Anyone else know or suspect that seasonal allergies significantly affect their DCs behavior? DS5 has exhibited markedly worse behavior in the past couple of weeks (mostly severe inattention and VERY poor executive function, but also deliberate disobedience and meltdowns), and when DH was complaining of how bad his allergies were last night, it suddenly occurred to me that DS has been sneezing more during approximately the same period of changed behavior.

If you made the seasonal allergy- behavior connections for your DC, what action did you take, and did it resolve or adequately reduce the problem? I plan to try some local honey and vitamin D drops, but does anyone have experience with other remedies, including medication?

No time to post at the moment so I'll be back later with a more detailed reply - but YES, absolutely! How old is your dc?

polarbear

Hi polarbear - DS is 5, and in K.

We all medicate with second-gen antihistamines year round. IMMV, but honestly, if you even suspect that this is an issue, it's time to hit the doctor's office, and I mean a board-certified allergist. First step is going to be to find out WHAT allergens are an issue (if any) and the next is what to do about it. This is not really a DIY project, in spite of popular sentiment on that subject. {sigh} The problem is correlation fallacy-- we're all susceptible to both that and to placebo effects when we try interventions on our own.

IF you see allergies that are having this kind of impact on function, it means (at a minimum) lifestyle modifications. So that (IMO) calls for professional advice.



Atopic disease can be quite serious and have long-term health impact if left untreated/unmanaged. Asthma is a frequent underlying component of atopic disease.

I know that a lot of people swear by supplements or honey-- but mechanistically/scientifically, there's really nothing to suggest that they do (or can) work. Aeroallergens aren't really the type of pollen that bees collect-- if they were, they would rely on insect pollinators, and in that case, they wouldn't be wind-dispersed.


At any rate, that PSA aside, out of control allergies generally lead me to feel stupid and extremely irritable. There is at least one study that shows that atopic people perform FAR worse on A-levels than those without seasonal allergies. So it's a real effect. Medicating with sedating antihistamines can obviously impair cognitive function substantially, too.

geez perhaps that explains why DD has been SO explosive the last couple of months! Makes sense, she has really bad seasonal allergies. Have her on flonase, but still snoring at night so maybe I need to go back to oral antihistamines. Plus the nasal steroids do not help with the itchy eyes. I also do not believe honey helps with seasonal allergies as we are mostly allergic to windborne pollen. That said, has anyone had any luck with homeopathic products?

http://www.amazon.com/Boiron-Packag...2657&sr=8-3&keywords=homeopathic+allergy

We have had no luck with nasalcromm either.

My family takes daily Zyrtec for seasonal allergies and Benadryl for cats when exposed to them (only my older son for the cat).

One homeopathic remedy I can strongly recommend: neti pot. It washes out inhaled pollens, for a mild improvement in allergy symptoms, and the salts provide a mild pain relief (just like gargling salt water when you have a sore throat). The BIG benefit is that it prevents secondary bacterial infections, and greatly accelerates the recovery if you do get one. Allergies prime the sinuses for a bacterial takeover, and the infection is usually much worse and longer lasting than the allergies.

Good luck getting a child to use it, though. I can't even get DW to try it.

Otherwise, we're a Zyrtec and nasal steroid household, plus Benadryl as necessary.

An alternative to Dude's great suggestion in a similar vein is salt water nasal sprays. I've sworn by these for more than 3 years since I have been either pregnant or nursing.

Dude, we have used the neti pot here too (well everyone except myself as I do not have allergies), and amazingly the kids kind of enjoy it! But we stopped using it because I couldn't get it to go in through the nasal passage since they are so congested. Have you experienced this?
I need to go back to this. I think it definitely helps so long as the nose isn't too blocked, especially with the mucous buildup in the throat.

I know when I have slept badly due to coughing, have sore eyes and an itchy throat I am not very cheerful or patient so why would it be different for kids.

slammie: I've encountered the same issue, and until I overcame it, I found the pot to be of limited utility. Then I worked out that gravity could be augmented by air pressure. Pour in a bit through one nostril, then pinch that nostril, and blow (easy at first, until you get the feel for it). Switch sides and repeat.

If you're completely blocked, this can be problematic (back pressure forcing materials into the ear canals), so ideally you want to be seeing at least a trickle of water coming out the other side. Sometimes just being patient and letting gravity do its work will get you there. I also find that NSAIDs help, because inflammation contributes to that blockage. In fact, I should have mentioned NSAIDs earlier... whenever we're symptomatic in this family, we add ibuprophen to the mix.

Just a quick PSA on neti pots:
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/03/rare-infection-prompts-neti-pot-warning/

We have also started using higher MERV filters in the central AC/heat. Filtrete 2200s are available (I buy 6 packs from amazon) and I just found out while researching this post that 2400s are available so I may switch to those.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. Yes, I should have him see an allergist. He already has visited this year for re-test of food allergies, and I was not very happy with the Dr...so maybe I need to explore how to get my insurance to cover someone else.

Good to know what medications are popular, or unpopular, with people.

Neti pot or anything up the nose is an absolute no-go, as DS has only recently stopped plugging his nose when he goes underwater at swim class, after almost THREE years of continuous lessons! You should have heard the screaming when we tried to give him showers when he was younger.

We do have fairly high MERV (12) filters and a new HEPA filtered vaccuum; however, I definitely don't vaccuum as often as I'd like!

There are plenty of great over-the-counter options. Zyrtec went off the prescription list about 7-8 years ago. Another popular option is claritin. If oral anihistimine is insufficient, you can add Nasacort or another brand nasal spray, many of which are over-the-counter. We get Nasacort via prescription because it's cheaper that way. Pediatricians are really far more comfortable dealing with hay fever than food allergies and would probably send over a prescription without another visit.

Hay fever can definitely make kids behave in annoying ways. You might want to limit outside activities during high pollen times of day.

Thank you Dude, tried that yesterday and it helped get it going!