what to do about seasonal allergies?

[lnitti]

My dd seems to have seasonal allergies. Dr. suggested Zyrtec or Claritin.

Is that what I should do or are there other alternatives to daily medication?

just FYI, her other allergies are all food related - dairy, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, mango.

[kjbrown92]

With DS, we do Zyrtec when his allergies are active (ragweed, grass, mold). With DD1, I had her tested, and she was reactive to dust and cats. We avoided cats like the plague, and we did all the dust-mitigating things in her room (mattress encasors, changed bedding to washing in hot, removed dusty drapes, removed stuffed animals, etc.). Two years later, she reacts neither to dust or cats. The "seasonal" stuff is harder to avoid. But I've heard great things about neti pots. And people shower after coming in from outside to get the pollen off them, and use air conditioners, etc. People also say acupuncture, chinese medicine, and homeopathy are good. The other thing is when all DD2's food triggers were removed, she stopped reacting to seasonal stuff (I hadn't had her tested for them, but they were the same time as mine so I assumed they were molds). DS's decreased a lot but didn't go away completely. That allergy bucket thing.

[mama1803]

We've had success in taking quercetin in place of claritin or zyrtec. We also use individual HEPA air filters in the bedrooms (we all have dust mite allergy) and a vacuum with a HEPA filter.

[LauraLoo]

We've also had success with quercetin, but we need to take it year round.

[lnitti]

I will look into those.

just FYI for anyone, Zyrtec has dairy in it. At least the ones I looked at did.

Claritin uses aspartame or sucralose in all the children versions.

edit to add: pharmacist says the Claritin 12 hour 5 mg reditabs for adults would be safe to use at 1 per 24 hours. no aspartame, or dairy. The citrus liquid also had ok ingredients. The liquid is also 5 mg per day. But I prefer not to use a liquid.

It is odd, but her allergies seem worse at the playground at her Montessori school when they go out in the afternoon. At home outside, it does not seem as bad.

Next week is her last week of school, so I plan to give the Claritin to her next week. Then stop and see how her allergies are at the day care center she is going to this summer that is right near our house. Is it possible for her allergies to be worse at school than at home? We only live about 2 1/2 miles from school.

[sbgrace]

Nothing I've tried (showering after being outside and before bed, nasal rinses frequently, nasal gel to trap pollens, vitamin C, hepa unit, etc) has decreased Caleb's outdoor allergies enough to not need meds. He takes zyrtec. I added singulair recently because we still have asthma flairs when he has been outside.

[arelyn]

Originally Posted by lnitti

It is odd, but her allergies seem worse at the playground at her Montessori school when they go out in the afternoon. At home outside, it does not seem as bad.

Next week is her last week of school, so I plan to give the Claritin to her next week. Then stop and see how her allergies are at the day care center she is going to this summer that is right near our house. Is it possible for her allergies to be worse at school than at home? We only live about 2 1/2 miles from school.

There are certain trees that if I walk by them my allergies get SO much worse. Especially cotton wood and that odd conifer outside my ILs house (thanksfully for me it's dying so DH will shop it down this summer). Maybe there is somehting growing right nearby that really effects her.

[gigismom]

dd2 who has really bad seasonal allergies and to cats and dust lived with daily zyrtec just last spring/summer/fall. we started supporting methylation (b12 and folinic acid) and giving lots of vit c with bioflavins (quercitin being one of them) and she has not needed a single dose of zyrtec yet this spring. eczema is gone too. oh... we also removed dairy at the same time. interestingly, she begged for real dairy ice cream tonight (i let her have it) and then could not fall asleep because she had a patch of eczema on the back of her knee by bed time. she does not sneeze anymore and used to sneeze so bad every morning when she first woke up


ita.. we made these changes last november for her so she had a few months of supping before her system was really challenged by ther allergy triggers (pollens) and we also found a new home for kitty and removed the carpet from her room (dust trapper)
jen

[JaneS]

Natural vitamin C has completely gotten rid of my hay fever. And now to think of it, I'm not at all sensitive to dust anymore.

See article "Vitamin C vs. Ascorbic Acid" here for superiority of the natural complex with bioflavoniods:
http://www.radiantlifecatalog.com/wh..._ascorbic_acid

Quercitin is along the same lines, but I prefer to take whole C which has a mix of bioflavonoids, including quercitin.

I take 250mg./day of natural C (I've used amla, acerola and camu at different times, all effective) when I feel I need it, which is the max dose. I usually take a maintainance daily dose of less than that. When I slacked on it, taking little to none this spring, I noticed my hay fever coming back (itchy eyes, sneezing, throat tickle) ... and it's completely gone again w/in a day of resuming my max dose.

There are older studies that show that C is very effective for seasonal allergies, but as we know, modern medicine discounts real nutrition that the human body has run on for millions of years.

[LauraLoo]

Originally Posted by JaneS

Quercitin is along the same lines, but I prefer to take whole C which has a mix of bioflavonoids, including quercitin.

Jane - I'm curious about this. When you say "whole C" are you using a food based supplement or a C supplement that has bioflavonoids?

[JaneS]

Originally Posted by LauraLoo

Jane - I'm curious about this. When you say "whole C" are you using a food based supplement or a C supplement that has bioflavonoids?

Vitamin C from food only, not chemical ascorbic acid plus bioflavonoids added.

And FYI the dosage is totally different. With ascorbic acid or sodium ascorbate you take 1 -2 grams or more. With natural vitamin C, it is reportedly 20 times more potent so you take less, generally 250 mg (milligrams) is the upper dose.

Acerola, camu or amla are ones I've used. Others talked about in this thread:
http://www.mothering.com/discussions....php?t=1230068

[LauraLoo]

Thanks!