Help!

Ster is driving me crazy! The poor kid can't help it, but I'm ready to pull out my hair. He CAN'T stop coughing!!!!! No medicine is working. And after a full day of him coughing I am ready to run outside screaming. No joke. I do not like re-occuring sounds - like coughing, pen clicking, gum popping/snapping, feet tapping, music booming. It drives me crazy. I put in ear plug and it still didn't keep out the cough!!!! I've given him cold medicine, cough medicine, benedryl, and cough drops. Anything I can think of (not at the same time, of course) but nothing is helping. Yikes!

Last night, I took him to the doctor because he wasn't feeling well and did have a slight fever (100.3). Tim looked in his throat and saw the lovely puss pockets. Great - he didn't really complain that his throat hurt. So, we took him to the after-hours clinic and had an enjoyable visit. Very enjoyable. You know how they have to swab the throat? Well, that was fun. 5 minutes later with no swabbing, the doctor came in, looked, and said: Well, we prefer to treat them for strep with a positive test. But, it looks like strep. It smells like strep. We'll treat it for strep. And, how long has he been coughing?

So, poor Ster had a shot (we convinced him the shot was better - but I don't think we'll be able to fool him again) and had a nebulizer (sp?) treatment. He did do better last night, but today has been horrible. Yeah, we'll be calling his doctor first thing in the morning to see about more treatments.

Go figure. Last year, a month after school started he came home with a cold/cough and had a constant cough the rest of the school year. I would take him in after a couple of weeks of coughing (no other symptoms except for a slightly stuffy nose, and that wasn't even bad) and we'd get him on an antibiotic and his cough would clear up for a week, maybe two if we were lucky. Then the cough would come back. the doctor would check him out and everything sounded clear. the last time we took him in, the doctor said that it could be a cold on top of a cold or it could be asthma, but it didn't really sound like asthma. I didn't worry because he cleared up at the end of school. Well, with the new school year comes the coughing once again. Lovely. Every time he is at the doctor, he sounds perfectly fine. Except with the other doctor last night - she heard a bit of weezing, but nothing really bad and after the treatment he sounded fine. So, we'll check into the breathing treatment.

We HAVE health insurance and between the two guys in my life, we've already shelled out $275 in co-pays and medicine in January alone.

Why can't the dang cough drop help???? Does anyone out there have some home remedies?