In reference to Kteacher's "cough thing" thread.... My DS's diagnosis today...

[SeaSpray]

DS14 has been coughing for almost 3 weeks now. He also has asthma, the kind where coughing is the main symptom. In between his coughing spells, he'd feel fine, which was puzzling to me since when he's had asthma problems other times, it wasn't like this.

I took him to the doctor THREE times last week. Finally this morning when I called the pediatrician's office, I requested to see the respiratory specialist. Fortunately while we were there, DS went into one of his coughing episodes and he was diagnosed with pertussis, otherwise known as whooping cough. It's going around, and is VERY contagious. DS14 AND DS11 are now BOTH on high level Zithromax, and the doctor suggested that DH and I contact our doctor to see if he recommends that we go on antibiotic as well, as that is the suggested protocol.

This explains why the nebulizer treatments, the Prednisone, etc was not helping DS14 at all last week, since it wasn't his asthma afterall.

We live in MA and my brother in law NJ also has this, so it's traveling through the east coast, at least.

The antibiotics mainly will help lessen how communicable it is, and will only help the patient to a certain point. To treat the symptoms, our pediatrician has prescribed a cough medicine with codeine for nighttime, as well as taking other OTC medications for daytime.

Here's a link to a couple of web sites with info:

http://www.metrokc.gov/health/prevcont/pertussis.htm
http://www.pertussis.com/parents.html

 

[cinlee3]

Sorry to hear about your son's diagnosis. A few weeks ago, two unrelated kids on a youth football team were diagnosed with whooping cough and they had it all over the news.

I thought this was something the kids are immunized against. Is there a resistant strain out there or what is going on?

All the best to your sons for a speedy recovery.

 

[amid chaos]

Oh the poor guy...that is an awful cough...terribly painful too.

Alot of people don't realize that the pertussis vaccine the kids get as babies ( the P in DPT) only gets the kids thru babyhood when it can be very dangerous. It wears off so school age kids can get pertussis.

I hope your DS will be comfortable soon.

 

[SeaSpray]

Thanks for the good wishes.

That's correct, amid. The immunizations only last 5-10 years, so kids who are elementary school age and higher, as well as adults, are no longer immune.

 

[grinningghost]

Seaspray, my DD is 13 and also has the coughing kind of asthma. It really gets horrible sometimes. Thanks for the heads up on pertussis, I'd probably just assume her coughing was the asthma. Now I'll be more cautious. Hope he's feeling better.

 

[SeaSpray]

thanks, grinningghost. I hope your DD doesn't catch this!

Mine and DH's doctor did call in prescriptions for Zithromax for us too.

 

[piratesmate]

Wow! Thanks for sharing this! I'll confess that I'd never heard the vaccine didn't last. I'd always heard that pertussis was one of those diseases we'd eradicated - like smallpox...I know, don't go there!

DD has exercise induced asthma and no one pays attention anymore when she "barks like a seal." Thanks for the heads up!

Deb

 

[SeaSpray]

I thought the same thing, piratesmom, that this wasn't an illness that was still around. When I spoke to DS11's speech teacher today and told her, she said her DS had it last year and so did many of his classmates, so apparently it's not as rare as I had once thought.

 

[ead79]

Goodness! I certainly hope your DS feels 100% better soon!

 

[BWVDenise]

Wow, thanks for the information. My ds has asthma also, so I'll watch out for this.

 

[cinlee3]

Boy, I had no idea that this vaccine didn't last. I will certainly be on the lookout if my kids develop a serious cough. Here I thought we were safe when they were talking about the boys in our area having Pertussis.

 

[SeaSpray]

cinlee: I know what you mean. When you hear of certain diseases, you think that only kids who's parents didn't get them properly immunized, or who lived in substandard housing, etc. would get them.

We live in our own home in an upper-middle class neighborhood, my DSs have always gotten their immunizations on time, they see the pediatrician regularly for physicals, flu shots, dental appts every 6 months, etc! DSs are extremely well taken care of. LOL So, pertussis is something that can effect anyone.

Some of my friends are talking to me as if I've been living in a third world country, when I tell them DS has pertussis (whooping cough) LOL

 

[Tiggeroo]

This went thru my family around four years ago. It is absolutely awful. You cough and cough and cough and then throw up mucous and cough so more. Once my son was diagnosed everybody in the family was on high dose meds. It was too late for most of us. I actually swore I broke ribs coughing. My ribs hurt so bad. Force your son to drink lots of hot clear fluids. My son didn't like hot tea so he drank hot apple cider and clear chicken broth. You don't feel like eating. Believe me, this was the worst thing we ever had in our house. It knocked us out for a long time. The bad coughs actually lasted over a month, and the kids missed tons of school.
I have twin sons. One was immunized. The other had a very bad reaction to the shot and only got the first one. The immunized son is the one who had it much worst. The non-immunized son had a mild case of it.
Do make sure you and your dh get on the meds. You don't want your dh missing a bunch of work with this, and you will need to be there to take care of your son. Once you are on the meds a bit you are no longer contagious either.
Get plenty of rest, drink lots of clear hot fluids (to break up mucous) and take good care of yourself. It has been awhile but I still remember how really awful this is.

 

[BWVDenise]

Tiggeroo, you are scaring me!!!

 

[SeaSpray]

Tiggeroo: Wow, I'm sorry to hear that!

DH and I have started antibiotics tonight. As soon as I got back from the pediatrician's office, I called our doctor and he phoned in prescriptions for Zithromax for us.

The pediatrician also put our other DS11 on a high dose of Zithromax, too, just as a precaution.

 

[Tiggeroo]

most of the people on the antibiotics got a much milder case. The problem is that my son also went undiagnosed so long. First I did the usuall cough treatments, then the dr. put him on an inhaler. Finally I called the dr. late at night when he was coughing really badly and had him listen. He said, wow that's whooping cough. The cough is distinctive. I have asthma and it is similar but not the same. Plus, what also clued the dr. was the vomiting after the coughing.

 

[Kitty 34]

I sure hope your son feels better real soon.

 

[disykat]

Tiggeroo, I worry that I won't be able to tell the difference since my son also has cough variant asthma. Scary! Thank goodness for persistant moms. Bye the way, I broke a rib coughing when I had pnemonia once - you probably did break one - mine took several months to heal completely.

I have a friend whose family all had this and their infant was in the hospital for several weeks - she wasn't fully immunized yet and thus not protected. She made it through fine but it was a very frightening time for all.

 

[Mamu]

Pixie Dust for your DS. Hope he is feeling better soon.

 

[SeaSpray]

Thanks for the good wishes, everyone!