Question
A 1.5-year-old child coughs for nearly two hours every morning, a symptom that has persisted for nearly two months. The cough is hoarse, resembling a continuous cough after exercise, with minimal phlegm, and the child does not cough during the day or at night. The child has undergone chest X-rays and routine blood tests, diagnosed with upper airway cough syndrome, and received five days of nebulizer treatment, which improved the symptoms. Subsequently, the child received another nine days of nebulizer treatment with reduced dosage, resulting in cough relief within a few days and no further visits. However, the symptoms have recently recurred, similar to before treatment. Does the baby have allergic cough? How should it be treated? Should we focus on nebulizer treatment or consider other medications? Thank you for your patience in answering.
Answer
Based on the child’s reported results, considering this is tracheal inflammation. Besides the coughing symptoms, does the child have any other discomforts? For example, is the cough productive of phlegm? From this child’s results, it does not appear to be allergic cough; it seems to be caused by tracheal inflammation. Therefore, I believe it is appropriate to give the child some traditional Chinese medicine ingredients with lung-clearing and blood-cooling effects, as well as medications containing anti-inflammatory ingredients and immune-suppressing properties.