My Asthma Action Plan- lots of links, questions in red

[Aletheia]

History:

Immediate situation:  We have just received an asthma diagnosis, mostly because DS has stopped being able to make it through most nights without taking his albuterol inhaler.  (Where can I find information about the long-term side effects of this drug?) Even when he does not wake to take it, his sleep has been poor, and he has begun napping again.  His weight has dropped off again, too.

We tried singulair for three days.  The first night, he had nightmares.  The second and third night, he had nightmares and coughing (without wheezing).  The third day, he woke up with a croupy sounding cough, and by the end of the day had developed an upper respiratory infection.  He began grinding his teeth, which I've never seen him do, and is suddenly very worried about our house catching on fire (we have no fire place, and have not read any books about fire-- not sure where this is coming from.)  He is weepy.  

Dry cough, "difficulty sleeping," anxiety all appear on the "common side effects" list of singulair.  "Upper respiratory infection" appears as a "severe side effect."

I have discontinued use of the medicine, and am unwilling to try other western medicine options until I give myself a bit more time to put together a more natural approach.  But the clock is ticking.  He is exhausted, and it asthma is definitely effecting his quality of life.  Further, my husband is an MD and is mad that I'm not giving the singulair a longer chance.  My clock is ticking, then, too!  Help me!

Age: DS is 4.5 years old.

Known allergies: dairy, tree nuts, conifer trees

Suspected allergies: dust, other pollens, air pollution

Suspected sensitivities: histamine and/or salycilates (reacts occasionally to pineapple, tomato, strawberries, kiwi, soy sauce, citrus concentrate)

Other conditions:

1. At 5 months: failure to thrive, low weight gain (weighs 30 pounds now)
2. At 2: "irritable airways" (wheezing in the aftermath of all colds)
3. Now, at 4.5, has now been diagnosed by a western MD as asthma (began needing his albuterol inhaler about once every other day)

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Treatments:

Allergies:  Avoidance, though we have dairy and occasional nuts in the house for DS2 and DH.  We live in Montana, so conifers are sort of hard to avoid.  We live off of a busy street, so I know we breathe a higher concentration of auto pollutants.  We tried 10 days of 5mg of claritin without seeing much improvement.

Sensitivities:  I do my best to limit high-sals and high-histamine foods, but have not outlawed them altogether.  We administer epsom salt baths whenever his skin gets rough (seems to be sals related).  To help with histamine processing, we supplement:

1. 5 mgs of vitamin b6 daily (part of the Solaray children's chewable multi)
2. 500 mg of vitamin c daily (150mg in the Solaray children's chewable multi, further supplemented by 7 Rhino Chewy C's) (Do I need to worry about the fruit flavoring of these defeating our purpose here-- to avoid sals/histamine?)

Conditions:  

FTT:  We have mainly followed the advice of Ellyn Satter, while doing our best to pursue a traditional food diet that includes as many nutrient-dense foods as possible.

Asthma:

So this is where I need some help.  This is what I have already done 

1. Replace all bedding with synthetics to rule out wool and down- no change.
2. Go on vacation.  :) This just happened to work out.  We went to Las Vegas, NV, for one week to visit friends (previous to the singulair.)  DS did not need his albuterol inhaler once.  He was not on claritin.  He was fine.  Was it the sun?  The dryness?  No pine trees?
3.  
4.  

This is what I plan to do:

1. When we replaced all bedding with synthetics, one constant was PUL, which he has had skin reactions to in the past.  I plan to take the waterproof liner off his bed altogether for a few nights.  (I recognize, though, that nocturnal asthma is rarely related to the sleeping environment.)
2. Buy an air purifier (any recommendations?)
3. Get back on probiotics-- we use the dairy-free mindlinx brand
4. Cut out his favorite high-histamine foods for how long?  Any other advice in this department?  Histamine sensitivity often presents as hay fevery type symptoms, including asthma, so I want to take this seriously.
5. Get him back on CLO.  We used to take Dr. Ron's fermented blue ice CLO, which he loves, but I got anxious about combining the natural vitamin A and D in CLO with the vitamin A and D in the multi I cited above.  Advice here is especially needed.  I will probably begin another thread about it, because I've ordered it again.  It should arrive today or tomorrow.  I am especially hopeful about this- maybe vitamin D will help!
6. May go back to our NAET practitioner for attempts to clear the conifer allergy and further identify specific environmental allergens.
7. Begin seeing a naturopath.  Was supposed to have a phone interview with one this morning.
8. Steam clean the old carpet in his room, probably tending towards replacing it.
9. Spend more time trying to balance Omega 3's agains Omega 6's.  Help with this is appreciated.  He will be taking 1/2 teaspoon of the high-vitamin CLO... and I cannot figure out how I should discover what amount of Omega 3s are in that dosage.  I would also like to be pointed towards websites/literature that will help me easily categorize the fats in our house so I know which ones belong to which category.

That's it so far.  I am definitely open to suggestions.  

I am frustrated.  I am angry.  I am motivated to do what it takes.

[Aletheia]

Does anyone know anything about this: http://histame.com/home?

[mamefati28]

Our Austin Air Purifier runs all the time in DS room. It was the brand that most mom's here recommended.

I would rip all the carpet out. Big difference for us.

DS is on singulair and I fought it to the end. However, it has been what has helped him the most. I have him on the granule packets as they do not contain ASPARTAME like the chewables do. Not sure if that ingredient is what has triggered some stuff for your little on or not.

We saw a homeopath for 8 months and I never saw much improvement, but it has really helped other people.

This is so so so so hard. I hate it. I hope your DS finds some relief.