Persistent Gurggle in throat

[Trix]

Been trach free for a couple of years now but Isabelle still has a presisit gurggle in her throat and we are always getting her to cough. We have arguments with the doctor about it. We put her on Augmentin Duo on xmas day and 8 weeks later it still hadnt cleared it! She then got a resp. virus a few weeks back and since that has cleared up the gurggle has stopped, however, we are still keeping her on augmentin for another week.

He is now prescibing Azithromycin to see if that helps. I swear the amount of times Isabelle has been on Augmentin the bug just ignores it! Any feedback on Azithromycin. She is also on Sildenafil but the doctor doesnt think there will be a drug interation as would be with Erythromycin.

The gurgle does happen a lot after she eats.

Any thoughts. Could this be bacterial or just part of the reconstruction process?

I really dont like her on antibiotics if she doesnt need to be.
Tracey

[drct1245]

Could she have a milk allergy? Some studies claim that milk produces more mucus.... ?? just a thought.

Other than this gurgle, how is she doing since decan?

good luck. hope other have other ideas

[Trix]

Hi Dawn

She has 2 glasses of milk a day but she still gurgles even after eating and not having milk with the meal.

2 years post trachey and going great. Started Kindy this year and she is just loving it - me, I'm not sure what to do with myself!

A year ago, she struggled to say mum and only had a vocab of say 20 words - today, she does not stop talking! I'm not sure where she gets some of her words from. Her speech is getting better every day and very easy to understand. Still having PROMPT speech therapy x2 weekly which is just amazing.

Resp. viruses still throw her and she needs oxygen.

Touch wood - life is getting better.

[JWorthington]

Just throwing this one out there, but has she ever had a swallow study done? Sam gurgles after eating because is swallow is not very efficient. he will swallow some of the food but the rest hangs around his upper airway and he needs to swallow more to clear it, but he usually just shovels another spoonful in! once he is finished eating it does settle down as he swallows, just a thought. Sam can also be gurgly with excess saliva and mucus. is she clearing anything when she coughs? maybe she just needs something to loosen it up so she can cough it out. and augmentin?? hate it! just gave Sam diarrhoea, he's had it so often don't think it touches the bugs anymore

[bryantem]

Addy had that for a few months post trach and we were told that she just had to learn how to cough it up and swallow. Eventually she learned and we haven't had any gurgliness since. Hers was more apparant when eating too. Have you tried to teach her to clear her throat or cough it up? I don't see how antibiotics would work, since it doesn't sound like an infection issue.

[Trix]

Hi
Yes she has had a couple of swallow studies when trached and all clear on her last one.

She has a very strong cough but it just needs to be a little harder to bring it up

the gurggle vaires a bit. sometimes it can just be after eating and other times it can be constant all day and I have to continually get her to cough and cough and cough - it drives me mad.

I too am sick of Augmentin and believe that when she does really need it, its not going to work as she has had so much. The doctor says it doesnt work that way and kids with CF are on it all the time.

I dont know - stumped!

[JWorthington]

Only other suggestion, could it possibly just be a habit? my son had a persistent cough for years, the doctors couldn't find anything wrong, he eventually grew out of it, but occasionally it comes back when he is stressed. she may have just got used to is after losing the trach and learning to cope with the secretions. just a thought x

[LKN]

Does she have allergies? Sometimes post nasal drip can sound gurgly. Try an over the counter antihistimine like Zyrtec.