Allergies

Meggiewegs1

Help.

My 2 year old has developed pretty severe animal dander allergies. He has also been suffering from Eczema since he was about 4 months old. He's been tested and confirmed.

We have a 3 year old Golden Retriever. He is mostly an indoor dog. If it wasn't for these allergies, this dog is perfect for our family. I know I'm fighting a losing battle here...but I really want to try everything I can to make things work. I've already talked to friends and family and no one can take him, so that would mean giving him away to a stranger or looking at shelter options. I just want some suggestions for things to try - really to exhaust all options - before saying goodbye.

Dog:
I have 100% laminate and tile flooring throughout the house.
I replaced our fabric sofa with leather.
I sweep daily (the hair alone is pretty intense).
Regularly replacing our air filter.
Purchased an air purifier (it's coming, so not sure if this will help yet).
Dog has been professionally groomed (thinking about doing this once a month, but can be expensive, plus it doesn't help with the actual dander).

Kid:
Daily baths followed up with a Eczema medication (on trouble spots) and CeraVe all over.
Long sleeves and pants most of the time.
Baths again after playing outside (followed by lotion process).
Liquid allergy medication everyday.
Another liquid anti-itch medication every 4-6 hours.

With all this routine, it looks like his Eczema has improved but skin is still really dry. Nasal allergy symptoms are still really bad (house is covered in tissues and tissue boxes).

Is there anything else I can try so we can all live together? I appreciate any suggestions.

Meggiewegs1

Yeah, it's dander specifically. He also has some food allergies, which are milder than the dander by far. But we've eliminated those causes as well (milk AND soy, my poor kid).

The allergist didn't mention shots. I was pretty confident from our last meeting that the expectation was for the dog to be removed and that would solve the issue and we would be done with it. I was happy with the results from the medications for the Eczema so far, huge improvement. It's just the nasal issues that are so horrible right now. I honestly don't know which is worse.

Do you remember how young you were when they started the shots? I have a sister who has 3 kids with allergies (6-11 years old) and they take a little puff of an inhaler when they start to get symptoms, plus a daily allergy pill. I just haven't hear much about additional treatments for a younger child.

klondikebar

DS2 has dairy, dog and seasonal allergies as well. He breaks out from contact and can't even touch where a dog has been. The dairy is what caused his eczema. I don't have any advice since we don't have a dog in our home, but I just wanted to let you know that you aren't alone in dealing with this stuff. I never realized just how many food items contained traces of dairy until we discovered his allergy. I hope you can find a solution and your DS starts feeling better.