Bad cough and fear of taking pills - Advice?

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My one undiagnosed daughter has a really bad cough. She NEEDS to have some cough medicine. I do have several choices to offer her, but all of them are being turned down. The fear from a liquid is that it will taste/feel bad. The fear with pills is that they either "look scary," or they "are big and scary." I was finally able to get her to take some Triaminic strips. The only reason she took those is because she knew what to expect, and she has been coughing almost non stop since 9 (it is now 12:30).

I know why she is coughing. She is getting over a sinus infection and is coughing up all the crud that got into her lungs. I am watching her for sign of bronchitis or pneumonia (she has had them before and suffers from asthma, so she is susceptible to developing them). The doctor did put her on antibiotics, and she is finally starting to feel better (minus the cough).

She does take pills. She is on three different pills daily. They are smaller. She takes these for migraines and GERD. Unfortunately, medicines tend to make her reflux taste bad. Or, if they are capsules (the outside dissolves, and the medication inside is released) the case comes back up and gags her. Today, she had enough of the coughing (she had been refusing to take anything beyond her normal medicines and the antibiotic) and asked me to give her NyQuil liquid. I did give it to her last night, and even though she said it tasted disgusting, she tolerated it. She wanted some tonight, and when she swallowed it, she gagged, and it all came back up. In tears, she refused everything else. For twenty minutes, I listened to her hacking away. Finally, I came to her with some NyQuil pills. She has taken them in the past, but she does not remember. She tried to take them, but started to cry, and told me that they just looked so big and scary. I asked her if she wanted to go to the ER, and she said they would just give her something worse and scarier than what I had. I was desperate, so I offered her one of my Tesslon Pearls (they are prescription - I never give my kids anything that is not their script (I never have before), but I was desperate, and I knew that this would not be harmful to her). She told me that they were scary too, and wouldn't take them. That's when she decided she would take the Triaminic.

Now the advice I am looking for is either how to help her take medications when she has both an aversion to tastes and textures, and she has a huge gag reflex. We have tried mixing medications with foods, but all that does is get her to stop eating those foods anymore. With the limited foods she will eat, I don't want to risk her eating even less.

Also, does there exist an inhalant (not albuteral - we tried that too, and it did not stop the coughing) that can be given for cough? Even a script I can ask the doc to give her? She is fine with inhalants. She *may* be fine with patches too, but she is sensitive to many things (had a severe nickle allergy as a baby and is allergic to milk) and knowing her luck, she would develop a sensitivity to the adhesive - just like I have.

Just hearing her cough is making me worry. I want her to stop. She needs sleep (and so do I).

Are there any smokers in the house where she lives? I had a major problem with coughing which was the result of a combination of allergies and asthma, probably made worse by being around smokers. Smoking had a major impact on me and it still does if I am around it for too long. Has she been tested for allergies? What about lung tests? There's a breathing machine which is used as part of a program for diagnosing lung problems. Cough medicine can work in a limited way, but one can't keep taking it forever. Sooner or later, the root cause of the problem must be found and addressed.

Nope. No smokers. She has not had ANY tests done as far as I know. I want her to have them done, but at the moment (I am in a legal battle to get them) I have no legal say in her medical care. Hopefully, if everything works out, I will be able to start getting some of her problems addressed. Until then, I can only give her OTC meds and suggest to the drs (if I physically have her at my house). Since I am not the decision maker, the drs do not have to listen, and dad can negate their decision, however.

It may be a bit late in the episode for this, and she may have major gross-out issues with it, but have you tried the sinus rinses with her? I use one, it's a squirt bottle with saline solution you mix, and it flushes all the crud out of the nose and sinuses. That crud is what drains down the throat and causes irritation and coughing. I just wish I had had it when I was young, I had such trouble with coughing. It's only the last couple of years that I haven't had my chronic irritated cough and phlegm since I started rinsing it out.

I think some of the crud that seems to be coming from her lungs may actually still be draining from her sinuses as she gets over the infection. If she can stand the idea of squirting water up her nose and letting it drain over the sink, and then blowing her nose, she can start to clear out a surprising amount of phlegm and goo.

That is a good thought, and I will bring it up to her tomorrow. I ended up having her sleep sitting up and am having her use a moist heat heating pad. She has finally quieted down. Wit the rinse though, I will predict that she will refuse to do it. She is so scared of everything. I am seriously surprised that she is not scared of her own shadow. I am serious. In order to get her to do maybe a quarter of the things she does, I have to do it as well. She is just so scared. I do think she may be having some post-nasal drip still, but she is coughing phlegm up from her chest. I do the exact same thing when I get sick like this, and if it was only the post-nasal drip, then sitting up would only aggravate it. I am not saying it does not contribute, but it isn't the only cause. Yesterday, I tried to give her a Muscinex and she almost flipped on me. Too big.

I am really wondering if there are any inhalant cough remedies, or any "patches" that can deliver the medication. I am not talking about something like Vicks or anything similar. I am talking about an actual script that the doc can give her in this fashion. I think I may consult my good friend Google in a minute.

I had the same problem with pills as a child.

The problem really isn't the pill itself, but the fact that it gets stuck in your throat which hurts (a lot). The solution is simply to take the pill at the same time as a small amount of lubricant. Get a thick liquid on a spoon with the pill in the middle(roll it around a bit to get it covered), and just swallow it all in one gulp. The liquid then helps the pill glide down and it isn't nearly as painful (despite the volume actually being larger due to the liquid). As for the liquid of choice, choose something thick but slick. Water will just wash past and leave the pill stuck, you need something a bit more viscous. I personally use pepto-bismal (works well at dealing with the acid reflux associated with some meds). But you might also try a milk shake or something like that.

Also as far as this:

Thanks Tracker. I think I may try the milkshake route or something similar. She has been obsessing over having one for a few days now. I also read somehing about a H2O2 inhalant. I will look into that further.

The problem with the foods isn't that we slip it in. She knows the medication is there. She used to be on some proton pump inhibitor (Prevacid maybe? Her dad refused to tell me), and the only way she could take the medicine was to open up the capsule and sprinkle it on some food. Her dad always would use apple sauce. She used to love apple sauce, but she refuses to touch it now. I finally found a good food to have her take it with. It is a chocolate moose that Jello makes. It is light and airy, but very chocolaty. Maybe I will go out and buy some tomorrow. I do think some of her problem is psychological. She is afraid it is going to make her gag (like the liquids), so it does. I also think she is seeing the pills as larger than they are. Most of what she has refused is very close in size to what she takes every day with no problem. They are the same length and width, but a little higher. They "look" more intimidating. I am having a huge issue with fears with her in general. They have been worse lately. I have my ideas why, but they would take too long to explain.

Here's some things to try:

I still have some residual coughing and there are a variety of factors that make it better or worse.

One thing that seems to help is that I use a disinfecting mouthwash when I brush my teeth. Knocking down the bacteria might help with coughing and also prevent cavities. I use a chlorine dioxide mouthwash. I don't use peroxide or anything containing alcohols because these are too harsh and irritating. Another mitigating factor is exercise, especially running. I feel worse at first, but the long range effect seems to be an improvement in lung function. Apparently, the lungs are also affected by the strengthening effects of exercise.

When Jordan needs to take a medicine she doesnt like we do a 'chaser' of sorts.. a good drink or a treat in one hand and as soon as the medicine is down she has it.

I use Vicks steamers with both my kids. Vicks makes a camphor-based cough suppressant that you put in the steamer, along with water and a lot of salt. It works great for my younger son, who dislikes pills.

I use Vicks steamers with both my kids. Vicks makes a camphor-based cough suppressant that you put in the steamer, along with water and a lot of salt. It works great for my younger son, who dislikes pills.

Other things I found useful even before I tried the rinse, (yes, it's NeilMed) were hot soup or tea, any flavor, and rough toast. Something like whole-grain or something else coarse works best, it scrubs goo out of the throat. Doesn't last all that long, but anything that stops the coughing is useful. I understand research has shown chicken soup to particularly effective, but I have had the best results with something a little spicy like minestrone or ramen with two or three dashes of Frank's hot sauce. Loosens up stuff in the nose by the steam and also the spices, then blow the nose. I know the toast is counter-intuitive, it might seem it would scratch the throat and be irritating, but it's a lot better than the drainage goo, which is very irritating. Then the cough is only coming from one direction, so to speak.

My daughter had to take the most horrible tasting antibiotic known to man, Clindamycin, because she was plagued with MRSA until I managed to get her out of diapers. We worked out a system of the medicine (liquid) in a syringe. She would take half and then a bite of yogurt and a drink of orange juice (has to be a strong tasting drink like that) then we would do the other half. I managed to get her to do this even when she was non verbal using PECS and lots of praise and a sucker afterwards. With pills use chocolate pudding or yogurt but tell her just to swallow and not to try to move it around in her mouth or she will dislodge the pill from the pudding, it will be in her mouth and taste bad. I did this with my son age 9 with Aspergers....(still havent tried pills with my daughter she just turned 6)....and one of my older daughters (aspie 19) who had to take medication for a urinary tract deformity (my son had this too actually). My son now can take a pill with just a drink, he puts it in the back of his throat. I have five kids so Ive had experience with medicine and also with Asthma. My oldest had Asthma starting at age 9 months and his attacks were scary because he made no noise, his little chest would just sort of collapse when he breathed (another story). I know with Asthma they very easily get Bronchitis or Pneumonia, the good thing is if they develop asthma at a young age there is a better chance of them growing out of it. This sounds crazy but try to encourage her to do sports or exercise (unless its outside there is a type of pollen or something that triggers her allergy out at the time) it helps with the lung capacity and will make the attacks less frequent and hopefully stop completely. Also if the pills she is taking are really too large than try cutting it in half and doing one half at a time. I dont know that Id recommend the nasal rinses or washes, they kind of freak me out and it goes all in your throat and makes you gag.....very unpleasant!
You can use the warm mist vapor machines and you put some liquid vicks inside the water....I dont know how much good this does but I know vicks always made me feel better when I was a kid and my Mom put it on my chest. My kids said it burned so I got the cherry baby kind but I think the machines may be better. They are a warm mist vaporizer.

Edit: just wanted to add that dum dum suckers work really well for kids....ones that do not get candy very often. I used them for medication and I used M&M's for potty training. There is nothing wrong with a little bribe every now and then, especially when its important. Like with the potty training, it was vital that we got my daughter out of diapers to stop the MRSA abscesses, nasty things and she had to have surgery and be put in the hospital for one of them. If you dont know what MRSA is it is nasty version of Staph that is resistant to many forms of antibiotic. It typically looks like a large pimple. If you see one of these on your child, take them to the doctor right away.

I heard of something called a neti pot. It looks like a little tea kettle with a spout just big enough to fit into a nostril. You're supposed to fill it with warm salt water, tilt your head back, and pour it into your nose. I never tried it and generally, prefer to deal with a stuffy nose with medications, but my friend has tried it, and he says it works really well.

I'm sure most kids, especially aspie kids, would find this too uncomfortable. Plus, they might not have a reflex to jerk their head forward if the water goes in too far. But I thought I'd post it here has an FYI.

My parents always made a dish they call meat soup, which I always loved. The recipe is almost the same as chicken soup, but with beef chopped into large cubes. (The color is about the same as that of beef stock, only transparent.) It's rich in nutrients and very filling; it's one of the few non-dessert foods I didn't refuse when I had colds. Its effectiveness is increased if you put a lot of black pepper into it; let the child decide how much.

Strong, hot black tea, non-sweetened, helps too. When I got really sick, my parents made batches of tea just hot enough for me to handle comfortably, and told me to drink a cup every hour or more often if I wished, until 4:00pm, when they told me to stop, because of caffeine. Tea is mildly antiseptic, so it kills the germs that sit in the throat. I still do this as an adult, using loose tea at home and bag tea at work. The only catch is that you might not like this remedy if you're from the South , where "tea" means sweet iced tea.