Constricted nasal passages in toddler -- allergy?

[anthasam]

For the last 6 months or so, I've noticed DD's nasal passages getting smaller and smaller. She is 23 months old and only seems to have a "reaction" to blueberries.

I thought I read somewhere (probably on MDC ) that congestion can be due to a dairy allergy. However, DD isn't congested from a mucous point-of-view, it seems like the inside of her nose is swollen.

Any thoughts? Is this something I should see the pedi about or should I start an elimination diet for us (we are still nursing).

TIA!

P.S. FYI, I'm not sure if it's related, but DD has some constipation issues as well. (For roughly the same amount of time -- the past 6 months or so...)

[Caden's Mom]

I'm not sure, but definitely something to see the ped about. Sounds like something is irritating her nasal passages!

[JaneS]

Could also be environmental... molds, pollen, dust, dust mites, pet dander. I would start with your home too rather than think it's all diet.

[anthasam]

Thanks.

nak.

I was thinking back and it seems like I noticed it starting this past fall -- maybe when we started to use the heat?

Could a decrease in indoor humidity trigger this as well?

We use a hepa-filter vacuum, all natural cleaning products and no dryer shheets, perfumes, etc. Hmmm....

[JaneS]

Yes, dry air can be a factor. We have forced hot air which is the worst heating system!

Also dust mites live in mattresses, pillows, down comforters, etc. you might consider getting allergy covers for them. Also vacuum upolstered chairs, couches, etc. Do you have lots of carpeting?

[JaneS]

Could also be lack of fresh air too, indoor air pollution from offgassing.

A great book is "My House is Killing Me" by Jeffrey May

[anthasam]

Thanks, Jane!

I'm fairly paranoid about offgassing -- we're very careful about what we use. In fact, we are in the process of ridding our house of carpet. Only 1 hallway and 2 rooms to go (one of which we don't use anyway). When the weather is a bit warmer (usually over 50 or so), I try to open the windows to get fresh air and some more humidity into the house.

We have forced hot air heat as well. DH and I were talking about installing a whole house humidifier with our tax refund this year.

I'm going to check the library for the book you suggested.

We have natural latex bedding and pillows, so the dust mite population should be lower. However, I don't change our sheets nearly as often as I should :

Thanks again!

[JaneS]

I didn't know that about latex... where did you get them?

[anthasam]

Hmm, the bed is a Natura bed (latex w/a zip off wool topper)
http://www.naturaworld.com/main.html

The pillows are from Gaiam and Lifekind (2 solid latex and one shredded latex).

Sheets are organic cotton, wool puddle pads and a polyester fleece blanket (ran out of $$ for a king-sized organic/natural wool blanket Maybe next season...)

Think it could be our bedding??

[wendy1221]

latex allergies are fairly common. I'm planning on getting wool beds for our family when we can afford them for that reason. At least for Liam, b/c he seems to be the most allergy prone (and has asthma.) Jake and I have natural rubber pillows and love them.

[anthasam]

Originally Posted by wendy1221

latex allergies are fairly common. I'm planning on getting wool beds for our family when we can afford them for that reason. At least for Liam, b/c he seems to be the most allergy prone (and has asthma.) Jake and I have natural rubber pillows and love them.

I always thought that latex allergies were skin/touching related. I should do dome research...

Thanks for your comments!

[Mommyintraining2]

My son has been experiencing the same thing. It got so bad he couldn't breathe through his nose at all, affecting his sleep, affecting behavior. So we had him tested for allergies. Turns out he is allergic to eggs, corn, wheat. They wanted to do surgery to remove his adenoids which were what was swollen.

So I took him to a homeopathic doctor to see if we could shrink the adenoids naturally. He gave him something (can't remember which homeopathic treatment) and also we took him off of those foods he's allergic too. The homeopathic doctor noticed a few characteristics of autism in my son.

So after three days of intense research (it was a pretty tramatic week to all of a sudden be allergic to major foods and possibly autistic), here's what we came up with:

We are treating him for Candida, which seems to be directly related to allergies. We are boosting his immune system. Taking him off gluten and casein products. Getting him detoxed for heavy metals. After six months or so, we will have him checked again for allergies and autism (many parents have had success with reversing autism by doing these steps).

Sorry if all this info seems blunt. It's very late and I just wanted to throw out some possiblities for you.

[anthasam]

Originally Posted by Mommyintraining2

My son has been experiencing the same thing. It got so bad he couldn't breathe through his nose at all, affecting his sleep, affecting behavior. So we had him tested for allergies. Turns out he is allergic to eggs, corn, wheat. They wanted to do surgery to remove his adenoids which were what was swollen.

So I took him to a homeopathic doctor to see if we could shrink the adenoids naturally. He gave him something (can't remember which homeopathic treatment) and also we took him off of those foods he's allergic too. The homeopathic doctor noticed a few characteristics of autism in my son.

So after three days of intense research (it was a pretty tramatic week to all of a sudden be allergic to major foods and possibly autistic), here's what we came up with:

We are treating him for Candida, which seems to be directly related to allergies. We are boosting his immune system. Taking him off gluten and casein products. Getting him detoxed for heavy metals. After six months or so, we will have him checked again for allergies and autism (many parents have had success with reversing autism by doing these steps).

Sorry if all this info seems blunt. It's very late and I just wanted to throw out some possiblities for you.

Hmm, so if you looked up his nose, were his nasal passages constricted? (Or was it "just" his adenoids?)

Thanks!

We had a bout of warm weather here, followed by cold/dry weather and I noticed a change in DD's nose. I think it may just be the dry air

[Mommyintraining2]

[QUOTE=anthasam;7585758]Hmm, so if you looked up his nose, were his nasal passages constricted? (Or was it "just" his adenoids?)


Anthasam,
Sorry I didn't get back to to you sooner. We were out of state for a week.

The allergist said his nasal passages looked good and his tonsils were normal. So his conclusion was that it was his adenoids.

By the way, the homeopathic remedy is working! He can breathe a little bit through his nose now. And his behavior has improved dramatically. Now I'm sold on homeopathy!

[anthasam]

Originally Posted by Mommyintraining2

Anthasam,
Sorry I didn't get back to to you sooner. We were out of state for a week.

The allergist said his nasal passages looked good and his tonsils were normal. So his conclusion was that it was his adenoids.

By the way, the homeopathic remedy is working! He can breathe a little bit through his nose now. And his behavior has improved dramatically. Now I'm sold on homeopathy!

Thanks for the reply -- that's great news about your son!!

[formerluddite]

Originally Posted by anthasam

We had a bout of warm weather here, followed by cold/dry weather and I noticed a change in DD's nose. I think it may just be the dry air

one way we deal with dry winter air is at night i have a vaporizer going in our (family) bedroom. i start it at dinnertime, and it gets nice and moist by bedtime . much easier breathing overnight. and the vaporizer adds heat to the room, so we don't use the forced air central heat at night.

cooking adds daytime moisture to the house: boiling water for tea, soup, etc.

[anthasam]

Originally Posted by formerluddite

one way we deal with dry winter air is at night i have a vaporizer going in our (family) bedroom. i start it at dinnertime, and it gets nice and moist by bedtime . much easier breathing overnight. and the vaporizer adds heat to the room, so we don't use the forced air central heat at night.

cooking adds daytime moisture to the house: boiling water for tea, soup, etc.

Thanks.

We have a cool mist humidifer in our family bedroom too -- we run it 24/7 in the winter and it still doesn't help. We decided to get a humidifier installed on our furnace. They are actually coming on Monday (It's an Aprilaire 400 -- no standing water to get yucky!)

I was going to buy a warm vaporizer, but in the long run, we thought adding the moisure to the whole house would be better.