My 4yr old granddaughter has had a chronic cough for weeks, and alot of times coughs
so much, she ends up throwing up. Her dad had bronchial asthma as a child.
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Q: my 4yr old granddaughter has a deep cough that won't go away and ends up throwing up.
Answers (3)
12/22/08 5:41pm
Hi Karen,
The other responders have provided valuable experiences for you. You should know that a chronic cough is one of the most common symptoms in young children for asthma. That and the fact that your granddaughter's dad had asthma do strongly suggest that asthma could be at work here too.
But as the others said, it is essential she be examined by a doctor for a diagnosis and to initiate an Asthma Action Plan that is right for her. If she is under treatment, her asthma should be able to be controlled (if that's what she has) and it should not have to interfere with a normal life or play.
I wouldn't be too concerned about the vomiting. It is probably just being triggered by the severe coughing, which can initiate the gag reflex.
Good luck,
Kathi
12/19/08 4:49pm
My 3 year-old son has a deep cough as well that leads him to throwing up. Just this week I have taken him to his pediatrician to be seen for this cough. When the Dr. was looking over his chart she mentioned that I have had him seen for the same conditions several times over the years (duh!). I mentioned to her that the cough is significantly worse when he is active at school-running or dancing. (But, the cough was initiated by a viral infection he caught in October.) My son has thrown up at school a few times this years. She believes he has exercise induced asthma and we are trying albuterol syrup right now. He has been on the medication for three days, but I don't think that the albuterol is working. He is still coughing, throwing up, and shaky-a side effect to the albuterol. In fact, one of his teachers at school has mentioned to me that her son had the same syptoms and had been treated for asthma for years before he was diagnosed with reflux-apparently the reflux medication has worked in aleviating his cough and throwing up. I have set an appointment with a specialist in late January to hopefully find an answer to this chronic cough, which leads to throwing up.
Has your granddaughter had instances of this cough before? RSV or Croupe when she was an infant? Even with a family history I would consult her pediatrician and/or asthma/allergy specialist because it is a shame for young kids to be throwing up all the time-especially when it gets to be a normality in their lives-as it is in the case of my son. Until then, I recommend propping her up with pillows at night, a tsp. of honey just before bed, keeping her inactive-little running, and warm bath or shower before bed-or even during the day when the cough is at its worst.
12/19/08 11:33pm
My son was recently diagonosed with asthma. He is now 4 1/2 years old. Since he was about 2,maybe even earlier he would vomit on a regular and most times a daily basis. When he was 3 he would get a cold and the dry cough would never go away. We were finally prescribed singular which worked AWESOME! As long as we stayed on that it worked, he got the flu in march last year and from there developed pnemonia. We started following up with a new doctor and started to add in nebulizer treatments of pulmicourt and albuteral (only as needed) this has really worked and his vomiting and coughing has ceased except when he gets a cold or infection then he requires an increase in the use of albuterol. maybe instead of the albuteral syrup try the nebulizer treatments, we have had no unpleasant side effects with it. some people didn't understand why he would puke with asthma or think that the coughing is just cold, but when on regular medication our symptoms are under control. hope that helps.
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By Karen— Last Modified: 12/24/10, First Published: 12/17/08
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