# treating whooping cough with vitamin c



## Lovinginaction

My almost 2 year old has what I strongly suspect to be pertussis. I have not taken him to the doctor but am very confident he's got it based on the sound of the cough, timeline of the illness, and symptoms. I have been doing the vitamin c therapy for him for a week now and it does seem to be helping. His cough is much less frequent and less mucousy. I feel pretty confident that his body is getting what it needs to defend itself from the disease and that we are out of any major danger. I decided not to take him to the ped because he had just been two days before for his cold/cough and his lungs were clear and he was otherwise healthy. The following night we realized he probably has whooping cough. I knew the doctor would just want to prescribe antibiotics and would also chide me for not vaccinating (a decision we made due to his small birthweight, leaky gut, food allergies and eczema). 
My question is, what should I be keeping watch for regarding a secondary infection? He has not had any fever, he is energetic and happy with a decent appetite. I just don't want to take any chances. 
Also, any moms with whooping cough kids found success with the vitamin c therapy? What point during the illness did you feel it safe to stop the vitamin c. He's only been on it for a week and I know Dr Suzanne Humphries says like 3 months. I would love to hear any encouragement in this area. Thanks so much!


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## MylittleTiger

Here is the link to what I have saved regarding the vitamin C therapy.

http://www.vaccinationcouncil.org/2...on-suzanne-humphries-md/#sthash.Awp01q8Y.dpuf

This is the same article, but in PDF form if you want to save it. http://vaccinationcouncil.org/media/The-Vitamin-C-Treatment-of-Whooping-Cough.pdf

Here is a link to a thread on these forums regarding the protocol and some talk about using homeopathy. http://www.mothering.com/forum/443-...-pertussis-sodium-ascorbate.html#post18874001
That thread is in the 'I'm Not Vaccinating' forum which has undergone some safety changes over the last months. I'm not sure you'll have access to it. The homeopathic remedy is called Pertussin 30.

My kids haven't encountered WC yet so I have nothing else to share, but I hope the info I've posted gives you some information you find helpful. Good luck!!


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## kathymuggle

My 3 kids had whooping cough last summer. All 3 are much older than your child, though. Ages 12-19.

The timeline was as follows for the 12 year old:

1. what looked like a cold for 10 days or so

2. Period when I thought she was recovered . Lasted 1 week.

3. Cough, progressively getting worse for about 2-3 weeks, followed by 1-2 weeks or so of intense paroxymal coughing, then a slow recovery. She did whoop a few times, and clearly had difficulty catching her breath. She semi-vomited a few times from coughing. It was worse in the evening, and she often seemed quite well between coughing spells.

I did not do antibiotics. By the time I was sure it was WC, any usefulness had probably passed.

I did not do the Vit. C protocol. It seemed like a lot of Vit. C and I could not really get my hands easily on the kind suggested. I will honestly say I have not seen huge amounts of evidence it would have been useful anyways. I do think if you are going to do it, you might need to keep it up for the duration of the cough. Reduction in Vit.c has led to resurgence of cough. That is what I recollect from readings.

Any chance you can get to a good, well trained (preferably certified) naturopath?

Any sign of fever would send me to a doctor to rule out pneumonia, a commonish (1/50ish) secondary infection.

I think one of the first thing you need to get a handle on (ASAP) is if antibiotics might help. A link to get you started (at least in terms of timeline) but do research more.

http://www.cdc.gov/pertussis/clinical/treatment.html


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## happyhermit

Both me and my son had whooping cough a few winters ago. My husband and I are vaccinated, I got it, the hubs did not. Our son was not vaccinated at the time - for much the same reasons as you... in Grade 6 he got his vaccinations up to date with approval from his allergy specialist and under supervision of his MD... 

It took us both a good 3 months to fully recover from pertussis. We didn't do antibiotics because it was too far progressed by the time we were diagnosed and we were told it wouldn't make any difference at that point... we did go to the doctor a few times because my son has asthma and he had a really rough time of it. One night we had the paramedics at the house because he was really gasping for air and coughing till he vomited over and over. They brought us a nebulizer to borrow and had him doing breathing treatments for a few days till we got the asthma under control, which really helped tremendously.

I have never heard of Vit C therapy before this thread, so can't speak to that, but would be interested to hear if it helps...


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## iamregina

kathymuggle said:


> My 3 kids had whooping cough last summer. All 3 are much older than your child, though. Ages 12-19.
> 
> The timeline was as follows for the 12 year old:
> 
> 1. what looked like a cold for 10 days or so
> 
> 2. Period when I thought she was recovered . Lasted 1 week.
> 
> 3. Cough, progressively getting worse for about 2-3 weeks, followed by 1-2 weeks or so of intense paroxymal coughing, then a slow recovery. She did whoop a few times, and clearly had difficulty catching her breath. She semi-vomited a few times from coughing. It was worse in the evening, and she often seemed quite well between coughing spells.
> 
> I did not do antibiotics. By the time I was sure it was WC, any usefulness had probably passed.
> 
> I did not do the Vit. C protocol. It seemed like a lot of Vit. C and I could not really get my hands easily on the kind suggested. I will honestly say I have not seen huge amounts of evidence it would have been useful anyways. I do think if you are going to do it, you might need to keep it up for the duration of the cough. Reduction in Vit.c has led to resurgence of cough. That is what I recollect from readings.
> 
> Any chance you can get to a good, well trained (preferably certified) naturopath?
> 
> Any sign of fever would send me to a doctor to rule out pneumonia, a commonish (1/50ish) secondary infection.
> 
> I think one of the first thing you need to get a handle on (ASAP) is if antibiotics might help. A link to get you started (at least in terms of timeline) but do research more.


This is useful, thanks!


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