As Dr. Komarovsky has said more than once, a long cough without fever in a child can signal a serious illness, although in some cases this is only a consequence of an untreated disease. There are a lot of reasons for unproductive cough. A suitable treatment option is determined by first revealing why the disease appeared. If you neglect the determination of the exact cause, the child will surely receive a lot of unjustified drugs, while the effectiveness of the therapy will be extremely low. How to avoid this?
Cough and its features
Doctors, explaining how to treat a long cough without fever in a child, indicate the need to clarify why this condition appeared. The patient cannot cough up sputum either because it is too thick, or because of its absence. To correctly diagnose the cause of the symptom, you need to determine what the case is: is there sputum, how thick is it. To do this, listen to how a person coughs.
Barking cough
A distinctive feature of this symptom is the volume. The sound made by the patient is rather rough. If the child is old enough to complain and describe his condition, he will tell you that he has a sore throat. Most have discomfort behind the sternum. The increased volume indicates that the process proceeds with the involvement of the vocal apparatus, the larynx is active. Such a cough signals the presence of a focus of inflammation, swelling of the laryngeal tissues.
Determine how to treat a long cough without fever in a child, it is better, after consulting with an experienced doctor. But if there is no heat, a cough appeared recently, a baby younger than three years old, then you should immediately call an ambulance. If the larynx is swollen, there is a danger of a spasmodic phenomenon, why the patient will stop breathing. If before, another type of cough bothered, it was transformed into a barking one, you also need to contact specialists. Waiting for ambulance, they open the windows to fill the room with oxygen as much as possible. Doctors will probably offer to hospitalize the patient.
Dry and long
If the cough is not a barker, there is no reason to panic. In this case, you need to evaluate what the symptom is. A deep cough is possible, in which the main organ involved in the process is the lungs. The second option is shallow, due to the unhealthiness of the trachea, larynx, and throat.
Dry deep cough is pretty easy to spot by eye. Each movement when coughing is accompanied by a shift in the sternum. Sometimes, while coughing, the child is very bent. The attack lasts a minute or more. Whatever the length of such a period, the patient feels as if much more time had passed. Each attack greatly exhausts the patient.
Surface
Sometimes a cough in a child without fever is observed for a long time in a superficial form. It can be heard from the side, and the patient himself is practically not worried and does not complain about anything. Coughing attacks are short-lived, the sounds made are relatively quiet. Many have a hoarse voice at the same time. The condition usually indicates an inflammatory focus near the larynx. What to do in such a situation, tells the ENT. The inflammatory process can be noticed with a visual examination, but listening does not work.
After examining the patient and formulating a diagnosis, the ENT will determine which drugs are suitable. For local use, antiseptic formulations are selected. Very often prescribed "Bioparox", "Hexoral." To make the course more effective, the doctor will select drugs with a local anti-inflammatory effect. The doctor prescribes drugs that help remove swelling of the mucous membranes and eliminate blood stasis. Among the well-proven drugs are an OKI solution developed for rinsing, and Tantum Verde aerosol. No less reliable result is known "Cameton". If the patient speaks hoarsely, mustard plasters or hot steam inhalations are helpful.
Dry cough and measures to combat it
If you ask the doctor how to treat a long cough without fever in a child at home, the specialist will suggest that you first undergo an examination. Often the condition is explained by bronchial, pulmonary damage, invasion of pathological microflora. In this case, antibiotics come to the rescue. It is strictly forbidden to choose such drugs for the treatment of a minor on their own, since their intake can cause a lack of a therapeutic effect in combination with side effects. Many modern antibiotics are strictly prohibited for children, as they negatively affect a fragile body. Only an experienced doctor can choose a drug that is safe and effective for a particular problem.
On average, the treatment of pneumonia takes about ten days if the antimicrobial agent is correctly selected. To exclude coughing or facilitate coughing, you can prescribe Codelac Neo or drugs aimed at thinning sputum.
Case features
Sometimes it happens that a long dry cough in a child without fever is not accompanied by specific symptoms that can be determined by eye or by listening to the lungs. Some diseases can be detected by taking an x-ray. If he shows an increase in the pattern of blood vessels, it makes sense to assume infection of the respiratory system with mycoplasma, chlamydia. For treatment, the patient will be prescribed “Sumamed” or “Klacid”. Do not confuse the microflora with the one that explains gynecological diseases - these are other varieties.
If the disease is accompanied by bronchial spasms, drugs for this phenomenon will be additionally prescribed. On average, cough is treated in 2-3 weeks.
What else happens?
Sometimes the cause of a long cough without fever in a child is an allergy. A runny nose is possible, but not everyone has this symptom. The patient does not sneeze, there are no other manifestations of sensitization either. A cough is the only thing that indicates an allergy. In a similar way, a latently occurring inflammatory reaction can manifest itself.
It is known that sometimes coughing is a sign of a sexually transmitted disease, weak functioning of the heart. Often, lesions appear on the skin, but there is no heat.
Causes and consequences
In addition to the typical causes of cough (colds, pneumonia), there are those that attract much less public attention, although they are much more common. We are talking about the environmental situation and environmental pollution by harmful components. The worse the air quality, the stronger and longer the cough will be. A prolonged cough is characteristic of smokers - not only active, but also passive. The last ones are children living with parents smoking at home.
If pillows stuffed with natural feathers and feathers are used at home, dust mites can get in them. Such provoke an allergic reaction, cause a cough.
The nuances of some states
The cause of a long cough without fever in a child may be a heart disease. If the symptom is caused by just such health problems, the condition becomes worse when the patient is lying. Many complain that in a horizontal position it is difficult for them to breathe.
Cases of laryngeal papillomatosis are known. One symptom of this disease is coughing. The patient complains of discomfort in the throat. There is no rhinitis, nor heat.
If a long, wet cough is noticeable in a child without fever, false croup may be suggested. This disease indicates extremely severe attacks. Neither heat nor nasal discharge is observed. The patient suffers from attacks, is almost not able to cough up sputum.
Sometimes the cause of the symptom is tuberculosis. This disease is among the most dangerous and socially significant. For a long time, it develops without any symptoms at all. Over time, a person notes a cough. Without adequate treatment, the condition gradually worsens.
Cough: features and diagnoses
If a long wet cough in a child without temperature is very difficult, if by the end of the attack the patient’s condition is such that he feels like he is about to vomit, we can assume whooping cough, asthma. Similar severe seizures, leading to almost vomiting, have a tumor process in the respiratory system, pneumonia.
If a cough appears at night, it is probably triggered by an allergy. If, in addition to coughing, there is a runny nose, you can suspect a cold. At night, many cough, due to the abnormal location of internal organs, an improperly developed skeleton, due to inflammation that has covered the nerve endings.
Popular wisdom to help health
It happens that for some reason, parents, although they notice a prolonged cough in a child without fever, do not want to go to the doctor. To help the child cope with the disease, you can turn to the recipes of traditional medicine. One option offers to combine equal volumes of cranberries and honey, and thoroughly wipe them. The mixture is given to the child a teaspoon several times a day. No less beneficial will be a drink sweetened with honey. To prepare it, half a glass of boiling water is combined with linden "wings" and buds of birch. Herbal ingredients are used in one spoon. First, pour linden and birch with boiling water and insist in a container with a closed lid for a quarter of an hour, then add a small spoonful of honey to the water, give the patient a drink of the medicinal drink. The optimal frequency of using a homemade drug is three times daily.
If parents note a prolonged cough without fever in their child, you can try to cure the baby by rubbing sternum with badger fat. This product includes antibacterial components, has anti-inflammatory properties. In order for the treatment to be effective, you need to give the patient a plentiful drink.
Reasons and the fight against them
If the allergic nature of the cough is supposed, you need to evaluate what can provoke a reaction of the body, and remove a dangerous product, an item from the daily routine of the child. If the cough is dry, you can buy an antitussive drug at the pharmacy. Sometimes drugs that affect the cough reflex help. Such are not only industrial, but also homemade. For example, you can buy Codeine, or you can prepare an infusion or decoction of plantain or inflorescences, green coltsfoot.
Plant materials are dried, then used to make infusions. The simplest and most reliable option is to put in a half-liter thermos a couple of large spoons of useful grass or a mixture of several plants, pour boiling water, close the lid and leave to insist. The drink is ready in half an hour, but for greater effectiveness, you can leave it overnight.
Drugs and their effects
If the parents notice a long cough without a fever in their child, resorptive drugs can be taken to eliminate it, due to which the sputum becomes thinner, the lungs are cleansed faster and more efficiently. Often, such medications are used for inhalation. On sale there is a popular remedy ACC. Besides him, Ascoril and Amtersol have a good reputation.
Proteolytic is another popular group of medicines, due to which sputum turns into a more liquid substance. The classic representative of this class is the drug Helomirtol. If there is no faith in industrial products, you can use thyme greens to make homemade medicine.
Flour regulators are sometimes useful. Such funds in the pharmacy are represented by Bromhexine, Ambroxol. Both drugs have long been known and have an excellent reputation.
When the baby is very small
A long cough without fever in a child can be considered the norm, if the baby is calm, not naughty, there are no problems with sleep and nutrition. If the child is active, the weakness of the body is not noticeable, there are no problems with breathing, you can not worry about the health of the baby. If the cough becomes barking, then an ambulance is called. If the child feels pain during coughing, if the attacks come often and last for a long time, you need to show the child to a doctor. If the baby cannot sleep due to a cough, it is imperative to determine what triggered the condition.
Young children are prescribed sedative and spasm-relieving drugs: Kashnol, Ascoril. To improve the quality of sputum, it is shown to take pharmacy syrup thyme, ACC. Sometimes a means for better expectoration is useful - Bronchicum, Stoptussin. Excellent results are shown by the reception of plantain syrup, which is in almost any modern pharmacy.
When to worry?
They say that there is a long cough without a temperature in a child, if the duration of the symptom is from a month to two. If the duration reaches three or four months and exceeds this period, a chronic cough is diagnosed. The task of parents from an early age is to teach the child to spit sputum, and not swallow it. Very often, in babies, cough is caused by glossitis, candidiasis of the oral region. Many babies reveal mycotic foci on the mucous membranes of the oral cavity. At the same time, a dry cough worries, the attacks of which irritate the patient. On the surfaces, a curdled whitish coating accumulates, irritating the internal receptors. Fungal cough is never accompanied by fever. Medical treatment is not always necessary, since many of these pathologies are explained by malnutrition and imperfection of the digestive system. A sick child is prescribed pro, prebiotics, special food additives. If this does not help, pick up safe antimycotic and antiseptic agents.
A long cough without fever in a child can signal helminthic invasion. Roundworms at a certain stage of existence consume a lot of oxygen, therefore they migrate to the pulmonary system. Since the parasite is a foreign body, it prevents the child from breathing, so a cough occurs. For treatment, a course of anthelmintic drugs is prescribed. In especially severe cases, urgent surgery is needed.