Seasonal Allergies and Flares

[cara615]

I am beginning to think seasonal allergies are playing into our most current flare (in addition to brother having strep). Everything is blooming here in the ATL and yesterday it was so windy and all the pollen was being blown around. DS had a runny nose a couple of days ago and I think he is having seasonal allergies even though he has no other signs of it.

 

I gave him some children's Alegra this morning. Since this is an anti-histamine will this make the tics worse?

 

Has anyone had any experience with flare and seasonal allergies, if so did you use allergy meds, did they work?

 

Thanks!!

Edited March 13, 2014 by cara615

[LNN]

I've not seen antihistamines make tics worse - however I have seen them induce tremors and tachycardia in my DD because she had a choline deficiency and antihistamines block choline receptors.

 

My personal theory is that allergies don't necessarily trigger the PANDAS autoimmune response but histamine is a potent neurotransmitter in its own right. Toss a histamine imbalance into the mix on top of a dopamine/serotonin/glutamate imbalance brought on by PANDAS, or a dopamine/serotonin/norepinephrine/glutamate..imbalance brought on by methylation roadblocks - and you've got yourself an explosive child.

 

My DD uses sublingual allergy drops (used to get allergy shots, which helped a lot except she freaked over the needles every single time). She takes quercetin as needed on bad days, but not too often because she has a CBS gene mutation that makes quercetin not so great for her in the long term, and once in awhile, zyrtec coupled with an extra choline supplement on those days. We also control other allergens to reduce her overall load - using mattress and pillow encasements, frequent cleaning, and vigilance for mold triggers, etc.

[mamakarata]

I think it is a factor in our recent flare. Last May my son's eyes got very bloodshot, though not runny or itchy, and with it came a big flare up. This year again, just a week ago, his eyes have been getting red again, and again, a big flare. He has been on azith and augmentin continuously, but still, a big flare.

 

Regular doc had ruled out allergy because no other allergy symptoms. But who knows, he is a-symptomatic to strep, except for his PANDAS (in other words, no sore throat, fever etc), why not be a-symptomatic to allergy except for red eyes and PANDAS behavior? Such an ongoing mystery.

[cara615]

AGREED!!! My son is a-symptomatic to seasonal allergies as well. i swear the Allegra has really gotten his tics under control. Hardly noticeable. Ofcourse the second i write this, everything with change.....

[Brese]

Our doctor recommended sublingual allergy drops. He felt allergy symptoms tax the bodies immune system so anything that can decrease an immune response would help. Allegra and Claritin never really helped that I noticed. However, the allergy drops seem to be making a big difference.

[3bmom]

I just read somewhere that allergy drops should help as opposed to the shots which might send them into a flair.

Very interesting. Keep us posted

[Mommy2MCL]

Can you tell me more about the sublingual allergy drops? My dd's only known allergy is to a mold test which showed up on a RAST last August. But her bloodwork shows an high IGE. Around 600

 

Last week we added singulair int her meds and have seen even more improvement.

 

So I don't know if we are dealing with hidden allergies.

 

We are also waiting on Mycotoxin testing results through Real Time Labs

[momslove]

When PANDAS/PANS attacked in our home our dd was in 4th grade. We went first to our family doctor who really didn't know what to do. We had actually heard about strep and behavior, but when we asked him about it he talked about "fringe medicine" and chasing after wild ideas. Some time prior to all of this, I had read a book by Doris Rapp about allergies and behavior. I think it was, Is This Your Child. We took our dd to a clinic in Wisconsin known for their use of sublingual allergy treatment. All of our dd's allergy tests appeared to show only very mild responses, but they prepared drops for us and recommended that we also cut corn from her diet as much as possible. She started to feel much better--eventually even appeared recovered to us although she would say there was still a little bit... She would take drops every day, regularly. She could also take extra if she had extra allergen exposure or, in her case, if she "felt" a need. This didn't happen often, but it did happen. She would call me from school some days to ask for drops because she was feeling increased anxiety. She would feel better shortly after having the drops. When we saw our family doc and she was feeling good, he asked what we had done. I could tell by his face that he thought the allergy approach was nonsense, but our dd "testified" to him about the difference the allergy drops made for her. Thankfully, he softened and told her that was great and that she should keep doing what she was doing. Unfortunately, we did not... Maybe it wouldn't have mattered... Try not to beat myself up about it...

 

She did well in 5th grade. We started allowing her more and more corn in her diet and eventually stopped using the drops. She was doing fine. In 6th grade she fell off the cliff again. This time, her OCD/anxiety would not allow her to use drops again. Her eating was restricted and ANY contact with plastic was "bad". Medicines were probably "bad" too. The bottle of drops (medicine) had a plastic pump. We eventually got to a place (with the help of a PANDAS doc) when she would use the drops again, but then we saw a new doc at the allergy clinic who wanted to tell me that the notion of PANDAS was highly suspect. His biggest recommendation to our dd was that she should stop washing her hands so much... I believe that doc is no longer at the clinic and I still think the clinic is great, but have not gone back. (Also, our insurance has not covered any services at this clinic because they treat with allergy drops.)

 

I hesitate to post this because I feel like I have failed. Our dd is in 10th grade, but hasn't been able to get to school for months. I think I should dig deep for the strength to enforce diet changes (especially the corn). There just seem to be so many other factors and she can be very difficult and I feel bad for her and I'm tired... But, yes, I believe allergies (seasonal and otherwise) have a significant impact for some of our kids.