Jack has had a cough and runny nose for 6 weeks.
what now? What do I do? He is on Albuterol, and Singulair. Albuterol 2 x's a day. THis does help, but this is ridiculous. I can not see me giving him breathing treatments every day of his life forever. :banghead:
So, my question, what do I do? Do I call the doc (again) and tell them that he is STILL not better. Is there anything else that they can give us? Now, the Singulair is in a powder formula, it stinks, I have to mix it with applesauce and he won't always eat all of the applesauce, so that could be one problem.

ARGH.............................:hissyfit:

Ugh Em, Connor is still snotty and his chest sounds horrible. He's had it for over a week now but I can't imagine how frustrated you feel after 6 weeks. I would call the Ped again and just see what he thinks. It seems like an awful long time he's had this going on.:hug:

Emily, I would really, really strongly suggest you get a referral to an allergy/asthma specialist for this. If he's still not better even after getting breathing treatments, then it might be time to tweak his treatments and a specialist would be the best bet. Allergies might very well be the culprit but regular ped's are just not comfortable giving more aggressive treatments.

Thanks all.
Judy, I'm calling the ped today and going to see what they say. ;) Thanks.

Em ... is his snot clear? If so, that's a pretty strong pollen allergy indicator, and he might be better off on another allergy med. He's old enough to take Zyrtec and some of the others. Singulair is a pretty weak drug that helps with mild asthma and allergies.

Yeah I was going to say the same thing, maybe he needs something stronger, Parker was about 14 months, when he started the spacer with flovent, and he did really well with it, it is five breaths as opposed to minutes on the neb.

I really don't know, I wish I was there and could hear him, but I do know that 6 weeks is too long to have a cough and it not clear up.

You know what is even stranger though, the alberterol should be doing something on a daily basis and that even isn't making it better.

Yeah I was going to say the same thing, maybe he needs something stronger, Parker was about 14 months, when he started the spacer with flovent, and he did really well with it, it is five breaths as opposed to minutes on the neb.

I really don't know, I wish I was there and could hear him, but I do know that 6 weeks is too long to have a cough and it not clear up.

You know what is even stranger though, the alberterol should be doing something on a daily basis and that even isn't making it better.

Well, it is, I mean, for a while, after a treatment, he is better, then 4 hours seems to roll around, on the nose and he is hacking again.
Lesley, yes, snot is clear. But, this is gross, sometimes he will happen to cough some of that gunk up out of his lungs and it is chunky. sorry (TMI) LOL... I actually have some zyrtec that the ped. gave us months ago, is it stronger? Should I try that instead of the Singulair and see what happens?
ARGH...........................:hissyfit:

Em Zyrtec is an anti allergy medication, it wont help the asthma, but allergies, if you want to use it you should use it in addition to the singulair, but I would check with the Dr, I know it is a long drive too, but if the singulair isn't working then he should be on a better one, or not one at all.

Thanks Rach. I'm wondering now if it is just allergies. Do they wheeze with allergies? He isn't wheezing anymore, just coughing. :banghead:

Allergies don't cause wheezing, but wheezing is very difficult to detect in an infant/toddler without a stethoscope. Could you, at this point, just be hearing noisy breathing? Rattling sounds are different from wheezing.

Albuterol will do nothing for him if it's just plain ol' pollen allergies.

I'm with Lesley on this one...in general, allergies don't cause wheezing. Asthma that accompanies allergies can cause some weazing, but if he has allergies, he might have post-nasal drip, which when it rattles around in the throat can kind of echo into the chest (from personal experience), so it sounds like wheezing, but it's more like what Lesley said, noisy breathing. If you have Zyrtec on hand, go for it and see if it helps. Zyrtec is by far, one of the most effective allergy medications. The albuterol can loosen up some of the gunk from allergies that flow down into the throat, so it controls the cough a little bit, but once the albuterol is out of the system, then the cough comes back (also from my own experience with allergies & asthma). There's lots of things to think about and try, but Zyrtec is one of the best ideas.

Well, LOL... he isn't wheezing now. But, I know, before he was put on the albuterol that I heard wheezing, it wasn't rattly, it kind of sounded like croop, but it wasn't. Does that make sense? I do know that when he has the breathing treatments his coughing is tons better. TONS.