Why do I cough when I move?

Children nowadays have a very heavy academic workload. Teachers will assign various homework starting from kindergarten, and children have very little time for entertainment. Some parents think that children first need a good body, so they will take their children out for exercise during their holidays to let them keep fit. However, some children do not have any problems at other times, but they will cough when they move. Parents do not understand why they cough when they move.

1. I don’t have a runny nose or a fever, but I get so coughed that I can’t breathe when I exercise.

Doctors say that cough variant asthma is one of the common respiratory diseases in children. Because children's bronchial mucosa is delicate and their ability to resist external pathogenic bacteria infection is low, it is easy to become inflamed and cause coughing.

Coughing is an effective way to eliminate phlegm and foreign objects in the respiratory tract, but parents always think that frequent and uncontrollable allergic coughs are caused by repeated colds due to their children's poor physical constitution. They have taken a lot of cold medicines, and some have even received a lot of anti-inflammatory injections, but the effects are not good. In fact, some of the children who their parents think have repeated colds may have allergic coughs.

2. Coughing after exercise may be cough variant asthma

The doctor explained that the outpatient clinic often sees children who come for treatment due to coughing. Parents have reported that their children have been coughing for more than a month or even longer. Generally, the symptoms are mild and the attacks are paroxysmal. Most parents do not take it seriously at first.

Some children cough more often at night or in the early morning, without wheezing or fever. Sometimes chest X-rays and blood tests show no obvious abnormalities. The cough worsens when exercising or crying. This type of cough may be an allergic cough, clinically known as cough variant asthma. It is a latent asthma with cough as the main clinical manifestation. In the early stages of asthma, 5% to 6% have persistent cough as the main symptom, and the cough is mostly irritating and contains sputum.

3. Night and early morning are the peak periods, so parents should pay close attention.

Children with cough variant asthma often have a family history, and some children have a history of infantile eczema and allergic rhinitis in infancy.

Home care is an important part of treating cough variant asthma. Since night and early morning are often the peak times for cough variant asthma, parents should closely observe their children during these two time periods.

In addition, keep the indoor environment clean and the air fresh. Dust mites often gather in large numbers on some toys. Quilts, pillowcases and carpets should be cleaned and exposed to the sun regularly. It is best not to keep pets or plant flowers and plants at home, and avoid contact with paint. Eat less raw, cold, greasy and irritating food. Some high-protein, high-energy foods such as shrimp should be eaten with caution. Drink more water and eat more vegetables and fruits.

If you experience precursor symptoms such as itchy eyes and nose, sneezing, runny nose, tears, and coughing, you should seek treatment early. Strengthen physical exercise to improve immunity, but children with exercise-induced variant asthma should limit the intensity of exercise appropriately.

For the health of children, parents must pay close attention to coughing and never ignore its harm just because it is too common. There are many causes of a cough, some of which can be serious. So in order to avoid regrets, you must pay attention to your child's cough!