Does anyone have experience with "habit cough" or "tic cough"?
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Anonymous
| 6 year old DC has had a constant dry cough for several weeks. Coughs all day, multiple times per minute, but not when sleeping at night. No other symptoms and hasn't been sick. Doctor thinks it is "habit cough" which is like a tic cough. I have read that a certain type of behavioral therapy can help but no idea where to go for this. Would love any insight from anyone that has experienced this. |
Anonymous
| DS had this. In his case it appeared to be related to his asthma meds because it went away when we switched to a different kind. |
Anonymous
| DS was clearing his throat for a few months. Eventually it went away. Doctor also diagnosed "habit cough". |
Anonymous
| Yep. It lasted a couple of months and went away on its own. Like any tic, best thing to do is ignore it. |
Anonymous
| OP here. I appreciate the replies. Just wondering if this led to future tics after the cough went away, or if your DC ended up with a tic disorder? |
Anonymous
| My son went through this with clearing his throat. He was older so for a couple of days I gave him a cough drop or something to suck on so that he couldn't do it while it was in his mouth. It seemed to help break the habit. |
Anonymous
| I had this as a child. It was the '70s so there was no treatment for it except my mother yelling at me to knock it off. I stopped doing it by the time I was in middle school. There was no lasting damage. |
Anonymous
| We have exactly this with our 5 yr old! Could this be related to PANDAS? |
Anonymous
OP here. I wondered that but he hasn't had strep in years, at least that I know of. Could PANDAS result from a latent strep infection that did not produce typical strep symptoms or illness? |
Anonymous
| I have it. Its annoying. Its from dripping from mucus from my nose to throat. My kid has it and does the throat clearing. The doctor said the same as what others here say and give us the blow off. Allergy meds help, sometimes reflux meds help too. Also, encourage drinking lots of water. I'd rule out all medical but beyond allergy or other meds, not much you can do about it. |
Anonymous
| DD has a mild tic disorder. It started with throat clearing and coughing but not until she was 8 or so. CBIT is said to be effective for tics but probably not in such a young child. In any case, many children have tics at some point that they grow out of. |
Anonymous
|
NP here. Thanks for posting OP.
Our Aspergers/ADHD 6 yo has developed this over the last 6 months. We have allergies and as a baby he had reflux so I have thought that it might be the confluence of these two things and the propensity for tics. It seems so annoying to other people and I would love to help our DS get over it as he already has enough problems with not annoying people. |
Anonymous
Yes--children can have strep with no obvious symptoms. My DS was in this category--he was always tested when his sister got strep and always showed up positive. About two weeks later like clockwork his PANDAS would emerge. If the only tic/OCD type symptom is a cough, I'd be less likely to suspect PANDAS unless the frequency was really marked. I'd be more likely to think it was associated with something like post nasal drip. |
Anonymous
| Our DD started with a cough tic. We were told to ignore and it resolved but every fall she developed a new tic. For her, it is clearly related to anxiety which is higher at the beginning of the school year. When older, she had therapy which was helpful in general but did not resolve this issue. |
Anonymous
| Our asthma doctor had an article in his office posted about this that mentioned that an SLP could treat habit cough. |