wheezing/coughing 9 year old

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:wave: good morning everyone..first time here, and am looking for major help. This might get long..be prepared. I have a 9 y/o who is allergic to cats..not terribly. We have one, and she sneezes/rubs her runny nose/has the red eyes..but do not bother her at all (i've asked..they are just red). I have tried umpteen different herbal solutions and they just take the edge off the allergy. She still has symptoms, only less.
On the other hand she is wildly allergic to dogs ( don't have any) If she rough houses with frienRAB who come here, and they have not changed their clothes b4 they come she is short of breath and wheezing/coughing. Obviously she is NOT allowed to go to anyones house who has pets. That sucks.
Forgot to mention..she gets allergy induced asthma when she gets into a situation. Anyway..her pediatrician put her on singulair from which she got stabbing chest pain. Took her off. Put her on 10mg reactin (zyrtec in the US i think) She got very sick to her stomach had chest pain and had a bleeding nose. Took her off that. Went back to try different herbals with no luck, then recently tried claritin. Claritin is not giving her any side effects..BUT..this is what happened. The only thing I can say is STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, and where in the HE** was my brain...obviously up my a**. Yes, I am very mad at myself. My parents came here with 4 feral cats in a crate, my mom said just leave them in the back of the van in the crate till they can get them to the humane society...other kid bugs me to bring them in the house, but they can stay in her room with the door shut for a day and a half. Parents came wednesday evening, and they went to hs friday morning. I STUPIDLY agreed. She was taking the claritin and her allergy to cats is not that severe I reasoned. DID I MENTION DUrab A**!!!
She was in the room to see the kitties one day for a couple mins, then next day to show her friend, then once while i was catching them to get them back in the crate. Fur was flying that day.:eek:
Consequently she got wheezy with that wonderful rice krispie thing happening in her chest. After the cats left on friday i thoroughly vacuumed the room, as well as the mattress, washed everything in sight including walls/ceiling. Took all of her knick knacks outside to be washed. Everything. I even vacuumed the rest of the basement, washed down the leather furniture,tv/electronic stuff and did a half job of washing the walls. I plan on doing a thorough job today. In the meantime a friend came over who has 2 dogs, and was here for a couple of hours. Totally forgot to mention about changing her clothes b4 she came over..aaaaahhhhhh. As of this morning she said she feels fine, she looks fine, but when i listen to her breathing i can hear that crackly sound faintly. At night she is coughing and clearing her throat..not constantly tho.
What should i do?? I just don't know anymore. I would dearly love to find a herbal remedy that would actually work. Doc has had her on inhalers that make her terribly sick..as in puky sick. Pharmacist suggests all of these inhalers/cortisone yada, yada..I'm sure you all know that route. Oh. Forgot to mention. On top of the claritin, I am giving her a herbal remedy called Clear Lungs by Ridgecrest herbals. It has worked EXTREMELY well in the past when she has gotten wheezy, when i was giving her the herbal remedies. It would get rid of the worst wheezing/coughing in a couple hours, with it gone in a couple days. This time, with the claritin, it doesn't seem to be working as well. Hmmm. I wonder if the claritin is cancelling it out or the clear lungs is making the claritin work not as well. Pharmacist suggested I switch to Aerius. OR. I have heard lots of ppl say they take a regular claritin or whatever in the day and take a benadryl at nite. Would this be overkill for her age and size (33kg) Seriously...I just feel sick already with her problem. Sick as in the fact that whatever I'm doing doesn't seem to be helping:( And at this point I'm totally and completely wracked with guilt over my idiotic decision to let those other cats in the house. It's like I never even considered her situation at all. Was I drunk!! Was I on crack!! Was I having some kind of mental breakdown at that exact moment!! I DUNNO.:mad: Or unbeknownst to me.....ALL OF THE ABOVE:mad::mad::mad:
Sorry for the length, but i thought it better to tell the whole thing instead of in bits and pieces. Even now, I think i might have forgotten to mention something. I just want to help her. I feel so bad for her.
Is there still a herbal route open to me or OTC for her?? I have been reading about something called claritose. Would this just be a high priced scam??
Thanx for any help you can provide me.
 
Gosh, I hardly know where to start. First of all, has she been tested for allergies? Or are you just aware that cats and dogs are a problem?

OK, next, have you considered allergy injections for her?

Third, you seem to be very into herbal remedies. Keep in mind, she may be allergic to them! For example, if she is allergic to ragweed, do not give her echinechea for colRAB. It is a meraber of the ragweed family. There are many things like that so I am always hesitant when people want to try herbal remedies for allergies! I won't use plant based makeup, etc as I am allergic to everything they test for!

Next, benedryl - should be OK at bedtime - 1 only at her age according to the box. But I would check with her allergist (and don't you dare say she goes to a GP!) or the pharmacist to be sure.

Hope this helps a little.
 
Talked to the pharmacist last nite and she tells me that she would most definately NOT give the 2 meRAB together.
 
She was tested for allergies quite a few years ago..but from what I am picking up, a person should be tested more than just once. Okay, I won't say she is going to a GP......................but she is. Would a pediatrician be called a GP as well? Someone just pointed out to me the other day (pharmacist) that maybe I should get her doc to get her an appt. with an allergist. I think that's what I'll do today, actually.

The part about being allergic to the herbs..yes, I know that :) From her ages ago allergy test (which was one of those grid things where he pokes 20 different things into each square) she tested positive for ragweed to a certain degree...but the dog and cat one were the most pronounced. I don't even need a patch test to tell me she is crazy allergic to dogs by the reaction she gets every time she comes near one. Even if one passes by her too close in the park she starts rubbing her nose, then sneezing. Heaven forbid if one licks her. She puRAB up and gets hives and has trouble breathing. With cats tho, it takes her a while to start that. She can pat a friendly cat in the park or on the sidewalk and suffer no ill effects for quite a while..and even then it would only be an itchy/sneezy nose.

Till I can rustle up an allergist, I'm going to go and ask the pharmacist about the benadryl at nite...just so she won't be so congested. Her coughing and throat clearing don't wake her up, but I can imagine on a deeper level it does disrupt those REM'S to a certain degree. When she wakes up, she doesn't appear to have had a crappy sleep, tho. The only thing that disrupts her sleep is her moved back home for a few months sister, who has to share her room with her until she leaves, and who snores like an animal.:eek::rolleyes:

I've just finished re vacuuming the basement, washed walls and ceiling as best I can..baseboarRAB. Have all the windows open and have fans in the windows pointing out while I was doing all the cleaning and dusting to hopefully suck out SOME of the dust I was rustling up. We'll see what happens when she gets home from school today. Okay. Shower up, then check on appt's and pharmacist. Thanx for your help, Titchou.

If anyone has anything else they would like to help me with, please feel free to offer up your experiences. Thanx.
 
Yes, she should be seeing an allergist to get all this sorted out. Since she has trouble at night I would say dust mites are an issue as well. She really neeRAB to be treated for all of her issues.

Good luck.
 
yes, i know what you meant titchou ;) i did ask the pharmacist about 1 in the am and 1 in the pm..and she said "no way" She said to increase the dosage of claritin to 2 tsp. I was giving her 1 tsp.

Claritin bottle say.."children 2-9 years, body weight less than or equal to 30kg, give 1 tsp. once a day. Children over 10 and adults body weight greater than 30 kg give 2 tsp once a day"

My kid is 33kg and she will be 10 on Dec. 20

If the new dosage doesn't do anything, I could try Aerius.

She told me something interesting/weird. She said I shouldn't break up the dosages...as in 1 tsp in the morning before school, and 1 tsp before bed. My own self I always like to space out dosages instead of pouring the whole bunch in at once. For myself included. Anyway, she says that the product was designed to be given at once and that it is released slowly over the 24 hour period (claritin is a once a day formula) How on earth does that work?? It would seem to me that once it gets to the stomach, the system just process all of it at once, seeing as it's a liquid it would just slide on thru. How on earth does the stomach know to digest/process it slowly??? :confused: I'm obviously missing something. Enlighten me :)

Thanx
 
Yes, I understood you titchou :) not to worry..i was just being a lazy typist. I did tell the pharmacist about 1 in the morning, and the other at bedtime. She said a most definate NO. She said my child would be too sleepy in the morning for school. We did up her dosage tho to 2 tsp. She was taking 1 tsp. I don't like to give the full new amount all at once, so I gave her 1 3/4 tsp this morning. I know. Not much of a difference. The formula is supposed to be 24 hours. I gave her the dose at 8:30 this am and she came home today around 3:30 and her eyes are really red, and she has an itchy nose. I'm going to give her the other 1/4 tsp at bedtime.

The pharmacist suggested to try clarinex if claritin is not working. Bought some, and will try tomorrow in the am b4 school, and see what she looks like after.

Would you have any idea why the dosages should be taken all at once? Pharmacist said I should not divide the doses up..as it's time released in the system somehow. I really don't understand this. I would think once that liquid hit the stomach the system would process it almost all at once...but...I dunno how these things work. I would think that if you gave 1 dose in the a.m. then when it started slowing down..oh..here comes another dose in the p.m. Tomorrow we will find out how the clarinex (aerius in canada) works. It's 2.5ml for the whole day. Seems like hardly anything.

I just read about some woman giving her 6 year old 1 Tbsp a day for the last 2 years with no ill effects. That's way more than what the label says. The label says.."5ml for 6-11 years."..which is 2.5mg. "12+ is 10ml or 5mg. I wonder who cleared that dosage for her, or did she come up with that on her own. It didn't say how she got to that dosage.
 
Just gave her the 1/4 tsp of claritin, put her to bed...she is sleeping here behind me, and.......oh joy......she has that crackly sound coming from her throat/chest........AGAIN. Great. Put the steamer on, lathered her with vicks, and hopefully tomorrow morning she will feel better. She says she feels fine, tho. I asked her if she is having trouble breathing and she said no. Just that blasted wheeze, I can hear across the room. And of course the clearing of the throat to go along with that. Oh aarrgh.

You know. I was just thinking to myself today. She had less problems with her allergy symptoms when I was experimenting on her with herbal solutions, than I do now, since I started her on the OTC stuff. Go figure.
 
I'm thinkin' along the same lines myself, Titchou. Thanx for your input ;) I started her on the Clarinex (Aerius) this morning..so I'm going to see how that goes for a bit and go from there. She seems fine today. Her red eyes kicked in today around supper time, but other than that no other symptoms. I think in the morning before she goes to school, I will give almost the tsp she is supposed to get, and just save a bit to cover her eyes for the evening here at home. Like I said, other than the eyes no coughing/wheezing/chest pain. I was at her school this afternoon, and had a chat with her gym teacher who informs me that she is doing a lot better in the rampaging around department, and not complaining as much about being tired and having a sore chest.
Hopefully that keeps up.
 
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