Environmental Allergies

[Betty04]

Hi,

 

My 3 1/2 year old has been suffering this summer from constant nasal congestions. We tried a 2 week trial of Singular prescribed by the DAN doc with no improvement. We saw the ENT last week. My son had tubes in his ears and his adenoids removed last August and in December he had his tonsils removed and his turbinades in his nasal passages thinned out. The ENT prescribed a nasal spray of Bactroban as he thought the congestion was not related or not entirely related to allergies as it was somewhat yellow. He has the greatest difficulty in the mornings and after a nap so another question is whether reflux is playing a role (he had severe reflux the first year of his life but subsqeuently has seemed symptom free). The ENT strongly feels my son needs to learn to blow his nose and is old enough but I have had no luck teaching him. The nasal spray he prescribed has not helped after being on it for 9 days. He does not want to treat him yet with a steroid nasal spray as he feels the nose blowing is most important and does not think that at his age the severity of his nasal symptoms are entirely allergies. His diet continues to be (since March 08) gluten free, casein free, soy free and nut free- this has not made a difference in his congestion. So my question is what other alternatives besides drugs have people found to be helpful to treat environmental allergies (because I suspect he has them). Have alot of people benefitted from Bioset or NAET? Thanks for the feedback, Betty

[Chemar]

my son has been helped by having a hepa filter in his room (he did not react well to one that also inonizes!!!!) and I try to keep things as dust free as possible. He also uses the non plastic anti-dustmite covers for bedding

 

we do not use any chemicals in the house or garden and I use special laundry detergents, toiletries etc

 

Biofeedback and acupuncture have also helped. We never used Neat Naet or Bioset but it sounds to me like a variation of the transdermal radiogenic testing/biofeedback etc that our acupuncture therapist does for him

 

he flushes his nostrils with a saline solution too

[ilovedogs]

We have seen great results this summer with a HEPA filter in ds's room. I haven't seen any of his allergy problems that he's had in the past(sniffling, nasal congestion, etc where I was giving him meds at night just so he could sleep). We bought a Rabbit Air HEPA that also has an ionizer but you can turn that feature off and just use the HEPA. It's a 3 stage filter and needs to be vacuumed regularly and cleaned out, as well. Can't say enough good about it!

 

We also are doing NEAT this summer. I really haven't noticed a difference since the filter had already been doing it's job. We have our final appointment for it in a few weeks and then I'll be able to post about how I felt it went. NEAT is similar to NAET but I'm not versed in either of them well enough to explain the difference!

[familyof4]

Betty,

 

If you aren't already doing daily nasel rinses for your son I would highly suggest it. Neilmed makes a pediatric size kit that should be pretty easy to find. My son was getting really bad sinus infections by 18months old. Although he really didn't test strongly for any environmental allergies they put him on Nasonex to help with the swelling and irritation and nasel washes 2x daily. It wasn't easy at first (we had to wrap him in a towel and hold him down) but by the age of 3 he was actually asking for extra nasel washes whenever he ended up congested with a cold. Now we only do the nasel washes once a day and Nasonex only when he has a cold. If he has lots of "snot" the nasel wash will rinse it out. Even if he doens't have the congestion the washes help keep the bacteria levels down.

 

Just my 2 cents as it has been a lifesaver for us!

 

Heather

[Betty04]

Thanks for the feedback. We run our central air and a separate air filter through the ducts in the house and it is always on 24/7. But an additional air filter for his room is a great idea. ilovedogs... which rabbit air do you have?

Chemar/Heather... i have tried a saline spray but it was such a fight I gave up. Heather, do you think the neil med product can be used with a 3 year old, I watched the YouTube video and thought he might choke? I would definately need to wrap him in a towel to get the rinse into his nose! Thanks for the suggestions, Betty

[ilovedogs]

I have the Bio GS. I got it at Frys Electronics for about $300. That's about the same price that I saw it online for. Even though it's in ds's room, I think the whole upstairs gets a benefit from it b/c my allergies have been better too. We keep the bedroom doors open so it covers a pretty big area. I can't remember what other models they carry, though, if you need somthing smaller.

[patty]

Betty04,

 

My son has been getting NAET treatments for food & environmental allergies for the last 2 years, and i feel that it has helped his tics. It was not an immediate effect, but more of a gradual one. Via NAET, my son's asthma is gone and his nasal congestion is much improved and does not use flonanse anymore.

 

However, this summer i have switched from NAET to Bioset becasue it is much easier because it doesn't require 25 hrs avoidance period, and you can treat multiple items together. Also, i find that it is more thorough and accurate in finding sensitivities and true allergies.

 

I hope this is helpful.

 

Pat

[familyof4]

Thanks for the feedback. We run our central air and a separate air filter through the ducts in the house and it is always on 24/7. But an additional air filter for his room is a great idea. ilovedogs... which rabbit air do you have?

Chemar/Heather... i have tried a saline spray but it was such a fight I gave up. Heather, do you think the neil med product can be used with a 3 year old, I watched the YouTube video and thought he might choke? I would definately need to wrap him in a towel to get the rinse into his nose! Thanks for the suggestions, Betty

 

We started using the pediatric Neilmed kit when my son was less than 2 so you should be fine. It does a much better job of actually clearing the sinuses out than just squirting some saline. It is not pleasent and he will probably fight you but once he realizes it makes him feel better he will adjust. When we first started my son would scream bloody murder but we pressed on with it. After he got a sinus infection that was so bad (no symptoms - found on a CT scan) that he had a seizure this is what the doctor suggested. My son learned that the only time he choked was if he screamed through it. Like I said - now he asks for me to do an extra nasel wash when he has a cold so he realizes the benefits.

 

Heather