watching him very carefully for a sinus infection.

Good luck...coughs can be nerve wracking.

We just went through this with my son (21 months). The cough is likely from sinus drainage. It took 3 rounds of 10-day antibiotics (each time he'd get better for about a week, then it would come back) before they decided to try a 30-day course of antibiotics. After nearly 30 days the drainage was so bad they decided to take his adenoids out. He had the procedure this past Friday and other than the day of the surgery (groggy, some pain, etc.) he's been GREAT! Bouncing around the house being sooooo happy. I'd say to ask your doc if you can continue the current antibiotic for 30 days rather than wait any longer. After that, they may recommend to get adenoids or tonsils out.
GOod luck!

Have you tried Delsym cough medicine? That's the one our doctor said is the best over-the-counter cough suppressant. I've always heard that if the cough is productive to not give cough medicine, but if your child is having trouble sleeping because of it, I know my son's doctor has said it's ok to give at night so that he can sleep. I agree that a humidifier/vaporizer is a good idea. My 2 year old has something similar right now. He had a sinus infection with an ear infection and then it seemed to go away after a few days. Well, now it's back. Anyway, since we don't have a humidifier, I have been turning on the shower just on hot for about 20-30 minutes and it puts a lot of nice moisture in the air in the bedroom (the celiing from the bathroom is open to the bedroom). He stops coughing for at least a couple of hours after I do that. I need to go buy one of those humidifiers myself I know. :-) Good luck! I hope your son is feeling better soon!

Hi S.,
SOme of our patients have to take a full 21 days of antibiotics before the sinus infection clears up.
For the cough- our office (I am a Pedi RN BTW) recommends warm juices like apple or pear juice, lots of fluids, short bursts of steam like from the bathroom helpa lot too.
During the day try something like Mucinex which is an expectorant (or anything w/ the active ingredient Guifenissen) at night most kids have a lot of drainage so Benadryl works well to dry the drainage. That is dosed at 1 tsp per 25 pounds.
Good Luck!
D.

The cough is most likely due to drainage so try to keep his head elevated while he sleeps ( easier said than done, I know! . Also try using a vaporizer in his room. When my daughter is sick, we try to limit her intake of milk and other dairy type products b/c it makes it harder for the yucky stuff to break up. My daughter used to get a lot of sinus infections and I do recall one time when she went on back to back antibiotics. Since I have bad allergies, the doctor determined that she had allergies too. He put her on a allergy med and nose spray and it has helped her tremendously.
Good luck!

Both my boys have this same thing right now. My doctor told me to give them Triminic orange during the day and the purple nighttime for coughs at night. Yes the orange Triminic is not for coughs but they said that they didn't want to suppress the cough during the day. Only at night. Anyway, they also said that they have been seeing this cough and cold a lot and it seems to be lasting two weeks or so. I would just keep in touch with your doctor.