Carol Eiserman
I had a similar problem when my 16 year old daughter was only two years old. She had a persistent cough which just would not go away. It almost sounded a like a seal barking if you know the sound that I mean. At first her pediatrician thought it was croup and treated her for that, but it just seemed to get worse as more time passed. Luckily, in the same building as the pediatrician, there was a Pediatric Pulmonary Specialist (there is another word for it which escapes me for the moment) and the pediatrician sent me upstairs with my daughter to see him. He, too was stumped at first. We went through a whole battery of tests: chest x-rays, sinus x-rays, skin patch tests, blood work etc. He still could not come up with an answer, but he tried her on some stronger cough medicine, and it did not work. Finally, he asked me to be patient and told me that he would do some research to see what he could find. It turned out that she had an unusual form of asthma. I think it is only called atypical asthma. The only thing that works when she gets this cough (and it's like clockwork - always in the fall and winter when there are more germs going around and the house is closed up with the heat on) is some oral steroids. She is 16 years old now and still gets the cough every fall and winter. Sometimes in the spring when it has been raining a lot and everything is growing faster than usual and the pollen counts are extremely high, she will get it then, too. I hope this is some help to you, and I wish you luck in finding a correct diagnosis. Sincerely, Carol