Desperate mom wants 2 help 4 yr old Chron. Cough and Congest. lasting 6-8 mnths.

[skipshift]

4 yr old daughter (born April 1st, 1999 by C-section) born with respiratory problems been on zyrtec since 8 months old. For the last 6-8 month she has had chronic coughing, congestion, cough is worse at night.  In December was diagnosed with pnuemonia and hospitalized for 3 days. Doctors could not hear pnuemonia it was only found by xray. Has been on nebulizer with albuterol since December. After Hosp. stay got better for a few weeks but now cough is back, getting so bad she throws up at times.  She has no fever but runny nose and constant nose blowing.  She has been on every antibiotic imagineable including Zithromax, she is on second term of Zithromax in a row.  She acts fine and has energy but is now having loss of apetite but craving sweets.  She has also had quite a few UTI's.  She was breast fed for four weeks after birth (was born with 2 bottom teeth), is very tall and large for her age.  Is 4 feet tall and weighs 47 lbs has always been made to eat veggies and healthy food, is kept warm and well.  We have tried everything, is there anything we can do to ease this for her?  Doctor suggests seeing allergy specialist.  Has very small bumps around sides of her waist (dont' know if this is significant)  Please help, this poor baby is having such a horrible time.  No pets in my home but not sure if her father keeps his dog in his home.  I Have gas heat, but father has central heat and air.  PLEASE I am desperate to help my little girl get better for good.  I anxiously await your answer.

[prepaid guru]

We just arrived home from a sleep study at Children's in Dallas.  Our 2.5 year old daughter is 48 lbs. and 39 inches tall.  Our ENT suspected that her weight gain may be causing sleep apnea.  Well, preliminary results after the study show she does have mild obstructive sleep apnea.  The plan is to move forward with a tonsilectomy / adnonectomy.

She was diagnosed with RSV when she was 6 mon. and has been on Zyrtec, Flonase and Proventil since then.  We also tried the nebulizer for one year, but by year 2 she refuses it now.

She is very, very active and cognitively off the chart.  But she won't sit still for very long.

Our most concern right now is her weight gain.  One pound a week over the last eight weeks.  She usually eats a good lunch but doesn't eat but 4 bites at dinner and hardly has any candy.  She drinks around 30 ounces of 2% milk a day.

After the surgery (tonsils), our PCP wants to have a MRI to see if she has a lesion on her pituary gland (middle brain).  This may be messing up her hormones and causing these changes in her body.  She has had blood drawn to check for thyroid and hormone problems and it all came back normal. She also had a bone scan of her wrist to check for normal bone growth.

I have noticed that she is starting to experience restless sleeping.  She will sit up in bed (3 AM) and call people's names out and make conversation when no one is in the room. Then lay back down and continue sleeping.  Or she will scream out, as if dreaming, then turn over.

[totalmuggle]

not tp be saying anything you dont want to here but please go to www.cff.org it might just help

[kristelhasan]

My son is 3yr old is 40inches tall and weighs 42lbs.  He was diagnosed by x-ray with walking pneumonia about 4 weeks ago.  After treatment he was better for about 1 week.  Then he started coughing again.  I took him back in and the Dr said that she could hear fluid in his opposite lung this time.  She put him on Singular, Nasonex, Zithromaz, Pulmicort and Xopenex with a nebulizer and Pancof-PD for cough at night.  All at the same time.  It kinda scares me!!  He has been having up to 5 potty accidents a day.  Is this possibly related?  He seems to be full of energy (which he has been all along, he has never even acted sick).  I have noticed after a treatment of Pulmicort that he gets a little crazy.  

I am wondering if I am doing the nebulizer treatments properly.  I have never used one before.  What are the do's and don'ts? Is 3 teatments a day of each Xopenex and Pulmicort too much? How do you get a 3yr old to cooperate and do them? I have been doing some of them while he's sleeping.  is this good or bad?

Any suggestions will be appreciated.  Thank you!!

[Sebastians Mom]

This story sounds so familiar. My soon to be 4 year old is 53 1/2 pounds. I can tell you it definitely sounds like a Pulmonary specialist should see your child. We've been thru many many specialists including allergists and immunotherapy only to find none of it has helped. We finally ended up at our local Children's Hospital with the Pulmonology department.

Your daughter should be on an inhaled steroid and possibly an oral steroid if she can't beat the cough. Many pediatricians are just not "up" on asthma which is what it sounds like your daughter has. And although you are probably saying to yourself, Asthma? Believe me it is way more common today than it ever has been. We too went thru the unbelieving denial period ;)

I would highly suggest you contact your pediatrician and/or allergist and request a Pulmonogist referral, preferably at a children's pulmonologist.

We found that the Pulmonologists tend to look at the problem from more aspects than your allergist would.

Good luck to you!

[ozark]

i think maybe her problem is her urine infections...has she been worked up by a pediatric urologist?  she may have an anatomical problem that needs to be addressed...her original infections maybe from that and then it causes all her other symptoms by getting into her blood......good luck

[CINDY4]

My daughter also suffers from chronic infections.  Her drs have told us Zithromax is famous for not completely killing an infection.  She was seen at National Jewish and had pneumonia again while we were there.  She saw her pulmo a few days before and I told him of her cough and sinus symptoms, so he put her on Zithromax.  3 days later she spiked a high fever and drs there did an x-ray that showed a bad pneumonia.  The drs at National Jewish said they don't like Zithromax for that very reason, it just is not effective in many cases.  Has she been on Augmention, Cefzil, or Bactrim?  These all seem to get rid of infections better.  Also I would have her evaluated by a specialst, either an A/I or a pulmonologist.  Just to cover all your bases.  

Cindy

[National Jewish]

I think it is a good idea for you to take your daughter to a board certified allergist who can evaluate what is going on and also the cause.  It may or may not be due to an allergic cause, but this is not difficult to tell.  Another likely cause is a chronic sinus infection.  This is fairly common in young children and can present exactly as you have described.

You are doing a great job with all the areas you can control.  It is time to get to a specialist who can bring a lot more expertise to your daughter