[maxkinzie]

Hi,
Well we finally had DD tested for allergies yesterday. Not such a bad deal for her, no tears anyway!!

The bad news is that she's allergic to our dog, our cat, and outdoor mold...

The good news is that doc doesnt' believe getting rid of our animals will 'fix' her.

Skipping further details, my questions are
1- can we do anything 'to' our dog to make it easier on DD. for example, does washing a lot make a diff?
2- doc wants us to try zyrtec. Anyone have positive or negative experience with this? I'm new to the world of allergies. Doc said there were little or no side effects, but I'm a doubter when it comes to that

thanks for any input
max

one more question, he said she's allergic to eggs too, but we had already figured that one out. Anyone experience egg allergies?

[CalandraLark]

It really depends on what kind of allergies she has to your dog if it will make a difference, if she's just allergic to his fur rather than dandruff washing will help some. The big thing to remember with allergies to pets is to never let them in the room she sleeps in, that really cuts down on them.

Zyrtec is a good allergy medication, I've been on it for several years and never had any reaction, unlike a few others I've tried. I also have several young cousins who've been put on it and it seems to be the suggested allergy medication for children.

[sunnyandi13]

Poor tot! She sounds like she could be related to me... I have always fought with severe allergies - as a child I was so miserable that I actually asked my parents to put me in a bubble like the bubble boy, either that or pave our yard and paint it green instead of grass. Because of my parents refusal to be aggressive in treating my allergies, I spent most of my childhood indoors in a sanitized environment. I too am allergic to everything - including eggs!

So here's my opinion for what its worth...

Please go ahead and seek treatment with oral antihistamines and injection therapy. Shots aren't all that bad, more of an inconvenience, but they can prove useful in developing a tolerance for certain allergens (like dogs / cats / mold / grasses). Don't be afraid of the antihistamines - histamine is the enemy for an allergy patient and medication just prevents those reactions from occuring, keeping your baby girl more comfortable and able to live a normal life. I have been through approximately eight different antihistamines (usually develop a tolerance in 3 - 5 years) and am currently on Zyrtec and Singulair with Nasonex for periods of high alert (leaf molds and spring pollens). A little dry mouth in the a.m. is about my only noticable side effect.

I don't know about frequency of washing animals, but I know that frequency of brushing seems to help my allergies. But, tolerance exposure and symptom treatment are the main things that can make life bearable - the rest just helps out more.

Have you noticed if your little one is able to eat things with eggs cooked in them? For example, I'm able to eat most cakes, cookies, etc. that have egg in them, but the straight protein (like boiled or scrambled) will give me serious issues and I once ended up in the emergency room after my grandmother unknowingly fed me old fashioned home made ice cream (with raw eggs, of course! ). Another thing to be aware of, is a lot of vacines are cultured in egg yolk and certain ones are taboo for egg allergy patients... like the flu shot. Can't take those, the chances of a severe allergic reaction outweigh the benefit of the preventative vacine. Funny thing, though, I can eat as much chicken as I like, lol!

Develop a good relationship with your allergist, keep up regular check-ups and retesting as she ages and treat the symptoms as best you can with medication. Most people don't realize that allergies can make you feel as bad as they do - achy joints, stuffy head, lethargy, even fever sometimes. So if your little one is crabby and you can't seem to pinpoint why - check the pollen count, she may be having an icky allergy day...

[shy_bear]

Did the allergist discuss injection therapy? We found out when my older one was 2 that she is allergic to fire ants. We ended up in the ER twice before going to the allergist. They started her on injections. We ended up moving and don't live in an area with fire ants, but when we go back to visit family I have to bring Benadryll and an epi pen just in case.

[Kymom2b]

I feel for you! We are a family with major allergy problems. Dh is allergic to everything-at a recent allergy test, he was allergic to 59 of the 60 items they tested on him. Unfortunately, dd seems to be just like him.

Dd has been on Zyrtec since she was 9 mo. and it has helped her so much. We haven't experienced any side effects at all. At first, I was concerned about starting her on medication so early, but we didn't have a choice. We were at the doctor almost weekly with problems. We saw improvement within a week or so. My only grip is that a generic isn't made!

We have gotten rid of most of the carpeting in our home and have installed a good hepa-filtration system. As for the pets, we have an indoor dog that is our baby. I totally panicked at the thought of having to get rid of him. Our allergist said that a lot of people aren't allergic to pet dander, they are allergic to pollens and different things the animals bring in on their coats. We buy a special shampoo from our Vet that we used on our dog weekly. I think it's made by Hansen and costs about $8.00.

All of these things combined have made a big difference in our house.

Good luck to you!

[NJNative]

As I sit here with hives on my hands and arms from the drug allergy that sent ME to the ER yesterday.

What I am going to tell you to do sounds silly, but it was recommended to me by a pediatric allergist (yes they sent me to a pediatric allergist when I was 25...LOL) and it WORKS.

Get rid of scented ANYTHING in your house. No scented soap, toilet paper, tissues (no lotion ones either.) No scented candles, no scented laundry products (only use Tide Free and Downy Free and Bounce Free). No air freshener EVER. No Febreze EVER. Police your cleaning products. If you can't clean it with bleach, windex or lemon oil, in my house it doesnt GET cleaned.

Throw out her pillow every six months. (dust mites). Get an air cleaner filter for your heater (they are more expensive but worth it and change it EVERY month). Get an air cleaner for her room. Minimize curtains and things that gather dust. I suggest hardwood floors in her room. Keep all her toys in rubber bins with the lids on. Keeps them dust free. Vacuum in her room every day.

The allergist explained it like this: Most people with allergies are mildly allergic to many things. They become like blocks in a tower. Most of the time, the tower stays up. But if you put too many things on the tower, BAM! Problems with allergies when the tower falls down. By eliminating all those things I listed, you eliminate a lot of blocks from her tower. That keeps her from overloading her immune system. And sometime, just doing that will help her tolerate other irritants like your dog.

And no, washing the dog will only make it worse. He'll get dry skin and then shed MORE dander. Instead brush him thoroughly every day -- OUTSIDE. Collect the hair in a bag and throw it away OUTSIDE. Keep the brush OUTSIDE! LOL. Sense a theme here?

Oh, yeah, keep house plants down to a minimum and if you have some, don't overwater them. Air out the bathroom thoroughly. Oh, yeah and kiss your real Christmas tree good bye!. Be especially vigilant in the spring when things first bloom (pollen) and in the fall when the leaves fall (mold). If she's outside during those times of year, have her wash and change her clothes when she comes indoors.

Clearly this is a subject I am unfortunately very familar with. Feel free to PM if you like.

Good luck.

Robin

[redbonec]

Maxkinzie,

I have had this same question myself--we suspect dd may have some allergy due to the dogs, but we haven't admitted it yet! The thought of her being allergic to our dogs is presently unthinkable. Like Kymom2b, our indoor dogs could never be anything else!

I will ask the doctor next time we go, but in the meantime we are vacuuming and a little more and really watching when the dogs are around her--if they touch her we see what happens. We can't quite figure out sometimes she seems to have a reaction but other times not--so what Kymom2b said could have something to do with it--maybe she and your daughter are allergic to something they bring in, or like Calandra said, perhaps allergic to some part of them, not just dander, etc.

Not having carpet--we have laminate flooring in some places in the house--is easier--just vacuuming the flat floor gets up the fur and dirt so easy, and doesn't get trapped like in the carpet.

I bought some of the foaming soap--so if one of the dogs licks dd hands or face, I use it and wipe off with a damp paper towel. The foaming soap made it convenient.

If it is the fur, I know that at some grooming places, you can get a grooming that really takes out all the shedding/dead fur. I think it is a really high powered blower, and supposedly they won't shed for a while after.

sunnyandi13--I bet you felt much better when you could finally go to the doctor and get medicated!

Max--good luck, and I hope you find something that works.

[traceyk]

Wanna trade allergies *LOL* Drihan has an epi-pen for anaphylaxic reaction to peanuts, nuts and soy. Yeah she didn't cry when they took the initial 6 tubes of blood at 6 mo. old until they tried to put the bandaid on. She does cry when they do the prick tests to check and I am sure she will cry when the ped. allergist takes blood again in April. Just curious, you did have a ped. allergist do the test and not a ped. right? I found my ped. was good for the initial, but the ped. allergist was more familiar with the numbers and such.

[maxkinzie]

Sounds like we have a very minor, sometimes annoying case of allergies here. We generally have a very happy kid,it took us the better part of a year to get her in so it definitly wasn't urgent. As if DD wanted to tell us we were making the right choice she had a sneezing fit this evening during dinner lasting pretty much till
bedtime :-( By the way, we did start the zyrtec tonight.

While I'm thinking about it, for those of you with 'bad' cases, did they start out mild?

ShyBear-injection therapy was not discussed, yet, maybe that'll come up if the zyrtec doesnt' help?

Sunnyandi13-She's had a couple flu shots without reaction, and does okay with eggs IN food.

Kymom2b- 59 out of 60, yikes, that just sounds scary!! We already have mostly hardwood floors. My heart just sank as I overheard them conferring on the results "definitly cat, dog...." felt tears starting right away, but kept it together. I could have hugged him when he said getting rid of the pets at this point might be jumping the gun! We already have air filtration systems in place, DH has asthma, but doc said they wouldn't help her much anyway, at least not now

NJNative-hope you're feeling better! We were to keep most things the same and see how the zyrtec affects her. I think it will be pretty clear one way or the other, will start eliminating some of the good smelling stuff tho (sniffle....)

redbonec- get her tested, might be more than just the dog, like us. Somebody talked about the blocks analogy earlier, like that!! might help you

Tracey- ummm, nope! we'll keep our allergies, but thanks, hehe. Our doc is an allergist referred by our pediatrician, but I don't believe he's strictly pediatric. Has a good reputation tho, and I was impressed by how thourogh, and "right on" he was in guessing DD's symptoms.

think I answered everything?

thanks so much again!
max

[JGarrick]

I'm allergic to cats and it seems like almost everything that grows in the spring. I use a flunisolide nasal spray (RX) for the stuffy head symptoms and Opcon-A (OTC) for itchy eyes. I've found the nasal spray infinitely more effective than any of the antihistamine tablets, but I don't know if it's appropriate for children. It does need to be used regularly during the allergy "season" (all year if you have pets, perhaps) to be effective - it's not something you take for acute symptoms. The eye drops are used as needed. I occasionally use antihistamines on really bad days in the spring, or if I know I'm going to be around cats for more than a couple of hours.

Having said all that, I'll add to please not underestimate how completely miserable allergies can make a person. Without the medications, I would be completely unable to function for at least two or three weeks every spring - I'm talking about eyes swollen nearly shut, sneezing more or less continuously, and unable to sleep or work. For an additional four or five months I'd have symptoms that are more like a rather nasty head cold, but with the itchy eyes added. With the meds, I have virtually no symptoms, although at the peak season in the spring I do go use the eye drops pretty frequently (several times per day).

[JGarrick]

Originally Posted by maxkinzie

...for those of you with 'bad' cases, did they start out mild?

I missed this earlier. Yes - I had no symptoms at all (or at least none worth treating) until I was 18. I don't know if was just my age, or having moved from northern Minnesota to the Twin Cities that made the difference (perhaps a combination of both), but it hit me like a freight train - I went from almost nothing to a basket case in one year.

[nikkianni]

When I was eight we found out I was allergic to just about every food out there. Not kidding. Everything from yeast to chicken. The allergist at the time told my parents that I might be able to "reset" my immune system by choosing several foods at a time and going without them for a year. They gave me the choice and I chose to go without everything. I lived on pita bread and rice pudding for 12 months, but it worked.
I was also allergic to cats according to the tests. My cat slept with me every night and my only reaction was sneezing, so I just lived with that one (again my choice). So I'm not sure about the dog thing. But maybe a year without eggs would take care of that problem?

[mlb]

We have not gotten DS tested, but we know that seasonal allergies are especially hard on him. Unfortunately, he suffers from them spring, summer and fall (we love winter). After several medicines (and migraines), he is currently using Rhinocort spray and Zyrtec. He takes an adult dose 10mg, but we split it up between morning and night.
Good luck.

[definitelyjulia]

I have really bad allergies too and somebody mentioned this but I want to really emphasize it GET RID OF ALL CARPET! Especially in her room and NEVER let the animals go in there. You didn't mention if you are a smoker or not but let me just say my parents damaged my health drastically by smoking around me as a child and it really is hard on anybody with allergies or breathing problems.

I don't know about the allergy medication issue with kids. I'd just trust my pediatrician.

I know how scary it is to love your pets and be afraid of them causing allergic reactions. It would kill me if my little dogs cause our baby to be sick. Luckily we have hypoallerginic doggies! It's a breed called Havanese and they are the only dogs I'm not allergic too!

Good thoughts sent your way~
Julia