2 yr old - sinus infections?

[heimlichfan]

Hello Dissers, gotta a medical question for ya!

my 2 year old went to the doctor today and we found out he has his third sinus infection in less than a year (9 months). Anyone have experience with chronic sinus infections in their toddler?

He's the most bizarre sick kid ever - he's NEVER had a fever with an illness, and always breaks out in hives when he has some type of infection. Is that weird or what?

 

[turkeymama]

My nephew and my son both break out in a rash when they've been sick. It isn't quite what I would call hives, though. The pediatrician always says it is a secondary infection.

I broke out in hives a few times when I was sick as a pre-teen, but I was allergic to the meds. Fun times.

My son stayed sick off and on with sinus junk, ear infections and upper respiratory infections until he was almost 2. That was when we had the tubes put in his ears. He has been a different boy since then.

Does your little boy have ear troubles too, or just the sinus infections? I wonder if he is not experiencing the same type of thing my daughter and I get. This time of year (and in the early Spring), our allergies act up really bad. But we usually get so stopped up from seasonal allergies that it turns into a sinus infection.

 

[JessicaR]

At this point if you haven't already I would get a consult with a good ENT. My son had similar illnesses but is also asthmatic with lots of allergies. It seemed like as a young child he was always sick and it always resulted in ear/sinus infections. He was put on Nasonex and that was helpful. Also it helped greatly when he had a cold early on in the illness to saline and suction his nose (until he was able to effectively blow it himself).

My son rarely had fever also and always got hives when he was sick. As a matter of fact he would break out with one pimple looking sore on his face whenever he had strep (no fever!) and thats how we would know.

Hope you get some answers soon. Are they putting him on antibiotics each time? That in itself was the reason we initially saw a specialist. Best of luck with your son!

 

[minkydog]

At this point if you haven't already I would get a consult with a good ENT. My son had similar illnesses but is also asthmatic with lots of allergies. Hope you get some answers soon. Are they putting him on antibiotics each time? That in itself was the reason we initially saw a specialist. Best of luck with your son!

I agree. My DS14 has always been susceptible to sinus infections and I don't know how many antibiotics he's been on. It finally all came to the top about 6 years ago when he went through a 9 month period where we could not get him cured--he'd take the meds, clear for a few days,then back to sinus infection. Taking him to a pediatric ENT saved the day.

The first thing they did was get some sinus films and a CT scan. Very revealing. Christian had a collapsed nasal bridge, probably from a broken nose he sustained God knows when(how's that for a Bad Mommy Award?) and the structures on one side of his nose were completely closed off--he could breathe in, but the air & mucus could not drain out. Gross. So he was just brewing infection constantly. They did sinus surgery and got everything open and working again and I bet he hasn't had more than 4 sinus infections in the past 6 years.

 

[heimlichfan]

Thanks for the info everyone!

DS has never had an ear infection (how about that for a 2 year old?) and the only times he's been sick have been these three sinus infections - one was coupled with croup, and one was coupled with bronchitis...

I wondered about talking to an ENT. I also wondered, and this may sound VERY strange, if he might be more prone to issues because he's Asian? He's Korean, and when I read the thing about the nasal bridge it made me wonder...

 

[golfgal]

I would get him tested for allergies too. Recurrent upper respiratory infections can often be associated with allergies.

 

[dawson5]

My youngest son was constantly sick also. His pediatrician always told me he would love to see him when he was well to get a good look at his adenoids when they were normal sized. After he ended up missing something like 30 days in kindergarten, I got him to see his pediatrician (who referred him to an ENT). They removed them and it's like night and day with the child. He is rarely sick and has tons more energy.

(The ENT did tell me those were probably the biggest adenoids he's ever seen. I think what he said the cause was that the adenoids were so large that bacteria was sitting on them, building up and making him sick. My son was in constantly for sinus infections, plus he snored very loudly and would stop breathing in his sleep.)

 

[LittleDino]

I just finished reading an interesting book called "Disease Proof Your Child: Feeding Kids Right." It's about reducing asthma, ear infections, allergies, etc today and preventing diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, etc in the future by eating plant based foods.

I'm not suggesting that you're feeding your child wrong at all. I just thought the book was interesting and had some valid points. It suggested a diet of fruit, veggies, nuts, beans and seeds. I don't follow this diet to a T with my child, but I did increase the fruits and veggies a lot which allowed us to cut out more of the snack foods. I have noticed an improvement in my child's health - she was having reoccuring colds every other month that would last for 3 weeks! Sure enough, she did get her usual cold this month... but it only lasted 2 days this time and didn't seem to bother her at all!

So... just another idea of something to try if that interests you. Hope your little one feels better soon!

ETA: Oops! Forgot to say the book is by Dr. Joel Furhman.