# Help, my 3-year-old son coughs so hard he's throwing up.



## AugustLia23 (Mar 18, 2004)

For over a few weeks now my 3 year old son, who was previously healthy, has been having coughing fits so strong that they make him vomit.

backstory:
We are now living with my mother in law because we have been evacuated from our house due to toxic mold growing in our basement. We only recognized it because everyone except me developed a persistent cough.







I am heartbroken that our home, where 2 of my children were born, was making us all so sick. Anyways, we got out as soon as we realized what it was. My oldest sons cough is getting worse now, but thankfully the baby seems healthy.

So the cough wasn't so bad while we were in Boston, but now in Long Island it has progressively gotten worse. At some point it became coughing fits, and now sometimes with the coughing fits he vomits. Sometimes he vomits large amounts of mucous(clear, and sometimes yellow-green), sometimes it is just stomach contents. I am happy that he is getting the mucous out, but i cannot allow him to go on vomiting whenever he coughs.

We've been to a few doctors, the first, our primary pediatrician(also a pulmonlogist), listened to their lungs, and dismissed the cough as a sinus irritant and told us to give him delsym. The delsym didn't do anything, so we went back to an urgent care doctor in NY. We described our concerns, and she prescribed him singulair and claritin. We've been on that since 26 August. I know it does better over a length of time, but I don't know how much it is helping. It seems that he is coughing less often, but still vomiting with the long coughing fits.

I am positive that this is related to the toxic mold, and I would love advice on how to heal him. We are concerned about him having asthma, but he has no wheezing. We've been giving him saline in a nebulizer, which seemed to be helping, but we lapsed for 2 days, and it got worse again. We are back on 2x/daily nebulizers, which will hopefully help, but I need other suggestions. We had been giving him raw honey to soothe his throat, but that doesn't seem to help.

Any ideas, how can I get him to stop coughing as such, and definitely help with the vomiting. We want to take him to an allergist, but I don't know how soon that can happen.

Help!


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## sbgrace (Sep 22, 2004)

My first thought seeing your title was actually pertussis. And I do think you should look into that possibility.
But when I read about the mold inducing this and he is responding to the nebulizer/it helps it sounds more like the mold induced asthma. Asthma in young kids often is coughing rather than wheezing. My son is 4.5 and only recently have I heard any wheezing. But his attacks have always been (and still are primarily) coughing fits.

2 x's a day nebulizer is uncontrolled asthma. In fact, 2-3 times a week is uncontrolled for many doctors. Singulair can help asthma for some (not all) and claritin for allergies seems wise but this isn't taking care of it like it needs to be for his safety. At this point I think you need to see a pulmonologist/asthma specialist/etc. If that can't happen immediately I think you need a steroid med to control his asthma while you wait. Breathing trumps all else and this sounds scary if, indeed, this is asthma and he's having coughing fits ending in vomiting.









When he is safe then you can work on the healing hopefully...maybe he just needs to get his lungs calmed down. My son's asthma has gotten worse and better at various points.


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## AugustLia23 (Mar 18, 2004)

well, we were never prescribed the nebulizer, it was on the suggestion of family.

I severely doubt it's whooping cough, as I have 3 children, all unvaccinated, and the cough is not anywhere close to what I've heard of as a "whooping cough".

What frustrates me is that I took him to our ped, who IS a asthma specialist/pulmonologist, and he was not even slightly concerned. He told us that the problem is not stemming in his lungs, but in his nasal passages.

::sigh::


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## sbgrace (Sep 22, 2004)

Your pediatrician is a pulmonologist? Or he just specializes in asthma/has training?
Either way see someone else. My understanding is that responding to nebulizer is indicative of asthma (if the cough responds within 15 minutes) AND I know of no test for asthma a ped. could do so I can't see how he would decide it wasn't asthma.


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## luv2bamommy2 (Sep 12, 2007)

Hi, if you're into Homeopathic remedies try Spongia Tosta. My dad got this awful cough with vomiting and dropped like 11 lbs in a week and he isn't a person who can afford to lose any weight. He is totally skinny.

My mom than got it, long coughing fits and vomiting. She takes care of my children when I go to work. So she looked in her "Your Vital Child" book and found a reference for Spongia Tosta. And went immediately to an health food store and got 30C.

She took it at 9:18 that morning, and almost immediately stopped coughing. Came home and gave it to dad and he stopped coughing. Each time, and I think it was one other time for mom and twice for dad, they repeated the dose.

And that was the end of their coughing/vomiting fits.

Since then they've both shared the remedy with several others with the same result.

It took only one dose [2 pills crushed in water] to stop the cough in my son.

It is worth a try, and it only cost mom like $6.99 for 180 of the little pills.


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## GreatfulMomma (Jan 27, 2008)

My dd had the same symptoms I'm hearing from you. She would cough until she threw up. Lots of mucous. Ugghh. Finally, she was diagnosed with "reactive airway" AKA asthma. She used a nebulizer with pulmacort at night and with albuterol during the day, as well as whenever she started coughing. Now she uses a powder inhaler of pulmacort every other night, as well as singulair. She's been able to quit taking zyrtec all together. She's doing much better now and hasn't had symptoms in quite a while.

I know how scary it is to have your little one in such a situation. Talk to your pedo and express your concern, as well as the research you have done.

I didn't like my dd taking so much medication, but now she's doing soooo much better and is slowly getting off most of them. I don't know what started it.

Just know that you're not alone. Don't let your pedo off the hook!


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