chronic cough - what is this?

[cdnmom]

My ds8 has had a chronic cough that comes and goes but has been with him for over a year. He gets it every morning, first thing for about 1/2 hr then it pretty much disappears the remainder of the day. Does anyone know what this could be? He tested pos for myco p IgM last Aug, was put on zith for a month...re-tested in Dec and his IgM was within normal range but IgG was still very high. Could this be the myco? Could it be asthma related?

 

Also, another question about myco that I have never grasped. I know the IgM indicates a current infection...it's the IgG number that baffles me. Doctors will tell you that it indicates a past infection and so the body will have antibodies floating around; all the time. So if the infection is no longer active why do we need to continue on abx? Is it because the infection has manifested it's way deep into the cells and so it really is still there? But most docs don't believe this?

 

Diane

[Mayzoo]

It could be a lot of things, but in my case it was related to yeast. Mine was mostly a night dry cough, but some during the day as well. I just assumed mine was allergies for almost a year, but then I got thrush. I took two weeks of diflucan, and amazingly my cough went away. Slowly it came back, but I also started Enhansa for joint aches, and to boost my immune system, and again the cough has gone away. I had no idea that yeast could cause a cough, and I have not researched to see if there is data to back up my experience.

 

Morning only cough could be allergies. Asthma is usually random but all day especially centered around activity. We are not dealing with myco, so someone else will have to chime in there.

[EastBay_Mom]

Nighttime cough in children is usually a sign of asthma. My son was coughing in the am and pm and turned out to be asthma per his Allergist, missed by his Ped. We now use a Peak Flow Meter to check periodically how he's doing.

[Hopeny]

My daughter has the coughing variant of asthma as well. My experience has been that pediatricians are incapable if properly diagnosing/treating asthma. My former ped had dd on what could be called a dangerous treatment regimine. My recommendation would be to see a Pulmonologist and have the full pulmonary testing workup done, it's the only way to fully quantify and diagnose asthma. Since DD has been taking quercetin (pure brand) there has been a very strong improvement equivalent to steroids

[LNN]

My DD had a constant dry cough from allergies. We invested in mattress, boxspring and pillow encasements (for dust mite allergy) http://www.missionallergy.com/and we now put her stuffed animals in the dryer for 15 min every other week and make sure we wash sheets/put blankets in the dryer weekly. Her cough has been gone every since.

[cdnmom]

Thanks for the info. I tried Quercitin 2 weeks ago and after only 3 days on it his tics got worse. LLM, I know you've mentioned here before about quercitin possibly causing problems for people of Mediterranean heritage....my parents are from Portugal, which is considered to be part of the Mediterranean so idk if what you've researched applies to him. I've considered a pulmonoligist, just feel bad for the kid; so many doctors. I will try it and see what comes out of it....he's had it for such a long time.

 

It is time for a new mattress anyway....his has been around for 10 yrs.

[Dedee]

You might consider re-checking his Myco titers. Many who have had myco and only gone through short term treatment will relapse. JMHO.

 

Dedee

[cobbiemommy]

My DD had a constant cough that a clinic kept diagnosing as allergies. She was even on a round of antibiotics for an ear infection that did not help with the cough. We took her to a LLMD and mentioned the cough. Long story even longer, he cultured her nose (not fun) and she tested positive for Staph. They further cultured it and it was resistant to most antibiotics. She was put on a compounded nasal spray scrip of Mupirocin. Problem resolved.

Edited May 16, 2013 by cobbiemommy

[norcalmom]

Myco -

You need to retest. i have NO idea how doctors started to think that a high IgG is fine untested. If you research the literature on the tests themselves, you will find that an out of range IgG means you need to retest.

IgM will often stop producing in people that have had either Repeat myco, or chronic myco. So the only way to know if the myco is gone, is to track that titer to see if it is going up, down, or is unchanged. It should slowly go down after the infection clears.

 

Thats why there is a High - in the IgG range. Because it isn't NORMAL for it to be really high, thats why they test it in the first place. IgM high - no brainer. IgM negative and IgG high after treatment - retest. I'd be esspecially concerned if its really high. But, the fact that your child HAD an IgM the first testing, tends to indicate that he makes myco IgM (at the moment)...until he doesn't make it anymore (and you never can tell when that may be).

 

My child does not make IgM. His IgG continued to go up and up - which I had to research because at least 3 docs said it meant nothing. My ds had no myco symptoms - no cough - nothing - just the rising titer. He probably had it for over a year, chronic myco.

 

He was on Doxy/doryx and some other stuff for it for 9months (longer, but had some breaks like entire summer last year...) and he's been off all antibiotics for several months now. His IgG went from 2980 down to 2400 over that 9 month time. And I just retested it - to see if it has started to go back up, or is continueing to go down now that we've stopped the antibiotics.

 

PS - he was on long term azithromycin for 2 years before finding out he had the Myco. It sounds like your child had a more "typical" case, not a chronic one since he had the cough and the positive IgM and got treated right away. Better safe than sorry - this thing is really hard to get rid of once it is "chronic" (systemic) - out of the lungs and into all the other cells in your body.

[tpotter]

You might consider re-checking his Myco titers. Many who have had myco and only gone through short term treatment will relapse. JMHO.

 

Dedee

And,on that note. IgG should be going down over time. If it suddenly goes up, then there may be another mycoP infection that is not presenting as IgM. Keep in mind that the blood test says that IgG could be past OR PRESENT infection. Some people do not get a rise in IgM titers. My DS' IgG titers go up when my IgM titers go up (tend to double), and even my pulmonologist had to admit that it was significant, and sputum should be checked. Unfortunately, DS didn't have any sputum to check.

[cdnmom]

Cobbiemommy, did your dd present with congestion along with the cough? My ds is ALWAYS congested (nasal)...I will definitely ask for the nasal swab...wondering if I can swab myself...my LLMD is in DC and I am from Canada so needless to say, it's not a hop, skip or jump away.

 

Thanks all for the Myco P. IgG lesson....it all makes sense now. I will have to get the entire family re-checked, we all tested pos at the same time IgM. The testing for Myco is horrible in Canada - first off, they don't provide quantitative numbers, just a pos or neg and if you test pos for IgM, they will not run the IgG test.

[EmilyK]

I was also thinking myco or dust allergy. We keep passing myco around the house and DS and I are both allergic to dust as well. We know that morning cough!

[cobbiemommy]

She had some congestion along with her cough. He sent her test to the local state university for testing. They were able to do the further testing. You want a good research lab to analyze the sample so you will know what will kill the staph if it is present. Swab was several inches long, so I would definitely recommend having medical personnel administer the test. Ughh

Cobbiemommy, did your dd present with congestion along with the cough? My ds is ALWAYS congested (nasal)...I will definitely ask for the nasal swab...wondering if I can swab myself...my LLMD is in DC and I am from Canada so needless to say, it's not a hop, skip or jump away.

 

Thanks all for the Myco P. IgG lesson....it all makes sense now. I will have to get the entire family re-checked, we all tested pos at the same time IgM. The testing for Myco is horrible in Canada - first off, they don't provide quantitative numbers, just a pos or neg and if you test pos for IgM, they will not run the IgG test.