School-Aged Children
Allergies
My 6 yr. old son just developed seasonal allergies. I took him to the doc last week who put him on eye drops & Allegra. It really has not made much difference. Today I spoke with him again and he would like to switch medication to Claritin AND Zyrtec, each once a day AND start him on a cycle of steroids (prednesone). I don't really like the idea of my son being on daily medication in the first place, and now the prospect of a steroid makes me very nervous. But he is also suffering and his teacher at school has told me he has trouble concentrating because his eyes & nose itch so much. Does anyone has any experience with this? Any more natural alternatives?
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Allergies
that is really odd! I've heard of switching from Claritin to Zyrtec. I believe they are different meds (and I think Claritin and Allegra are the same thing), but not using both. Zytec can sometimes work better than Claritin. However, when it's the height of tree polen season, not much helps most people with seasonal allergies.
A few things you can do to try to help at home - keep the windows shut and use the air conditioner, wash coats and clothes every day (so you will need multiple coats/hoodies for school) and bathe every day so that you wash all of the polen out of your hair before you get in bed. this helps my kids a lot.
First, go to an allergist, not your Pediatrician. Specialists are specialists for a reason. And when it comes to kids, you need someone well versed.
Second, give your son local (and I mean really local) honey. Here is a decent article on it. https://health.howstuffworks.com/diseases-conditions/allergies/local-honey-for-allergies.htm
Third, continually clear out your son's nose with saline washes. We do that with my 2yo DD. It sucks, since she is not happy with it, but I find a big difference.
Forth, Omega 3 foods. Here in Germany, they did a study and found that people who ate a lot of Omega 3 foods had fewer allergy symptons.
My DS is an allergy kid. He really suffers during this time of year and during the fall, although fall is not as bad. When the pollen count is high, he can rip through a large box of kleenex in 2 days. And his eyes water/itch, he sneezes, he coughs at night, he can't concentrate during the day, and so on.
I have resisted taking him to a pediatric allergist, because I knew that was just going to lead to a LOT more treatment and tests. And I wasn't sure he needed MORE treatment. But on the other hand, I knew he couldn't suffer these symptoms and do a good job once he was in elementary school.
As a last-ditch effort, here's what we have done for the past 2 springs:
Start daily claritin on February 15 and keep going until Memorial day. Start up again on 9/30 and go until Halloween. Top off with steroid nasal spray on an "as needed" basis. He started taking adult claritin last year at 5 1/2.
This has worked pretty well, and I don't feel like he's taking daily meds during the times of year when he doesn't need it. He may use the nasal spray about 10 times a year. A key with claritin is getting it built up in his system before the pollen hits.
HTH!