Lasting Cough Coughs caused by colds due to viruses can last weeks, especially if a child has one cold right after another. Asthma, allergies, or a chronic infection in the sinuses or airways also might cause lasting coughs. If your child still has a cough after 3 weeks, call your doctor.
A daily cough that lasts more than four weeks is considered chronic and should be checked out by a doctor. The good news is that pediatricians can typically address the common causes of a cough.
Call your pediatrician if: A dry cough evolves into clicking, bubbling or rattling when your child inhales. Additionally, if your child is having labored breathing, it may be time to call your child's doctor.
Lockwood recommends trying ice pops or smoothies. If your child is one year old or older, give them warm apple juice, milk or decaffeinated tea with honey in it. The warm liquid can soothe their throat and loosen the mucus. Help clear their chests with a cool mist humidifier or steamy shower.
Coughing or wheezing is more likely to be your child's asthma if: they're coughing or wheezing more at night or early in the morning. their cough or wheeze won't go away or keeps coming back. they wheeze without other cold symptoms.
Most people with asthma have a dry cough, one that does not produce mucous. This happens when the airways constrict in response to an irritant and is a feature of asthma. As well as the cough there is often a high-pitched wheeze sound that is also caused by the constricted airway.
Coughing that is constant, is intermittent or seems linked to physical activity. Wheezing or whistling sounds when your child breathes out. Shortness of breath or rapid breathing. Complaints of chest tightness.
The cough is typically dry and non-productive, meaning it doesn't bring up mucus. It is sometimes described as having a "barking" or "hacking" sound. Tree and grass pollen, pet dander, dust mites, or mold are just a few allergens that can cause an allergy cough.
Chronic cough may be cause for concern
When a cough lasts for longer than four weeks in children (eight weeks in adults) we call this a chronic cough. There are many causes of chronic cough and usually if a cough lasts long enough to be considered chronic it needs to be evaluated.
When excess mucus runs down a person's throat, it is known as a post-nasal drip. It is a common trigger for nighttime coughing and sore throats. However, a post-nasal drip cough does not usually involve deep or wheezing coughs. Helping a child sleep in a more elevated position may reduce post-nasal drip coughs.
It interacts with cold receptors in the nose and throat, helping to stop coughing. Vicks VapoRub contains 2.6% menthol to help stop constant coughing fast. Vicks VapoDrops are also an effective remedy for coughs. Allow 2 drops to dissolve slowly in your mouth to help stop constant coughing.
Asthma often starts during childhood, usually before age 5. Many children have asthma - it is the most common chronic disease of childhood. It can cause children to miss school and end up in the hospital.
Allergies usually do not cause wet coughs
A cold cough is wet and hacking, and typically produces mucus or phlegm that gets progressively thicker, often taking on a green or yellow tinge. Allergies can cause a cough that feels like you have a tickle in your throat.
Cold symptoms appear gradually and usually last about one to three weeks. An allergy cough may go on for as long as you're exposed to your trigger. For instance, a hay fever cough could linger the whole pollen season. You may be glued to the pollen forecast for several weeks.
4: Consider allergies. If the cough is persistent and does not go away after two weeks, it's time to start thinking about other factors, which could include allergies, especially if symptoms include not only post-nasal drip, but itchy eyes, ears and throat.
Symptoms of an asthma attack
your symptoms are getting worse (cough, breathlessness, wheezing or tight chest) your reliever inhaler (usually blue) is not helping. you're too breathless to speak, eat or sleep. your breathing is getting faster and it feels like you cannot catch your breath.
Testing for Asthma
The most common lung function test is called spirometry. This lung function test uses a device called, a spirometer, to measure the amount and speed of the air you blow out.
Cough in asthma is typically dry or minimally productive, but it may also be associated with hyper-secretion of mucus. Mucus hyper-secretion in asthma may be potentially related with steeper decline of pulmonary function [27] and fatal disease [28].
Coughing is the body's way of trying to remove whatever is irritating the lungs. While people with asthma often experience a whistling or wheezing sound in the chest in addition to coughing, there is a form of asthma in which the only symptom is a chronic cough.
Although asthma symptoms may occur throughout the day and night, they are often worse during sleeping hours, usually after midnight. New night-time symptoms are signs that a new flare, or worsening of asthma control, has started. The lungs are making a lot of mucus. Your child may try to cough it out.
Can My Child Outgrow Asthma? Asthma is a life-long disease with no cure. As a child gets older, their asthma symptoms may get better and appear to “go away.” But airway inflammation may never truly go away. It often returns later in life.
Asthma symptoms are often worse at night because: lying down can trigger a cough, especially if your child also has a blocked nose or sinuses. Or if they have post-nasal drip (mucus that drips from the back of your nose down your throat) due to hay fever, allergies or a cold.