How to Ease A Coughing Fit Caused By Croup Or Whooping Cough (Pertussis)

Croup and Pertussis can be dangerous- especially to infants. This article is written with the assumption that you have been to the doctor, emergency room, or pediatrician, and received appropriate pharmaceutical treatment such as steroids and antibiotics. However, once you have been released to your home for recovery, how do you ease the coughing that may linger for weeks? When in the throes of spasmodic coughing, you can begin to wonder if you are ever going to stop. Your eyes begin to water and you feel like you may throw up. You need to gain control over your reflexes.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. 
   Go outside

   Start with a quick fix. Most coughing occurs at night. Go out outside into the cool air. This often stops coughing within a few minutes. If the weather permits, you may even want to keep the bedroom window open after you come back inside to keep your room cool and moist. If the weather is too extreme for this solution, you can also run a hot shower and shut yourself into the bathroom. Breathing the steam for a few minutes will also stop your coughing.

2. 
   Lean over

   Lean over when you cough. If you have a small child or infant that is coughing, help them lean over to cough (but make sure you support your baby's head just as you would if leaning them over to burp). When you cough, muscles in your stomach contract. If you are laying flat or standing up straight when you cough, your body crunches up as if you were doing a sit up. This expends a lot of energy. Leaning over can save your energy, keep your muscles from getting as sore, and help you have a more productive cough.

3. 
   Hold Your Breath

   Intentionally hold your breath. Adults and older children can learn to prolong the time between coughs by holding their breath. When you cough, try not to breath in reflexively. Hold your breath as long as you can, then breath in slowly. This will be harder to do at the beginning of a fit, but if you keep trying it, you will eventually gain control again and reduce the length and severity of your coughing fit.

4. 
   Maintain Moisture

   Maintain a moist environment. This will reduce the number of and reduce the severity of your coughing fits. Run a cool mist humidifier. Hot steam humidifiers can cause you to overheat, which would aggravate the cough. Only a cool mist humidifier is appropriate. Drink plenty of water to keep your throat from getting dry. Keep your child hydrated (especially if they are throwing up from the intensity of the cough) or they may need to get IV fluids at the hospital.

5. 
   Elevate Your Head

   Avoid congestion. Extra mucus will irritate your lungs and throat. Use saline nasal sprays. Use a bulb aspirator to clean out your infants nasal passages. As an adult, sleep propped up on pillows. Raise the head of your infant's crib or toddler bed by putting it up on books or wood blocks. Allow your infant to sleep upright in a swing, or hold him upright while you sit in a recliner.

6. 
   Codine

   Ask your doctor for a prescription cough medicine. Croup and Pertussis are usually treated with steroids and antibiotics. Cough medicines do not help because the coughing fits are so violent. Children often receive no relief from medication, and the medications are dangerous for infants. However, if you are an adult with Pertussis, there is a chance that cough medicine may help. Ask for one that contains codeine, which will depress your nervous system and keep your coughing reflex from being so spastic.

Tips & Warnings

• If your child is coughing and they turn blue or stop breathing, take them to the emergency room immediately.
• If coughing starts in the middle of the night, feel free to try these techniques before seeing a doctor- the cold air may break your fit. However, you need to go to the doctor as soon as possible. If you have Pertussis, it is extremely contagious and you need to be diagnosed.

Resources

• Croup
• Whooping Cough (Pertussis)

[RENorton]

on 10/17/2008 Excellent advice. Thanks for the helpful tips!