Allergies HELP

[binny]

DS 14 has been sick most of the time since we moved here 2 months ago. We all had a cold at one point but got over it quickly enough but for him while he would get better, he would get soon get sick again.

I took him in to the Dr yesterday because he was *really* sick and had them test him for allergies. I knew he was always sensitive to sage back home but I have never seen him like this. They tested him for 60 things and he tested moderate to high on half of them. The major offenders were mold and dust. So I have been cleaning like crazy today. I bleached and scrubbed the bathrooms, vacummed and dusted the whole house, cleaned all of the air filters and done everything I could think of to make it better. I mean we've only been here 2 months and I clean a lot but I did a really deep clean.
I am trying to think of what else we can do here. Obviously its something in this house or at his school that is getting him. He has never had reactions like this! The funny thing is our last house was 40 years old and this one is only 10! You would think that this house woudnt have the problems! We also moved to a drier climate so it just doesnt make sense.

I could really use some advice on how to handle this! They gave him a one time steroid shot yesterday and he is taking daily Claritin. Is there anything else I am missing? I cleaned out the air cleaners that we use and those are all going full blast. I called the landlord and he is willing to do whatever it takes to help, including testing for mold or whatever. I just dont know what else to do for him.

 

[ncmickeyluvr]

I couldn't tell you about mold allergies....except clean the shower ...but ds is allergic to dust/dust mites. Our allergist says to not really worry about the whole house. Just keep it clean as normal and don't have ds do the dusting. The main thing is keeping their sleeping area free of dust/dust mites. They spend more time there than any other room and they have their face right in the bedding. Also I think he mentioned that you breath deeper when you're sleeping. Anyway, do you have carpet in the bedrooms? Hard surface is best. Also, get allergy covering for the pillows and mattress. Wash bedding often. I try to change ds's sheets twice a week and wash his blankets/comforter once a week. You also might want to limit stuffed animals and things in the bedroom. DS takes Nasonex before bed. I've considered getting him an air purifier but I have read alot of conflicting information.

Oops sorry...missed that he was 14. Maybe not alot of stuffed animals in his room.

 

[amid chaos]

You might seriously consider having the vents for heat and AC professional cleaned.

 

[lovemygoofy]

Whats the landscaping like? Lots of trees or leaves? Wet or damp from rain/snow? Do you have gutters? Are they clean?

Check the window sills and his carpet. I am pretty allergic to mold and dust and a whole slew of other things. Household dust really doesn't trigger my allergies.

What kind of trees are in the yard? Is it different from your old house? Do you live near a farm or field of some kind? All this stuff can contribute.

He isn't taking a prescription medicine like singulair? Does he have asthma flares from the allergies? It sounds like he needs to be on something to help control it besides daily Claritin.

 

[JessicaR]

I went through this with my son also. What eventually helped in the end was air purifiers, medication and pulling out the carpet in his bedroom. Finding a great allergist/pulmonologist was essential too.

He was put on advair, nasonex and singulair. I bought Honeywell air purifiers with HEPA filters that I had researched first. I found that Costco sold them at a great price compared to most.

I beat myself up with cleaning the house and it didn't make any difference. The changes only came after medication and air purifiers.

The great thing in his case was that at puberty he went into a remission and is off his meds! Woo hoo!

These are my 2 favorite websites. I got tons of useful info from them over the years.

http://www.aafa.org/

http://www.aaaai.org/

It is very frustrating and exasperating to have our kids sick and think it is coming from the home they live in. I feel for you and can share hours of remedies and suggestions that we tried. I even had a company come in and test the air in our house as well as a company to check for mold.

I hope you can get his health to a place where he isn't sick and holding his own.

Oh one more thought - did you recently lay new carpet anywhere or paint? My son reacted to that severely. Also the chemicals you clean with could irritate his condition.

 

[akcire]

My husband took tons of allergy medications his whole life until he moved into my house, then he noticed an improvement and was cut back to just one pill. His parents were big chemical cleaners and when he moved out on his own he always had a cleaning service, so again lots of chemicals.

So once we made the connection to the cleaning products we tried to eliminate anything in our house with scent. My husband was always a fan of air fresheners and candles, I too was a candle fan.

What we have learned, by eliminating all scented products laundry detergents, soaps, hair spray, cologne he no longer needs allergy medications. We also only use natural scent free cleaning products. Finally I vacuum everything I can sometimes 3 times a week. In a way it seems that the cleaning his parents and his service were doing, was making him sick. My house has never felt cleaner, our lungs are happy, and best of all my husband now only takes an allergy medication 2 months of the year when the pollen is at its worst. (This is a big improvement over the shots and three medications he was on before he moved in the house).

I don't know if this will help your situation, but it has helped my husband immensely.

 

[AristocatFan]

DH was diagnosed with allergies to dust and mold two years ago. His allergist ordered him to take weekly allergy shots to build up his system. I've been giving him the shots and it took about 6 months before we saw any improvement. It's hard to get away from dust. It's not just at home but public places as well. Did the doc prescribe anything else besides Claritin? It just may not be strong enough to help. DH still will have to take Zyrtec when something has bothered him.

 

[JessicaR]

I just noticed your location - You have the #1 respiratory hospital in the US. They are wonderful! You probably have access to the very best doctors in that field.
http://www.nationaljewish.org/

 

[Minnie824]

Does he have any pet allergies that maybe the previous owners may have had? Just a thought.

 

[czycropper]

I have mold allergies and so does my DD. I'm surprised that his doctor prescribed Claritin-my allergist mentioned to me that it doesn't work very well on mold. Both my DD and I take Zyrtec and Flonase. Do change do the HEPA filters, they help tremendously.

Fortunately, I don't know much about dust allergies.

Good luck.

 

[binny]

Thanks everyone! We do have the Hepa air cleaners and I am going to get the furnace filters today.


The Doc said the Claritin is fine but I was thinking about Zyrtec too as another friend it worked better for them too.


I think part of the problem was that his bed broke last week and he was sleeping on the mattress on the floor I put his old bed back together and at least got him up off the floor now. He is too big for it (it has a foot board) but until I can get him a new one in a couple of weeks, it will have to do.

The owners had dogs, I dont know what kind, but we have a dog too. They did leave a huge mess though, a lot of urine stains on the carpet that I thought I had gotten cleaned up. I shot Odoban into the pad and that is supposed to kill it off. He also registered for cats which is weird because we've had cats almost his whole life and he never had a problem with them.


Will look into the Hospital thanks He hasnt had any athsma attacks at all. He is just pretty miserable with puffy eyes, runny nose and just a general "unwell" feeling. They did a quick strep test that came up negative and and H1N1 that we should get the results of tomorrow. The Dr also checked out pretty much everything else and said if it wasnt the allergies it was probably just one of the many viruses that have spread around this season. He said they were all geared up for the H1N1 and instead they have been bombarded with a multitude of viruses one on top the other.

 

[KristaTX]

I may have missed it here, but how strongly did he react to house dust and dust mites? There might be two types of mites on the test - d. farinae and d. pteronyssinus.

I know someone else has mentioned the bedding. If he reacted to any of the dust or dust mite allergens, get him brand new pillows, possibly a brand new mattress, and cover them immediately with allergen-barrier covers, preferably the fabric kind as opposed to the plasticy or papery kinds which tend to rip or be uncomfortable. I have found the good ones at Bed/Bath/Beyond, JC Penney, and even mattress stores. Also, cover the box spring, but you can do it in a cheaper plastic or vinyl cover. And get rid of anything with feathers or down if he reacted to those.

I used to sneeze every time I would get into bed. I am allergic to dust and dust mites, and when I took those measures, it helped a lot. At least when I am in bed.

Do you have indoor/outdoor pets? They can bring in a lot of pollen allergens on their fur.

Get rid of the carpet in his room (or whole house!) if at all possible. When we built a house a couple of years ago, we put absolutely no carpet in it at all - partially because of my allergies.

I am also surprised that all they did was say "Take Claritin". I work in an allergy office, and there are almost always other medication suggestions, nasal sprays, etc.

I am on Zyrtec, Singulair, and Flonase for my allergies, and I still frequently have take over the counter meds such as Benadryl and Chlorpheniramine. Sometimes there's just no way to avoid allergens, and medications are a necessity.

Try to determine if the detergent or other scented things you use in the house are possibly irritating his allergies with their fragrances.

 

[binny]

I would have to look at the list but all I remember is the mold is higher than the dust. I think the dust was low-moderate and the mold was high-severe.

I havent changed any detergents or anything else that I can think of. The Odoban was new but there wasnt any used in his room.

I have a Sharper Image air purifier in there right now and have stripped his bed down today. I got an allergen pillow cover, his pillow is one of those foam neck pillows, I guess I will look into one for his bed too although he does have a good quality cover on there now, it just isnt an allergen specific one.



I told the Dr he had been taking Claritin the last few days and he said to keep it up, that you had to take it every day for it to be effective. He also said the Steroid shot should really help. He isnt home from school yet so we will if he is feeling better. He couldnt afford to miss one of his classes today.

 

[KristaTX]

If he has had Claritin in the past 24 hours but still reacted to things on the test, then the Claritin may not be helping him as effectively as medications can. We have patients stop their antihistamines several days before we do the testing, because the goal of antihistamines is to cause you to NOT react to things you are allergic to. Having them in your system can cause the test to be invalid by causing a false negative. But they would have placed a histamine control as one of the pricks on the test to make sure that there was not a false negative. Plus, he did react to several things.

So in this case, it sounds as though he reacted to the allergens on the test despite having taken the Claritin. Since he reacted to the test that strongly, and if he actually had the Claritin the day of or the day before testing, then maybe the Claritin isn't strong enough for him, and it would be good to try the Zyrtec like you are thinking. Does that make sense? But I'm not sure why the doctor wouldn't have mentioned that. There may be some reason or circumstance that I don't know about. For what it's worth, one of our doctors said he thinks that Claritin (or the generic version) is pretty useless for most people.

 

[binny]

Well the Dr just called. the H1N1 came back negative but he did test positive for coxsackie virus, this is the second time he has had that. Thats what is making him so miserable. She said if we dont see a real improvement in the next few days then we will need pursue the allergy thing further. I do think he will need to get on Zyrtec though at least during the Spring and summer.

 

[WhateverLolaWants]

I have severe allergies, and Allegra-D is a lifesaver.

 

[lattemomof3]

I haven't read the other responses but keeping a plant or 2 in ds's bedroom is supposed to help w/ allergies. Ivy plants are one that can really minimize allergy pollutants and toxins in the air- worth a try!

 

[Sparx]

i have very strong allergies. i take allegra, singulair, and flonaze daily. if i don't take those, i can't breathe, and i'm constantly coughing and sneezing.

 

[itsheresomewhere]

I am taking a guess here but was it an blood allergy test or actual skin testing? Blood allergy tests are not as accurate as skin testing. Also, the sharper image air purifiers are one of the worst offenders as something in them attracts negative IONs and makes allergies worse. The allergiest that DH sees asks if you have one when she gets a new patient and tells you to remove it. Has your son recently changed his classes or making more trips into the locker room-exposed to more smelly things like Tag? Also, has your son tried a new cologne?

 

[binny]

I am taking a guess here but was it an blood allergy test or actual skin testing? Blood allergy tests are not as accurate as skin testing. Also, the sharper image air purifiers are one of the worst offenders as something in them attracts negative IONs and makes allergies worse. The allergiest that DH sees asks if you have one when she gets a new patient and tells you to remove it. Has your son recently changed his classes or making more trips into the locker room-exposed to more smelly things like Tag? Also, has your son tried a new cologne?

We just moved here sp everything is new.

It was the back skin test. They tested for 60 different things and depending on the size of the welt they determine how bad his allergies are.
Its a relatively new test, it only takes 15 minutes.