Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Seasonal allergies affecting behavior?

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!