I Hate Allergies

I had no understanding of allergies until we moved to Texas in December of 2014. I have had many friends over the years deal with allergies and I have felt horrible for them when they went through a flare up. I just counted myself, and my boys, lucky to not have to take allergy medication on a daily basis. Now…I hate allergies.

About 8 months into living in Texas my youngest son started coughing, wheezing, and then break out into hives. At first I did not make the connection between the coughing/wheezing and the hives. He came home from school one day with hives all over his ankles and legs. I assumed he got into poison ivy (his school backs up to some farmland) and I called the school immediately to let them know that he had come into contact with that horrible plant. However, he continued to randomly get hives that would cover his entire body. One time his lip even swelled up and I had to take him to the Urgent Care because we thought the hives might be a food allergy. For a few months I carried an Epi Pen until we were able to see an allergist!

Conclusion: asthmatic and allergic to dust and weeds/grass. Really? Dust? Weeds? Luckily, we could get rid of the Epi Pen, but we traded that in for an inhaler and a spacer with a steroid that he must take on a daily basis if he has a flare up. He actually has a flare up now and it’s just so sad to watch him deal with it; his chest rattles, his eyes water, and he coughs constantly. We even purchased a Rainbow vacuum cleaner, which has been certified by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America! I feel like we have a better control over it, but still there are times where we have the mini Rainbow air purifier going all night in his room with Breath Easy oils being blasted!

Also, in Central Texas cedar trees are plentiful and they have what they call here “Cedar Fever” and everyone’s allergies flare up. I struggled with my allergies for 6 weeks around Christmas. I really thought I was dying and even broke out into hives myself and rushed to Urgent Care because there was not one space on my body that wasn’t covered in a hive. All linked to allergies. After about a week on steroids and allergy medicine, all the hives were gone and I was feeling much better.

Thankfully my other 2 boys have not been affected as bad as the baby (he’s 6, but I still call him the baby), but they can have some issues in terms of coughing and wheezing. And that cough takes FOREVER to go away!! We load them up on some children’s allergy meds and turn on our air purifier at night to help them breath better.

I am grateful that we have a wonderful allergist, pediatrician and school nurse! This group of medical professionals have helped us maneuver our way through this uncharted territory of allergies and it is so much appreciated. We have an action plan put into place if he has a flare up at school, or an asthma attack. We carry an inhaler with us everywhere, and when he’s outside on the baseball or soccer field I have to convince him to get his inhaler and take a break because of the weeds and grass!

We are starting to learn to live with this. It’s not detrimental, but it can be, so we have to be knowledgeable and prepared at all times.

Breathing treatments are fun, right?

1 COMMENT

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here