my 8 yr old daughter has had a stuffy nose for what seems to be more days than not. when she was younger the doc thought it might be seasonal allergies and prescribed zyrtec, which we used only used a few months. honestly don't remember if it helped. in dec. we took her off dairy and that seemed to help open up her nasal passages. this summer we have cheated and have had dairy here and there. my question is...should i have her get the full blown skin test? I heard this is not always reliable. should i take her to a dietician? and ear nose and throat person? help! i dont want to medicate her for a suspicion of an allergy, I need to know what is causing her her congestion. thanks!
You should take her to a pediatric allergist. They can do the skin test for milk. They can also do a blood test.
For any testing she must be off of antihistamines for 2 -3 days prior for the results to be good.
Did you quit the Zyrtec too?
You probably want to find out what the underlying cause is. At her age the skin tests are more reliable than the bloodwork so they may forgo the blood test.
Take her to an allergist. Once you know what her allergies are they can treat them long term and smooth out these rough patches.
I've had allergies my whole life - the skin tests aren't perfect, but they can help a lot in determining the problem. The thing is, at 8, your daughter's immune system is still immature and what she would test positive for being allergic to now will change in the future - in some cases getting better, in others getting worse.
You can also be "sensitive" to things, but not be allergic. I found that out the hard way in the last year via an acupuncture provider. Does she eat a lot of peanuts or peanut products? What about eggs (where you can tell it's an egg, not baked goods)? You could also try limiting those and see if it helps.
Some other easy things that may help: Get allergy cases for her mattress and pillows. This will eliminated exposure to dust mites - a common allergen. If she has been outside a lot, have her take a bath/ wash her hair at night to prevent the allergens from being near her nose at night. Vac and dust once a week. Change and wash your daughter's sheets once a week in hot water. Get a 3M allergy filter for your air conditioner and furnace; this will help filter the air in your house. Run the air vs having open windows early in the day when trees/grasses/flowers are pollinating. Limit how much pets are in your daughter's room, especially on her bed. Look into sinus rinses, if her congestion is mild, they can help clear out the junk.
Those are all things I have done over the years and they have helped.
Eliminating the culprit food from the diet is the gold standard for testing. Once it's been completely eliminated for awhile, you can test by adding it slowly back into the diet to see if there are any changes. There different categories of allergies (IgE, IgA, IgG, etc) so a skin prick test (also blood, stool tests) may come back negative when in fact she does have issues with diary. If her congestion has persisted after completely removing dairy, you may want to look at other foods to remove.
