Physio and coughing up mucus

[anonymous]

Hi, I have a question about my daughter and doing her pysio.

The other day i spoke to a mum who lost her daughter to CF 3yrs ago. She was a friend of mine but we never new she had CF, her parents always said it was astma.
Anyway, her mum asked if my daughter coughs up mucus when i do her physio. I said no she doesn't, she never has and her responce was "you musn't be doing it properly, bring her over aand i will show you how i did it".

So i am a little confused, is my daughter suposed to be coughing up mucus or not?
Is it possible that she doesn't yet have mucus in the lungs?
Is she still too young?

Please help, any ideas welcome.

(oops forgot to log in) Eli

 

[anonymous]

Hi, I have a question about my daughter and doing her pysio.

The other day i spoke to a mum who lost her daughter to CF 3yrs ago. She was a friend of mine but we never new she had CF, her parents always said it was astma.
Anyway, her mum asked if my daughter coughs up mucus when i do her physio. I said no she doesn't, she never has and her responce was "you musn't be doing it properly, bring her over aand i will show you how i did it".

So i am a little confused, is my daughter suposed to be coughing up mucus or not?
Is it possible that she doesn't yet have mucus in the lungs?
Is she still too young?

Please help, any ideas welcome.

(oops forgot to log in) Eli

 

[Alyssa]

It is very possible that she just doesn't have anything to cough up -- not everyone with CF is always producing mucus.

My son only produces when he has a cold and my daughter only when she has a lung infection.

My daughter now uses the vest every day but still doesn't always get stuff up every day.

My guess is you are doing it correctly. There wouldn't be any harm in her showing you how she does it or you could ask at your next clinic visit to have the respiratory therapist to show you again, but no, I don't think it is that unusual at all.

 

[Alyssa]

It is very possible that she just doesn't have anything to cough up -- not everyone with CF is always producing mucus.

My son only produces when he has a cold and my daughter only when she has a lung infection.

My daughter now uses the vest every day but still doesn't always get stuff up every day.

My guess is you are doing it correctly. There wouldn't be any harm in her showing you how she does it or you could ask at your next clinic visit to have the respiratory therapist to show you again, but no, I don't think it is that unusual at all.

 

[Haileysmommy]

Hailey has never really coughed up anything till the other day during her TOBI treatment. The dr's said I am doing it right she just dosen't have much to cough out and she dosen't know how to cough it out yet. I would't worry.

 

[Haileysmommy]

Hailey has never really coughed up anything till the other day during her TOBI treatment. The dr's said I am doing it right she just dosen't have much to cough out and she dosen't know how to cough it out yet. I would't worry.

 

[anonymous]

My daughter is 2.5 and doesn't cough during CPT unless she is sick like a few weeks ago she had Croup with sinus congestion, she coughed a little with the vest while she had this. Her baseline thus far is no cough with CPT/Vest or without.

HTH,
Kelli - mom of Sydney 2.5wcf

 

[anonymous]

My daughter is 2.5 and doesn't cough during CPT unless she is sick like a few weeks ago she had Croup with sinus congestion, she coughed a little with the vest while she had this. Her baseline thus far is no cough with CPT/Vest or without.

HTH,
Kelli - mom of Sydney 2.5wcf

 

[skh]

My daughter uses the vest and she never coughs anything up. If she has problems with drainage from her sinus then she coughs stuff out but then that's totally different. And so far her PFT's have been excellent. I would bet you are doing it correctly. Not everyone is the same and I would think that it's a good thing that she doesn't have anything in her lungs to get out.

Sue

 

[skh]

My daughter uses the vest and she never coughs anything up. If she has problems with drainage from her sinus then she coughs stuff out but then that's totally different. And so far her PFT's have been excellent. I would bet you are doing it correctly. Not everyone is the same and I would think that it's a good thing that she doesn't have anything in her lungs to get out.

Sue

 

[LouLou]

My parents encouraged me to cough and spit between the different positions of manual physical therapy. I'd cough and spit everytime. My mom says it didn't contain mucus unless I was really sick which was only at age 5. Then around 6-8th grade I started to be able to cough out mucus whenever I did pt. When I was in h.s. I exchanged varsity sports (soccer and tennis) for pt. I probably didn't cough it out as much then because I felt it wasn't appropriate. Then in college (9 years ago) I started the Vest. I use a bathroom dixie cup during my sessions and cough stuff up - usually a few tbsp's. Mainly my point is get them to cough and spit from a young age because this will help them learn to get it out earlier. I hear about people my age on this site that have lung functions worse than me and can't cough things up - I wonder why?!

If I could do it all over again I'd wish that I had learned to huff cough. I am trying to convert now and it's like trying to get a chain smoker to quite smoking.

Traditional coughing causes a host of problems in adulthood (most of which I've not seen yet, thank God) slipped disks in spine, incontinence, weak stomach musles (okay maybe I have this one), hemorroids, lower back problems and the list probably goes on - Teach huff coughing.

 

[LouLou]

My parents encouraged me to cough and spit between the different positions of manual physical therapy. I'd cough and spit everytime. My mom says it didn't contain mucus unless I was really sick which was only at age 5. Then around 6-8th grade I started to be able to cough out mucus whenever I did pt. When I was in h.s. I exchanged varsity sports (soccer and tennis) for pt. I probably didn't cough it out as much then because I felt it wasn't appropriate. Then in college (9 years ago) I started the Vest. I use a bathroom dixie cup during my sessions and cough stuff up - usually a few tbsp's. Mainly my point is get them to cough and spit from a young age because this will help them learn to get it out earlier. I hear about people my age on this site that have lung functions worse than me and can't cough things up - I wonder why?!

If I could do it all over again I'd wish that I had learned to huff cough. I am trying to convert now and it's like trying to get a chain smoker to quite smoking.

Traditional coughing causes a host of problems in adulthood (most of which I've not seen yet, thank God) slipped disks in spine, incontinence, weak stomach musles (okay maybe I have this one), hemorroids, lower back problems and the list probably goes on - Teach huff coughing.

 

[thelizardqueen]

I never coughed up mucus unless I was sick with an active chest infection. This still holds true to today. Everyone with CF is different. Most likely she does not have a lot of lung involvement, therefore there is no mucous to cough up. I wouldn't worry too much about it.

 

[thelizardqueen]

I never coughed up mucus unless I was sick with an active chest infection. This still holds true to today. Everyone with CF is different. Most likely she does not have a lot of lung involvement, therefore there is no mucous to cough up. I wouldn't worry too much about it.

 

[eli]

Thank's everyone, for your responces. I feel much better knowing that, i also thought that she just musn't have any mucus to cough up. I hope that's the case.
I will also question her pysio therapist when we go to her next clinic visit, just to make sure that i'm doing her physio as i should be.

Thanks again
Eli

 

[eli]

Thank's everyone, for your responces. I feel much better knowing that, i also thought that she just musn't have any mucus to cough up. I hope that's the case.
I will also question her pysio therapist when we go to her next clinic visit, just to make sure that i'm doing her physio as i should be.

Thanks again
Eli

 

[anonymous]

Hi - I'm glad to read this! My son is 9 and has never coughed anything up either. They are trying to teach him the huff cough - so I was glad to hear that that is a good thing to start now. We are thinking about checking in to getting the Vest - does anyone have thoughts about that? If it works better than hand percussion. Usually I use a rubber or electric percussor. I think if we got the Vest though it would be easier cause he could do it by himself instead of wait til I can do it. I got a tape and paperwork and I guess there is 2 kinds out there now. I would appreciate any info you can give!

Mother of Tanner 9 w/cf

 

[anonymous]

Hi - I'm glad to read this! My son is 9 and has never coughed anything up either. They are trying to teach him the huff cough - so I was glad to hear that that is a good thing to start now. We are thinking about checking in to getting the Vest - does anyone have thoughts about that? If it works better than hand percussion. Usually I use a rubber or electric percussor. I think if we got the Vest though it would be easier cause he could do it by himself instead of wait til I can do it. I got a tape and paperwork and I guess there is 2 kinds out there now. I would appreciate any info you can give!

Mother of Tanner 9 w/cf

 

[eli]

Hi, mother of Tanner. I have read that using the vest is not as good as doing manual physio. I think there is a thread about vest/manual pysio in the adults forum. It probably is a good idea to speak to your CF doc and see what they recommend.

I also wanted to know, you state that you use a rubber or electric percussor. What is that? I haven't heard of this method before.
Although my daughter is only 15mnths old, maybe she is still too young for these different methods of physio.

Any ideas anyone!

Eli<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0">

 

[eli]

Hi, mother of Tanner. I have read that using the vest is not as good as doing manual physio. I think there is a thread about vest/manual pysio in the adults forum. It probably is a good idea to speak to your CF doc and see what they recommend.

I also wanted to know, you state that you use a rubber or electric percussor. What is that? I haven't heard of this method before.
Although my daughter is only 15mnths old, maybe she is still too young for these different methods of physio.

Any ideas anyone!

Eli<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0">