Why Does My Child Have A Chronic Cough?
- Posted on: Feb 10 2020
Why does my child have a chronic cough?
It can feel like your child is always sick. One of the most frequent issues is a nagging chronic cough at nighttime that disrupts their sleep and yours. It’s often just attributed to allergy and a laundry list of medications are used without much relief. Maybe even allergy testing was done just to be told it wasn’t really significant. Possibly a round of antibiotics was tried with little or no longterm relief. Maybe you were told they have asthma and an inhaler was prescribed.
By the time the parent comes to our office, they are usually frustrated with the lack of resolution or answers.
The most common cause for chronic cough in a child is a condition called chronic sinusitis. This is a low grade persistent bacterial infection in the sinus cavities present for many months. The child may have minimal actual sinus or nasal complaints. We are able to diagnose this condition using a small nasal endoscope and a miniCT scan in our office. This evaluation is painless.
A special treatment including an oral antibiotic, a compounded medicated nasal spray, and an oral steroid can almost always resolve this condition. We perform a follow-up mini CT scan in our office to verify the resolution.
Non-invasive balloon sinus dilation and sinus wash can resolve this issue in the rare instances where medical treatment fails. Once we have resolved this issue, allergy drop therapy can effectively reduce nasal allergy without side effects to reduce the risk that this issue returns.
If your child has had a nagging chronic cough, Call us for an evaluation and a longterm solution.
Tagged with: Chronic Cough, Pediatric ENT
Posted in: Cough, Pediatric ENT
