Monday, September 19, 2011

Hand me a tissue, please

I hate allergy season. Hate is  strong word that I don't like to use very often, but allergies deserve a strong word. Especially since they require strong amounts of medicines to overcome them.

It has become that time of year again for us to battle against whatever is in the air. We're not really having "fall" weather here in Florida, so I'm not sure how to explain the large amounts of pollen in the air. But it's there.

Both Little E and Miss K have allergy issues and have both been on prescribed allergy medicine since they were toddlers. Miss K progressively got worse the older she got and now has to use a rescue inhaler. She is actually going to the Pediatric Allergy doctor today for more skin testing to determine what triggers her. Thankfully we have ruled out dust mites, dogs and cats. 

The poor child has to refrain from using her  Zyrtec for seven days now and I am shocked she hasn't had too many side effects. She did start coughing more this morning and I'm glad that she will be able to resume her normal dosing this evening.

Little E however, has not been fairing as well. The local news reported that ragweed pollen would be at an all time high this past weekend and I thought to myself oh great, just what I need to deal with. 

Of course Little E was already showing signs that the Zyrtec wasn't kicking it, days before the weekend. It started with a clear runny nose and by Saturday morning, the little guy had the crusty, dark yellow all over his nostrils. He was really cooperative with letting me remove it with a warm wash cloth and saline up his nose. On that morning.

Last night was another story. His nostrils were starting to block up again (it always gets worse at night, you know what I mean) so I told him we needed to rinse them again. Holy cow! I have never seen my son act like he did. Full blown tantrum. It took my husband and I took hold all his limbs, and his head still so I could try to spray the saline. Unfortunately we did not get the nose rinsed. My little man was in tears and his nose starting flowing on it's own. So after several nose blowing sessions, he was sent to bed. Of course, with a warning.

"I'm going to use the saline on your nose in the morning." I told him as I exited his room, shaking my head. Still shocked at how horribly he behaved. This being the same child who stood there just two months ago and took four shots on his four year old check up, all without tears.

I was pleasantly surprised that Little E reminded me to use the saline on his nose this morning. After taking a dose of Ibuprofen and Pedia Sure for his cough. I can see this is going to be a long week for all of us. Well, more like a LONG few months. It's only just begun.

I had to buy myself some sinus medicine yesterday. Have I said I hate allergy season?



 









2 comments:

shellthings said...

Ugh! I hate allergy season, too!

Singlemominthesouth said...

My allergies have come and gone my whole life... as I type this I'm trying to figure out if I have a low-level head cold or an allergy flair-up.  Like Little E, ragweed and I don't get along.  For my kids, it's the pear trees in the spring.  We were in the glory years, where are allergies weren't bothered in the new climate... it's year four...it's caught up with us!