Katie,
Each Child with CF is different. From what I've learned most CF'ers are born with lungs with no damage. As they have repeated infections, their lungs do get damaged and they eventually will have a chronic cough. So, the goal is to protect their lungs for as long as possible. Cough can indicate so many things, post nasal drip, reflux, infection, throat clearing, inflammation. Many docs do think so they have CF; CF'ers cough...which of course they do. It's figuring out does this cough need treatment, and what that may entail that can be hard to figure out sometimes. My daughter did have a time when she would not stop coughing,, everytime she came off antibiotics she would start up again. I did get a laid back attitude from the doc; eventually she needed IV's hard core anti's...But this was major coughing,keeping her up at night, losing weight. Now after that we keep on top of her cough.. It's something over time , you get good at. For example, right now, she has a cold. will occasionally cough...post-nasal drip. I will not call the clinic, unless she develops a fever, she starts coughing at night for a few nights in a row, or she has a cough that just will not go away even after her cold is gone. Sorry this is so long winded, but it was always hard for me to figure out as well.
Each Child with CF is different. From what I've learned most CF'ers are born with lungs with no damage. As they have repeated infections, their lungs do get damaged and they eventually will have a chronic cough. So, the goal is to protect their lungs for as long as possible. Cough can indicate so many things, post nasal drip, reflux, infection, throat clearing, inflammation. Many docs do think so they have CF; CF'ers cough...which of course they do. It's figuring out does this cough need treatment, and what that may entail that can be hard to figure out sometimes. My daughter did have a time when she would not stop coughing,, everytime she came off antibiotics she would start up again. I did get a laid back attitude from the doc; eventually she needed IV's hard core anti's...But this was major coughing,keeping her up at night, losing weight. Now after that we keep on top of her cough.. It's something over time , you get good at. For example, right now, she has a cold. will occasionally cough...post-nasal drip. I will not call the clinic, unless she develops a fever, she starts coughing at night for a few nights in a row, or she has a cough that just will not go away even after her cold is gone. Sorry this is so long winded, but it was always hard for me to figure out as well.