Going against the grain...Allergies

From the time my son was 7 weeks old, we discovered that at certain times of year he had cold like symptoms that seemed to persist for a week or more. There was no fever, no colored mucus, but lots of congestion. For the most part, my husband and I assumed it was some minor cold and treated the symptoms as best we could with pain reliever, a cool mist humidifier, and a nasal aspirator. It took a little while to figure out what was going on but finally in November 2010 after spending another Halloween with a fussy baby, he was diagnosed with seasonal allergies by his pediatrician. The recommendation was to give him 1/2 a teaspoon of children's Cetirizine (generic Zyrtec) until the first snowfall. This seemed to help for a little while and we made it through early spring with no real issues. We would give him the medicine when the symptoms started and slowly weaned him as the weather conditions seemed to improve.

It wasn't until later summer, August 2011 I noticed again he was miserable. Again, we went to the pediatrician and this time she recommended a prescription nasal spray. Desperate to help him "feel" better, I accepted the advice, ordered the prescription, and went on my way.

Then once again in March the symptoms started to flare up. I have no doubt the first part was truly a cold but once that cleared up the allergy related symptoms continued. We upped his dose of Zyrtec...no change. We adding in the nasal spray....little change. In addition to the normal symptoms the severe congestion led to a cough and then I became worried. E had a horrible URI back in the winter where wheezing led to x rays, a nebulizer, and a steroid. Paranoid that my son might indeed be wheezing, and even more afraid of an asthma diagnosis, I made an appointment to see the pediatrician. Luckily, his chest was completely clear! His ped and I talked at length about his symptoms and she recommended another prescription. What, wait?!? STOP! I politely asked if this would be over medicating him to why she replied no and that it would only be for a short period of time. We could also eventually scale back and determine which ones were helping and those that did not. Again, seeking relief we went out the pharmacy and picked up the prescription which he was to take at night. After getting back home, I told my husband what the doctor had recommended. His response, "we never should have given him anything." And you know what I agreed! Nothing was really making it better except those steam showers and suction his nose. So right then, we decided that the next day we would take him off all allergy related medicine and see what happened. At the same time one of my college friend's posted some homeopathic ways to treat allergies without using medicine...needless to say I was inspired.

Starting on March 28, we took him off everything except his daily multivitamin and fluoride drops (we have well water). I cleaned his room and kept the windows shut. My husband changed our home air filters. I gave him some herbal tea with honey at first to help with the cough. The results have been AMAZING. Within days the runny nose stopped, the cough went away and he is back to normal. The pollen count continues to be high and E is spending plenty of time outdoors.

Now let me take a step back and say this situation has not caused me to wage a war on Western medicine or seek a new pediatrician. I honestly believe our pediatrician was trying to address the concerns of a worried mother. She is super compassionate and she is great with E. And honestly, we don't see her that often. We are blessed that E has been a pretty healthy kid and for the most part we apply common sense/homeopathic practices to treat things at home. It has however, made me resume my skepticism of traditional medicine and the idea that a pill or syrup is always the way to address an ailment. NK and I are not medicine people. Sure we may take Nyquil when we have a bad cold (pregnancy not withstanding), pop a Tums for heartburn, or take some pain reliever for a head or body ache. But this is a rarity, we generally just suffer through and use a homeopathic way to treat the issue. Going forward, I will be looking a little harder at how I let doctor's treat/medicate not only my children but myself. I have no worry for my husband because he generally refuses to go tot he doctor or take medicine. This has also peaked my interest in alternative medicine options for our family. I have already added fish oil back into my daily vitamin and we have ordered probiotics that we will start taking daily. I am drinking organic herbal pregnancy tea daily. I also have renewed faith in the power of foods to treat as well.

Stay tuned...the crunchy train has refueled and is leaving the station!