Childhood asthma, allergies, or something else?

[Joanie27]

My 4-1/2-year-old has been coughing horribly at night.  In the past, her pediatrician has had me give her Zyrtec and then Albuterol sulfate via nebulizer.  I have done both of these this time and nothing is helping.  Could there be something else wrong with her besides allergies or "childhood" asthma?  When our pediatrician was out, another doc said he heard a "slight" wheeze, thus the albuterol sulfate.  She has a lot of mucous and cannot seem to "deal" with it.  My daughter "hawks" up mucous during the day and then when she lies down at night, it sounds as if it is between her nasal passages and throat.  Sometimes, it sounds as if she is going to choke on the mucous.  We have even used Singulair.  She does not cough much during the day.  I have also been told that she just cannot deal with sinus drainage.  Isn't there any other medication that docs can give to help the poor kid sleep?  Going to Pediatrician again tomorrow.  Just wondering if there are any other diseases besides asthma or allergies that sound like what my daughter is going through.  Didn't know if we should see an allergist or perhaps a pulmonologist?  Thanks

[msfitz]

I could have written your post on 19Oct!  My 4 1/2 year old son has been battling the excess mucous issue for over 2 years now and it's EXTREMELY frustrating.  I just left our pediatrican of 9 years because he just wasn't helping us.  He'd say, "have him blow his nose..."  That does no good, as you know, because there's just so much of that sticky, clear mucous. It's limitless!  And we shake in our boots when he starts his coughing phase because we know no one will sleep for weeks.

I'm dying to know what you ultimately find out.  We're going for a second allergy test on Monday, Nov 8th.  We had it done when he was 3 years old but the testing was negative, although we'd read he was to young for the testing to be conclusive (even though my pediatrician swore by it).  But we're getting desperate now and have a new pediatrician and are going to a new allergist. I'm sure we might end up down the pulmonologist route but my husband suffers from severe allergies with nasal problems so we really think that'll be the answer.

Although, we get confused about what to do as two of our four children suffer from reflux and our 9 year old still gets the croup. So there may be the reflux-reactive airway disease thing going on here too.  Also, our 9 year old had the severe coughing at the same age and has gotten better as she's gotten older.  

Please post other notes as you can to let us know what you find out about your daughter.  I'm certain we can learn from it.  We'll do the same!

Thanks so much.  

[inn0cent]

Perhaps you should have her tested for cystic fibrosis. Thick mucous and a cough, as well as chronic sinusitis from nasal polyps are both symptoms of cystic fibrosis.

[National Jewish]

With asthma the basic problem is chronic inflammation along with tightening of the smooth muscles that surround the airways of the lungs.  Bronchospasm is the tightening of the smooth muscles that surround the airways of the lungs.  A fast-acting inhaled bronchodilator medicine, like albuterol by nebulizer, reverses the bronchospasm quickly by relaxing the smooth muscles.  The inflammation is decreased and prevented when an inhaled steroid, like the Pulmicort Respules

[Ellis7]

The excess mucus might be postnasal drip from rhinitis or sinusitis; especially if she has nasal problems. There are nasal sprays to deal with this [Nasalcrom which is OTC, and the steroid ones like Nasonex]. Another possibility is GE reflux, or asthma; or a combination of any of the 3. There are also environmental factors [pollen, pets, mold] and food allergies.

Its time to get a referral to a pediatric allergist.