Toddler Cough, How to get GP to listen?

[ButterflyBoo_x]

Hi All,

My (nearly) 2 year old has had a bad cough for 5 weeks now. I tried to get a doctors appointment 2 weeks ago, and they had no appointments so got the DR to ring me, and basically all he said was its winter and hes going to have a cough for the whole of winter... Very helpful mr DR thanks, but said to ring back if it gets any worse or doesn't improve.
So i have managed to get an appointment for this afternoon at 2. i don't know if its just DR's in general or i can't talk to them properly. but they always make me feel like i'm being pathetic for going in.
His cough has no improved at all, at first it was only at night, and would make him wake up screaming as he was scared as he didn't understand what was going on. He doesn't scream anymore, he just cough's and cough's all night, and seems to be still asleep i often go and sit next to his bed just to make sure hes okay, as he does wake up, and just needs reasurance that everythings okay. He does cough alot more during the day now aswell. as soon as i leave the house he cough's, and i get coments on 'how bad his cough is' like they think i hadn't realised he had a cough?! also get worse when he runs around.
We've got a family history of astma and i had it as a child, but got a feeling DR aint gonna listen.

Any tips for getting my point accross? or even to help his cough x

Thanks sorry its such a long post x

Mini Update: DR was really nice! have given me an inhaler for Josh and some antihistamines, fingers crossed they start to work x

 

[Laura_C]

First of all hun I am pretty sure there is a specific guideline that means any child under 3 should be seen the same day by their GP. Our surgery has this policy so I would assume this is the case across the NHS, under 3's should be seen within 24 hours for sure. I would mention that! My 4 year old has had the same and she had been I'll for 5/6 weeks with an awful cough and even she was seen with a couple of hours due to being a young child, she had seen the doctor once a couple of weeks prior when they dismissed it as a virus. She was given antibiotics when I took her back, they also took a urine sample to rule out other things as inside her ears were red, her throat was up and she had an intermittent temperature. Does you LO have any other symptoms or just the cough? How does it sound?

 

[ButterflyBoo_x]

First of all hun I am pretty sure there is a specific guideline that means any child under 3 should be seen the same day by their GP. Our surgery has this policy so I would assume this is the case across the NHS, under 3's should be seen within 24 hours for sure. I would mention that! My 4 year old has had the same and she had been I'll for 5/6 weeks with an awful cough and even she was seen with a couple of hours due to being a young child, she had seen the doctor once a couple of weeks prior when they dismissed it as a virus. She was given antibiotics when I took her back, they also took a urine sample to rule out other things as inside her ears were red, her throat was up and she had an intermittent temperature. Does you LO have any other symptoms or just the cough? How does it sound?

I thought this was a policy too, but wasn't sure if it was just for under 1's? when i rang up this morning, she tried to give me an appointment for wednesday... but magically found a cancelled appointment for today when i said i'm busy weds/thurs.
Hes got a bit of a runny nose, and is dribbling like crazy, hes a bit more grumpy/ moody than usual, but is still eating/ drinking fine, hasn't been drinking as much milk as he used too. he has brought up sick / phlem when coughing, but not always. hes more tired, but i think thats cause hes not sleeping properly.
i don't know how to desribe it? it sounds chesty & a bit dry to me, and i can sometimes here something a bit phlemy when hes breathing.

http://children.webmd.com/pertussis-whooping-cough-10/coughing-sounds

From the above link it sounds like the wooping cough and dry cough, but without the wooping bit, if that makes sense? x

 

[ButterflyBoo_x]

Just got a sneeky video of him doing a little cough ...

http://s763.photobucket.com/albums/xx271/jenniferthomas89/?action=view&current=111212-121712.mp4

 

[Laura_C]

My daughters cough sounds just like this, even after a course of antibiotics. My LO has had pneumonia before though when she was 2 years old because they kept fobbing me off at the docs.

I say keep a close eye on him, if he starts getting a temperature regularly that doesn't come down with both paracetamol and ibuprofen then there is something more going on. Also if he seems very lethargic then that's another sign that it's something more serious. Also being off food and not eating so much is another sign. Grace seemed to be having a temp very often which seemed to get worse and eventually nothing was bringing it back down. She wouldn't get out of bed which was not normal for her so I knew something was really wrong.

Sometimes they can catch one bug and just as they are getting over that they can pick up another so it seems like one long period of illness, that could be the case.

Grace has had a course of Amoxicillin which hasn't helped much really with regards to the cough so I think it's just a lingering one due to whatever virus it was she caught :/