Does anyone have experience with "habit cough" or "tic cough"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had never heard of this until DS (9) did this. It was not like a normal cough, but a dry, almost throat clearing cough. Just enough to be annoying to everyone around him. First time it started, we had just moved to a new state. I thought that it was dirty vents/air. I bought an air purifier, kept up on washing bedding and stuffed animals, and cleaned the vents. Eventually (many months later) it went away. Fast forward to last spring the cough came back. I tried every over the counter cough medicine (nothing worked), tried increasing liquids, talked to Ped (thought it was a tic), and had his IEP team (thought it was a nervous or habit tic) make not of it. It went away after school was over. We chalked it up to stress/anxiety.

Dry cough can also be a form of asthma, fyi. See an allergy/pulminologist. My nephew has this and has a maintenance inhaler.

Thanks. We did see an allergist, but may be worth re-visiting. He has seasonal allergies, ADHD, and CP. The cough is not normally present when his allergies flare up. The doc told me that if it were allergy related then a cough medicine would help. None of them worked. Wanted to mention that most of the coughing occurred during the afternoon and evening, but stopped once he was sleep. Never kept him up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had never heard of this until DS (9) did this. It was not like a normal cough, but a dry, almost throat clearing cough. Just enough to be annoying to everyone around him. First time it started, we had just moved to a new state. I thought that it was dirty vents/air. I bought an air purifier, kept up on washing bedding and stuffed animals, and cleaned the vents. Eventually (many months later) it went away. Fast forward to last spring the cough came back. I tried every over the counter cough medicine (nothing worked), tried increasing liquids, talked to Ped (thought it was a tic), and had his IEP team (thought it was a nervous or habit tic) make not of it. It went away after school was over. We chalked it up to stress/anxiety.

Dry cough can also be a form of asthma, fyi. See an allergy/pulminologist. My nephew has this and has a maintenance inhaler.

Thanks. We did see an allergist, but may be worth re-visiting. He has seasonal allergies, ADHD, and CP. The cough is not normally present when his allergies flare up. The doc told me that if it were allergy related then a cough medicine would help. None of them worked. Wanted to mention that most of the coughing occurred during the afternoon and evening, but stopped once he was sleep. Never kept him up.

This seems quite antiquated. Our allergist even our pediatrician recommend nasal sprays for allergies and related PND.

Did the allergist have him do the blow test with a meter?

[Anonymous]

My older child had this in third grade. The key was that the cough sounded like he ought to be quarantined during the day but never once woke him at night. We ignored it once we realized what it was (after first keeping him out of school for a week waiting for the cough to go away!) and it did eventually stop.

He's a 7th grader now and I notice he will sometimes cough loudly when he appears to be perfectly healthy. I'd never thought of it as a kind of tic but perhaps that's what it is....

[Anonymous]

Ignore it c.o.m.p.l.e.t.e.l.y. Best treatment ever. And your kid will forget they ever did it (hopefully).