You woke up this morning with a sore throat and cough, but chicken soup isn’t helping- should you take a cough drop? This is a great debate among pregnant women. Officially, they are on the OBGYN’s safe list, but some women are still scared to take them. Considering a cough is only a minor health issue and may go away on its own, you may decide to skip all treatment and let it run its course. That is understandable because taking the wrong thing could harm your unborn child. Read more »

First off, if we are talking about an infant and the coughing and wheezing is accompanied by a fever, go see a medical doctor as soon as possible. There has been a resurgence of whooping cough in the U.S. and, God forbid, it can be deadly. And if your wheezing is making you lightheaded, this may be a sign of asthma, which can also be deadly. If you have coughed up blood in ANY amount, or if you have an uncontrollable cough for more than a week, you should also seek medical advice as these may also be signs of a much larger problem. Read more »

Coughs are an almost universal symptom, denoting any of possible hundreds of conditions or diseases, but if you cough only when lying down, that could indicate one of a handful of malaises. Read more »

Dry coughing that gets worse at night – could your child have cough variant asthma? Since it’s only symptom is a short, dry cough, this condition can be easy to miss. If the cough lasts more than six weeks, that’s one indicator. Even the usual tests (x-rays, chest exams) to detect regular asthma don’t always detect it. Even the Spirometry test that measures the volume of air you exhale after a deep breath. Read more »