Son's Asthma Out of Control- Immunotherapy?

My 6 year old daughter has been on meds since she was 2 months old for allergy induced asthma. She was put on Singulair and and Advair inhaler daily about 3 years ago and has done wonderful ever since. She still has occasional flare-ups during the certain seasons, but up until the Singulair and Advair she was sick all the time. We are happy with the meds!
Hope this helps!!
K.

Those prick tests aren't always the most reliable (some can be down right wrong). I have known people whose prick test said they were allergic to something, but they've never had any problems with it. If your doctor isn't listening to you, you need to find a new doctor. And, good for you for wanting to find alternatives to steroids.

You have made a lot of changes around the house that will help your son. Steroids can have long term side effects, so I applaud you for seeking natural alternatives. Adaptogens are a natural way to help boost the immune system. To learn more and watch "The Story of Adaptogens Documentary" 10 minute video, go to VitalHealth.TunguskaMist.com

The Immune Tunguska Mist formula contains the following adaptogens to support a healthy immune system and target the respiratory system: Amla, Astragalus, Holy Basil, Eleuthero, Licorice, Reishi, Rhodiola, and Schizandra. My husband no longer deals with allergies since he's been taking adaptogens, and they may provide some relief for your son, too.

I also highly recommend an incredible book titled Adaptogens: Herbs for Strength, Stamina, and Stress Relief by Winston and Maimes. From the book "There is a category of herbs called adaptogens that help the human body adapt to stress, support normal metabolic processes, and restore balance. They increase the body's resistance to physical, biological, emotional, and environmental stressors and promote normal physiologic function".

Hang in there! I hope your son feels better soon:)
God Bless!

Sorry to hear all that, it is terrible when your children are sick. You wrote that you switched to organic cleaners and that is great but sometimes people only switch cleaners and they don't consider the toxins and irritants in other personal care and household products. Have you removed all shampoo, soap, plug ins, candles, house sprays, formaldehyde containing products etc? This may help too so many kids are allergic to formaldehyde and they never know it since so many trade names are used in products to disguise it such as quaternium 15 etc.
You can learn more by requesting info at www.LiveTotalWellness.com/Texas
Blessings to you and your son :)

You are doing all the right things. Ideas: alfalfa, a natural antihistamine. I have tablets I ground up and put in my coffee. Allergies are often the result of low immunity. Does your child take vitamins? Be careful not to over do it, but vitamin c and zinc are good immunity builders. Do a bit of research first. Four is very young and you don't want to give too much.
Hang in There!

Hello A A,

Looks like it's also time to find another allergist. By the way, could your son be allergic to latex? my daughter is and NONE of the tests came back positive. if she touches anything that has latex, she's got asthma a couple of hours later.

one thing you can try is to give your son 1 tsp milk of magnesia (hide it in chocolate milk, etc.

http://www.asthmaworld.org/asthma-magnesium.htm

http://www.bodyandfitness.com/Information/Health/asthma.htm

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/483979

By the way, allergists and doctors know about magnesium use in asthma treatment. so this is nothing new... it's just the 'old' treatment (magnesium sulfate IV's) they even have ointments.

I even lathered my daughter's arms and legs with milk of magnesia - she didn't want to drink anything.
I told her doctor and allergist. The allergist was surprised that she responded to the mangesium because her asthma was allergy-induced.

I don't know if you noticed, but whenever your son has asthma, he's probably constipated too.

I also recommend chiropractic treatment.
Another thing to consider is what chemicals are you using for cleaning your house? for laundry, dishes, etc. do you spray air fresheners? plugins, etc? what type of hand soap, body soap, shampoo do you use. question every thing. see if you can find a definite pattern for when he gets sick.
you may want to try a very hypoallergenic diet for a few days and then start to re-introduce some foods and see how he does. Make a list of everything he eats and drink.

switch to natural cleaners. get all plants/flowers out of the house, steam his room. get bedding that reduces dustmites.

increase his omega-3 consumption.
increase his magnesium consumption.
keep him hydrated
skip cow milk/products for a while and see if it has an effect on him.

I hope this helps. I know how frustrating it can be. it took me over a year to figure out that it was latex that was getting my daughter sick. I even have a picture of her on her first birthday where she's got a balloon crown and holding on to some other balloon animal.

and you're right, it's starts w/ a stuffy nose, then cough and then it's a runaway train! follow your instinct! Good luck. ~C.~

I know how you feel! I dread the coming months because they seem to be the worst as far as colds and flu, which are a nightmare for our household. My son is 3 1/2 and if we can make it through March, it will be the first full year that we HAVEN'T been to the hospital for asthma-related issues (we're so glad to have avoided our annual October visit to the hospital this year!). The key for him has been daily Singulair (chewable), and using twice-daily pulmicort (in a nebulizer) since a 3-day hospital stay in March. We take nebulizer treatments down to once a day when he seems to be doing well (summer, for instance), then back up to twice a day for a while any time we have to use albuterol. He hasn't needed oral steroids since the March incident (which was pneumonia).
When the wind kicks up like it has been recently, we have to go to twice a day nebulizer treatments again. I think flare-ups this time of year are common (we notice this because of all the other parents dropping off nebulizers at daycare the same time we are), and have to do with molds and maybe tree pollen (there's a chart online somewhere...maybe at the Family Allergy and Asthma clinic site -- Dr. Hudelson, they're in Flower Mound).
We were also using zyrtec, but realized that it makes him very irritable. His daily mood improved a TON when we dropped the Zyrtec. Also, you want to avoid benadryl like the plague. I don't know why more pediatricians don't heed this advice, but we've had two respiratory therapists tell us "benadryl is bad for asthmatics." My husband has asthma and has always said that benadryl would send him to the hospital. When my son's problems were becoming more frequent (this was just before the asthma diagnosis) we were told it was allergy induced and that benadryl could help control it. It was actually making things worse. Even before we added pulmicort, we noticed that we could control his symptoms better when we dropped benadryl (at my husband's urging).
We have also been avoiding red dye (read food and drink labels for red #40, it's in a LOT of stuff, but we haven't had too much trouble avoiding it), and dairy. Our family learned when I was small that a lot of other allergies are actually mediated by allergy to casein -- the protein found in milk. It won't show up on standard allergy testing because of the type of antibody involved in the reaction. It's hard to avoid dairy if you're used to it, but we've lived without it for years. You can substitute with goat's milk (Meyenberg brand, available anywhere -- even Wal-Mart -- sold by the quart) or soy. Soy tastes like cardboard, so we use Silk's Very Vanilla because it tastes better for drinking or putting in cereal. We get plain soy or regular vanilla soy for cooking/baking. If you're worried about calcium intake, you can get a supplement or make sure he's eating veggies that are rich in it (broccoli -- raw is best). There's the calcium fortified orange juice, but I've heard that citrus juices are actually bad for asthmatics too (something about the acid). Haven't noticed it affecting my son much, but then he prefers apple juice, so he doesn't drink OJ much.
And, the last thing that seems to help is keeping him well-hydrated. Keep a sport-bottle of water or gatorade (not red, blue or purple!) on hand at all times. Let him drink, dirnk, drink all he wants.
Also, I've heard chiropractic treatments help. Our boy has been doing so well lately that I don't feel the need to pursue anything else, but my neighbor swears by it for her kids. Two of hers have asthma (ages 3 and 7) and she takes them both to a chiropractor.
Hope this helps. Good luck with your boy!