For Those with Kids with Lots of Allergies...

Hi L.. My 11 year old has severe allergies. She had blood tests at age 6, and scratch tests just last summer. She is off the charts allergic to both species of dust mites. Also highly allergic to cats, dogs, some trees and grass. We too, received the long list of recommendations to make our home allergy friendly. It was very daunting to think we had to do all of those many things to protect our daughter's health. I'll be honest with you. We did NOT do them all. It was just too much. So I'll tell you what we DID do, and what works for us. First of all, my daughter's allergies are 95% indoor issues, and she has no food allergies. She does not have asthma but it does run in her family history. She also suffered severe eczema as a young child, but thankfully, has nearly all grown out of her skin issues. Her biggest complaint is nasal itchiness and stuffiness. We tried Claritin, with very little results. But let me tell you, 10 mg of Zyrtec daily, is an amazing help to her. She does not have any itchy nose or watery itchy eyes at all. She's been on this daily for 5+ years with no noticeable side effects. She still has stuffiness and is a "mouth breather" so the allergist wanted her to try nasal spray. Well, my husband suffers the same allergies, and he has tried nasal sprays and has so many negative things to say about how annoying they are, we did not attempt them. Our daughter is comfortable on the Zyrtec. In our home, we removed the carpet on the main floor (floor her bedroom is on) and refurbished the hardwood floors. In her room, we bought an allergy friendly mattress cover and pillow. She still has a few area rugs. We keep our kids bookshelf in another room, but she still has a shelf of favorite books in hers. Also, we did not get rid of her favorite stuffed animals (just purged some of the junk ones but she still has a fair amount), and she knows she is not to sleep with stuffed animals near her face. We did not have curtains, but now we do. We tried an air purifier briefly years ago, but did not notice a difference, so we got rid of it. I've tried to take her off Zyrtec, and she is fine for a few weeks, but then I notice she starts to get more and more uncomfortable, so we put her back on.

Hi L.,

I don't speak from personal experience but I do have friends who have dealt with issues similar to yours.

I had one friend who made a huge difference in her child's condition by changing his diet based on the book Disease Proof Your Child. You can see an excerpt here (http://doctorfuhrman.com/children/default.aspx). They are pretty major changes, but if it makes a difference in your child's long term health it's probably worth it.

The second suggestion I have is sunflower butter. My son's school is nut free and he loves it!

Take it for what it's worth, as I haven't been there. Good luck!

Hi, L.:
Check the web at

www.enzymedica.com

Digestive Enzymes for kids to help with allergies.

Digest sprinkles with fiber for children.

Their are whole house purifiers as well as room purifiers.

Hope this helps.
D.

I have mild allergies. Not sure what I'm allergic to, since I never got tested. However, I can say the following things make a big difference:
(We have 2 dogs, 2 cats, my kids have a ton of stuffed animals & we live on a large, wooded property).
1. wood floors are sooo much better than carpet. We have carpet in the living room for comfort, but the rest of the house is wood or vinyl (kitchen/bath)
2. washable curtains. I wash all the curtains in the house once a season (4x per year)
3. Wash the stuffed animals. I put as many animals in the wash at one time as possible. Don't waste your time putting them in pillow cases. Its unnecessary. I've washed all the stuffed animals in our house multiple times, without any problem. Even the ones I had as a kid. Dry on low.
4. Wash the comforter once a month.
5. Vacuum, vacuum, vacuum! I should have put this at number one. Spend the money to get a HIGH quality vacuum with a hepa filter. I have a dyson & love it. Vacuum at least every other day. It doesn't have to be a perfect vacuuming. Just get all the major areas. Once a week move all the furniture & vacuum every where. (I had a friend with severe cat allergies visit & she didn't even need to take her allergy medicine. She still talks about it. She is still amazed she was able to be in a house with cats. She always tells me its hard to believe we have animals)
6. Furniture: we have washable slip covers on our couches. I take them off & wash them at least once a month. I also vacuum the couches at least once a month. This is really helpful keeping the animal fur under control. I'm not sure if it would help with other allergens.

7.You may also want to get electric air cleaners. I hear they work wonders. In your new house you could have one added to the heating/cooling system so your whole house will be cleaned. We will be upgrading our heating system soon & are getting an air cleaner with it. I've heard they are fabulous.

Good luck.
(I never had allergy medicine growing up & still rarely use it today. I sneeze a lot, but I'm used to that. I only take medicine when the sneezing gets really bad. Most medicine gives me some kind of side effect (usually drowsiness) which I think is not worth it. I'd rather be alert and sneezy than drowsy.
Your son might not have any side effects from the meds, so to him it might be worth taking them. (Most people I know don't have side effect from their allergy meds). I would suggest asking him how he feels. And let him decide when he needs the medicine.

Get a room purifier and remove what you can from his bedroom. No curtains. vacuum the bed and encase it in dust mite bag, wash the stuffed animals and let him have 8 or so and rotate them out tell him he will feel better. My hubby has allergies and when we bought our house 9 years ago the bedroom already had parkay flooring(square wood tiles), then we ripped out the carpet in the living and dinning rooms and hallways and put in hard wood, we also only have small valences over the windows and use shades as they do not hold dust like mini blinds. It has helped. Good Luck!

Alot of the things we have done - it sounds like you can't do until you move (remove carpet, etc.).

I did have one idea for you - you may want to consider a DEHUMIDIFIER. We live in southern FL where it is very humid. Apparently dust mites need a certain humidity level to thrive. I see that you are in PA so it's probably very dry for you in the winter (so maybe my suggestion won't help).

The other thing you may have to do is get rid of the stuffed animals (ouch) or at least move them. He should not be sleeping with those around him (we had to do that too).

Good luck.

I have the same environmental allergies that you son does (and so does my son, same age as yours).
What keeps ours under control:
pillow cover
mattress cover (I didn't buy a new mattress, just got the allergy cover for the one I had)
Vaccuum weekly
I bought a spray at Bed Bath and Beyond that is supposed to help get rid of dust mites in carpet. I use it before I vaccuum the carpets about every other month.
Wash bedding and stuffed animals in hot water at least once a month
We are gradually getting rid of the mini-blinds that came in our house and replacing them with roller shades, because those binds are terrible dust collectors.
Anything that is not able to be washed in hot water (eg my comforter) goes in the freezer for 48 hours then washed on delicate a few times a year.

If you have pets in the house, you'll have to be more diligent about vaccuuming and washing than I am.

As for meds - Zyrtec makes me very tired, and it has the same effect on my 4 year old son. I don't take it unless I'm having a really bad day with allergies. I use a steroid nasal spray (like Flonase, but generic). I've found if I use it every day as directed for about 2 weeks, and my allergies are under control, I can cut the dosage in half, or even use it every other day to keep them under control. In my experience with the meds, it's harder (and takes a higher dose) to get an ongoing allergy attack under control than it is to prevent one from happening. So if you are diligent about using the meds every day, you may be able to cut back the dose.

I know some people feel strongly against giving kids medicine. From my point of view - I didn't get anything to treat my allergies as a child. I wouldn't put my child through that, if possible. Having a runny/stuffy nose all day isn't fun, once your child is in school there won't always be tissues around and other kids can be mean. That's all I'm going to say.

Hi. Sounds like my son exactly, with the addition of a few food allergies.

With flu season coming up be careful his asthma my start up. My son had what we thought was a cold and hacking cough for 3 weeks. The pediatrictian agreed. We happened to go to the allergist for a regular followup and he said it was an asthma attack and yelled at us for not getting it treated even tho we'd seen the pediatrician 2x!

Yes all of the precautions can be overwhelming, but no house is perfect. I don't dust often, because dusting kicks up MY asthma. We do vaccum the rooms weekly, wash beding weekly. Have a case on the pillow.

As for carpeting, you don't HAVE to pull up all of the carpet. Just get a good vaccum with a hepa filter. You can still have curtains, just clean them regularly.

My son has a daily asthma medicine, another for emergencies, an epipen for emergencies, and he's on weekly allergy shots.

When you move, if its to a new area, not just across town, you'll want to get him retested as each environment is different.

My 4 year old is on the same meds for her allergies and she is allergic to everything too. I give her the nose spray every night and I only give her the Zyrtec during the day when I notice her allergies bothering her. The first thing we did was use the special pillow cases and the mattress case. I also wash her bedding and curtains once a week in hot water. Dusting her bedroom every morning too. I only vacuum maybe once a week, hoping by summer will have the carpet out of her room at least.

Long story short...I am allergic to all the things your son is allergic to minus the peanuts. The docs treated me with the allergy shots for years but I stopped after going into anaphylactic shock from the shot. I have also tried all the prescriptions you spoke of but I did not like taking all those meds either. I also have small nasal passage so I had chronic sinus infections as a result of the allergies. Then I discovered saline nasal spray. You can get it OTC at CVS, Target or the food store. I use it once in the morning and once in the evening and I have not had a sinus infection in the last 3 years and my allergies are significantly better. It may be worth a try for your son.

I didn't look at the responses below but my daughter has severe allergies/asthma (She was just hospitalized for 5 days because of it!) and here are a few things our allergist told us to do....

As far as the stuffed animals, he said she can play with them during the day but at night they need to go in a plastic bin with a lid. Anything she wants to snuggle with at night has to go in a ziploc bag and placed in the freezer during the day. I pull it out when she is taking her bath to let it come up to room temperature. Wash all of them once a week along with her bedding. Taking down the curtains and encasing her pillows and mattress did help. With this last hospitalization we did opt to take out her carpet and put in hardwood type floors, which can be laid over concrete. So we will see if it makes a difference!

I hope your little guy gets some relief.

i would suggest that you look into food sensitivities, not just food allergies. i had the skin and blood allergy tests done and no food allergies came up. i was suffering from constant headaches from nasal swelling. it wasn't until i went to a naturopath and did a food sensitivity test there (using a bio-energetic technique) and then avoided those foods did my headaches and allergies get better. i'll admit that the test does seem pretty 'out there' but all of my ND's recommendations have proven correct (i know because i test them every once in awhile and -whammo- headache and GI problems). removing food that is offensive to your son's body will help it calm down and not react so much to environmental allergens.

my dust and pet allergies are markedly less now. i can dust and go in animal shelters with only a sneeze or two.

I can't speak to the peanut allergies, but I am allergic to all the rest and Imy two older sons have already been as well.

I made a decision as an adult there were only so many factors I could control or I would have to live in a bubble and I wasn't able to do that. I take two allergy meds a day and have had asthma, but honestly I think life is pretty normal. My 4yo and 3yo both take daily allergy meds as well and do pretty well. They both have asthma but it is well under control as long as we stay up to date with the meds.

We have stuffed animals but keep them to the favorites and wash them often (hot water is the only thing that kills the dust mites). I don't dust - my husband does because it makes me so sick. We try to avoid carpeting and mostly have wood floors. We wash the bed sheets and comforters very often - it wears them faster but otherwise one of us is up all night sick.

We DO NOT buy upholstered furniture, nor get couches, armchairs, etc from any other source. We only buy microfiber, which is woven tighter together and helps lighten the allergies, or leather when we can afford it, which is best for allergies.

I refused to encase my mattress because I couldn't sleep with it that way. It may be different if he starts out as a young child, but it drove me nuts and my mom never did it when I was little.

When we are outside for periods of time, the kids shed their clothes and take baths and I try to shower. This reduces how much pollen and allergens are brought inside the house.

We have no dogs and/or cats. I am technically not allergic to dogs, but dogs go outside several times a day and bring in allergens so having a dog is a horrible idea for us. I am very allergic to cats and so we will not have those animals in our house.

I change our air filter every month or every other month with a good one (try 3m's ones for lots of allergies). We have also gotten our vents steamed, which really helped with the dust.

I steam our furniture every 6 months or so and our carpets, which really helps too.

Remember allergy meds are not very effective if taken sporadically. They actually build up in your system and take up to 5 days to leave your system, which is why you have to be off them for 5 days to get tested.

Good luck! My suggestion is start small and add what you can manage in your life. If there is a family history, my guess is you are already doing a lot of the things on your own. You'll find what works best for your family:)

i would suggest one of the things you could do now in additon to the mattress, pillow, etc. would be to invest in a GOOD air purifier. there's good ones and cheap ones. i heard wonders about Oreck for people with allergies but i hear that makes all the difference in the world.

what is the strength of his allergies. it sounds like most of them are mild if his symptoms aren't crazy. my son is mild to moderate allergice to a bunch of things including dust mites, dogs, cats, etc and i am allergic to a LOT including all of that plus trees, grass, etc. my parents never did anything to allergy-proof the house for me but my hubby and i have gotten a hepa filter vacuum (dyson), hypoallergenic casings for his mattress and pillow, air purifier for his room. we have kept our two dogs though though we vacuum weekly. we dont give him meds on a daily basis b/c his symptoms arent crazy either. just a runny/stuff nose here and there and sometimes a hive will pop up if hes in touch with the newer dog (i dont think hes built a tolerance yet) and/or been in touch with too much dust. i wouldnt get rid of his stuffed animals or go crazy over the top b/c his allergies will get worse without any exposure. if allergies are severe, you can't have any contact but if they're mild to moderate, a little exposure is actually good for you b/c it keeps them from getting worse.

A chiropractor can help relieve or remove some of his symptoms also. Many insurances cover maintenance adjustments, and many chiropractors see children for free. You may look into it. Good luck.

Did your doctor talk to you about allergy shots? I am going to do this with my son who is allergic to everything yours is (except for the animals) Like your son, my son's symptoms are not very bad at all and completely controlled by Zyrtec most of the time. He has pretty much grown out of his asthmatic reaction to his allergies. So I kind of struggled with the decision because why go through the hassle if he is OK for the most part. But then the doctor pointed out that why give him Zyrtec for the rest of his life and there is a 70% chance that allergy shots will eradicate his allergies alltogether. Even though it is a pain I am going to do it for him-this could make his life much easier. Not sure how old your son is...mine is 6 and it is the first time his doc has brough it up so maybe you have to be old enough for them.

My daughter has not been diagnosed w/ allergies although she has shown some symptoms. I have allergies to a lot of things. Here is what we do:
-No dogs in the house (I have one cat but I am not allergic to him)
-All non-toxic household products (cleaning products, laundry detergent,
shampoo, soap, toothpaste etc.)...this is can help w/ eczema too.
-No live Christmas trees (or other plants) so we have a very realistic
artificial tree
-No smoking in the house (we don't smoke but some of our guests
do...outside if they must)
-Use a vaccum w/ a HEPA filter
-Clean often