chronic cough in an 11 year old

My 11 year old daughter developed a barking croupy cough after catching a cold in december.  She was treated with prednisone 60 mg daily for 3 days, then 40 daily for 3 days..no relief. We were sent to an ENT who scoped her sinuses...nothing visible found.   After being told this was probably psychogenic cough, I asked for a referral and went to a pediatric pulmonologist.  They did a bronch and found a small ulcerated area on the posterior part of her trachea.  He suspected from the cough which was constant x 24hours each day.  She became exhausted..was admitted 48 hours and put on lidocaine nebs and tyl. with codeine.  Her bronch. cultures grew out the hsv1 virus so the pulmonologist put her on acyclovir for 2 weeks.  She has improved, still some coughing during the day, but not that severe croupy harsh cough...worse as the day goes on and is now sleeping all night.  Wondering what caused this and how long it will go on?  Any other experiences out there that are similar?  She's eating and drinking well.  Her color has returned and no fevers.  The lung dr. doesn't feel biopsy is warrented.  Her cbc,sed rate were normal, also normal pulm. function tests.  Thanks.  Jill

[National Jewish]

With the symptoms you have described, the lab results and the time frame for what has occurred, this may be due to a viral infection in December, which resulted in some airway inflammation.  This inflammation could easily explain the cough.  The cough could have produced the small, ulcerated area.  Since the problem is getting better, that also makes it more likely to be a viral problem.

[amyeliz]

Hi Jill,
I read with interest your post from February regarding your daughter's chronic cough.  How is she doing?  Hopefully she is completely healthy now!

My 12-yr. old daughter has had a harsh, loud, barking cough for nearly 2 months, and our pediatrician is now suggesting "psychogenic cough."  She had a mild runny nose at first, and was treated with two different antibiotics during the first 3 weeks of the cough, then prednisone.  No change.   Asthma was ruled out; skin tests found some mild seasonal allergies but not to be causing this cough. A couple weeks later, the cough seemed to lessen somewhat in frequency, but still present, so she was given a cough medicine with antihistimine, decongestant and hydrocodeine.  No help, and now she has picked up a sinus infection (Xray confirmed) and the cough has worsened. Chest Xray normal, neck xray only showed mild inflammation, probably caused by the cough.  Her breathing has never been compromised. The weird thing is, my daughter doesn't cough at night.  She is often asked to leave the classroom at school because of the distracting nature of her cough, and she tends to get "worn out" from the cough (and perhaps the social stigma of everyone's comments!)

I have forwarded your post to our pediatrician so she will hopefully make the referral to a pediatric pulmonary spec.  Though the cause of my daughter's cough may not be the same as yours, I am certainly not ready to accept a psychogenesis dx yet until everything else has been explored.

Does anyone else have an experiences like this?  Anyone with GERD that presented with a dry cough?

Regards, Amy

[basheer]

Hi Amyeliz

My son is 6 year old and he also have a harsh hard cough now 2.5 months now. The symptoms are almost like your cases. Initially it is started with a flu and subsequently he had infection in throat. Dr. was given him Antibiotics for two occasion with 7 and 10 days period. Dr. has given many cough syrups and he is being examined three doctors now. One of the Doctors was initially suspected that a habit picked up by my son. I don't beleive in this. I did a blood test ( Blood count) Chest X-ray, Manti test for allergy. All of these tests looks OK.

The interesting thing is that as you also mentioned, he will not cough during sleep. Morning time also he cough rarely. The frequency increases by evening. The coughing is really hard and dry. Normally he bends forward and put his hands backside while coughing. There is no fever or any other symptoms. He attends daily calsses in school. His teacher pointed out his cough several times to us.

If you able to find any solution or medicine for this Please let me through my mail (***@****) or by posting.

Kind regards
Basheer

[basheer]

Hi Amyeliz

My son is 6 year old and he also have a harsh hard cough now 2.5 months now. The symptoms are almost like your cases. Initially it is started with a flu and subsequently he had infection in throat. Dr. was given him Antibiotics for two occasion with 7 and 10 days period. Dr. has given many cough syrups and he is being examined three doctors now. One of the Doctors was initially suspected that a habit picked up by my son. I don't beleive in this. I did a blood test ( Blood count) Chest X-ray, Manti test for allergy. All of these tests looks OK.

The interesting thing is that as you also mentioned, he will not cough during sleep. Morning time also he cough rarely. The frequency increases by evening. The coughing is really hard and dry. Normally he bends forward and put his hands backside while coughing. There is no fever or any other symptoms. He attends daily calsses in school. His teacher pointed out his cough several times to us.

If you able to find any solution or medicine for this Please let me through my mail (***@****) or by posting.

Kind regards
Basheer

[basheer]

dt

[Olenka]

Hi

My name is Ola, My 11 year old son Maciej has a barking croupy cough , psychogenic cough ....
http://www.vh.org/pediatric/patient/pediatrics/cqqa/cough.html


Habit cough, psychogenic cough
Often described as a barking or honking cough.
Has no physical cause.
Habit cough can be caused by nervousness.
Emotional problems are probably the cause of a psychogenic cough.
For example, a child might cough to get their parents' attention.
Many people cannot stop themselves from coughing. They need to see a doctor for help.

[Olenka]

Hi

My name is Ola, My 11 year old son Maciej has a barking croupy cough , psychogenic cough ....
http://www.vh.org/pediatric/patient/pediatrics/cqqa/cough.html


Habit cough, psychogenic cough
Often described as a barking or honking cough.
Has no physical cause.
Habit cough can be caused by nervousness.
Emotional problems are probably the cause of a psychogenic cough.
For example, a child might cough to get their parents' attention.
Many people cannot stop themselves from coughing. They need to see a doctor for help.

[Olenka]

Hi

My name is Ola, My 11 year old son Maciej has a barking croupy cough , psychogenic cough ....
http://www.vh.org/pediatric/patient/pediatrics/cqqa/cough.html


Habit cough, psychogenic cough
Often described as a barking or honking cough.
Has no physical cause.
Habit cough can be caused by nervousness.
Emotional problems are probably the cause of a psychogenic cough.
For example, a child might cough to get their parents' attention.
Many people cannot stop themselves from coughing. They need to see a doctor for help.