Hayfever Nightmare

[craziedaisy]

I wonder if anyone can offer me any advice please. My 4 year old DS suffers really badly with hayfever. He takes Citirizine daily at this time of year and needs to take ventolin,eye drops etc when he is really suffering. He is due to start school in September and my husband and I attended an open day last week. I am just so worried how he is going to cope. They had all the doors and windows open which back out onto lots of long grassy fields. At this time of year we keep all the doors and windows closed at home and have aircon running to minimise suffering. He isn't able to run around on the grass outside because even though he takes all his meds he still struggles.

I mentioned it to the school and they seemed very dismissive and said well he should be able to use an inhaler by himself. Do most 4 year olds do this? I know we don't need to address this until next may as should be back to normal when he starts in september but it is playing on my mind already. Does anyone have a child with a severe hayfever? Has anyone had a child take Grazax and if so please how successful they were.

Many thanks

[PandaNot]

Have you had a referral to an allergies clinic to sort out appropriate medication? It sounds like he could do with a care plan drawn up at school, ask the head teacher to arrange a meeting with the school nurse to sort it out. He shouldn't be relying upon his own judgement at the age of 4 to decide when he needs his inhaler although I would expect he could manage to use it himself, with prompting.

[craziedaisy]

We saw a pediatrician at the beggining of the year who prescribed all his current medication. The school is very tiny and doesn't have a nurse but i think it maybe worth having some sort of letter for our doctor outlining his problems.

[Tiggles]

DS2 has severe hayfever, when I first mentionned it to his nursery (attached to school) they were slightly dismissive, so I showed them a photo I had of him when he had first reacted to being near a field of long grass - his face so swollen up within a few minutes that you couldn't see his eyes etc. They realised then that it was actually an issue!
They don't expect him to take his inhaler himself, although he can recognise when he needs it and will tell them (they also ask him if they feel he is getting into difficulty). They have an inhaler and spacer that they keep in nursery for him, and remember to take it with him when he goes on school trips etc.
Although they have a 'long grass' meadow DS rarely goes in it, if so not for long, and I have noticed that when it turns to 'seed' that they get it cut.

[PandaNot]

If it is a state school there is always a nurse assigned to the school for exactly these kinds of situations, where a carre plan is needed. Or if it is a private school then yes, a letter from the doctor is not a bad idea. My ds has severe hayfever. Like LittleMissGreen's ds his eyes swell up with huge blisters actually on his eyeballs - very scary! I'm sure if they actually saw what happened in the cases of severe allergy to pollen they would do something quickly enough. Also asking for a referral to a specialist allergies clinic might be a good idea, rather than just a paediatrician.

[poptartpoptart]

My DS also suffers with bad hayfever. He takes a Cetirizine tablet in the morning, along with eye drops and a nasal spray, but on a high pollen count day he is usually needing something else by early/mid afternoon. I asked the school to administer a dose of Piriton (at the doctors recomendation) and at first they weren't keen. I pointed out that they have a duty of care to all children and that if DS is suffering with itchy/watery eyes, stuffy nose, etc, that his learning would be affected in a very negative way as he wouldn't be able to concentrate. They agreed after I made a bit of a fuss. It's usually down to DS to remind the teacher though when he needs his medicine. He's in year 2.

[Sidge]

He shouldn't be expected to self administer any medication, including inhalers. He's far too young.

There will be a school nurse allocated to the school but she won't be on site - they have a cluster of schools they serve, usually. However you should still contact the School Health Team to liaise with them regarding his allergies, and a care plan should be drawn up and kept in school.

I would also be asking my GP for a referral to an allergy clinic, that sounds like a pretty significant allergic response and it could be that they suggest some different anthistamines and potentially the use of steroids etc depending on his symptoms.

[Tw1nkle]

Hello,
My DD is yet to show signs of hayfever, and I hope she doesn't!!!

I really sympathise with your DC. I suffered very badly with hayfever growing up.

I was allowed to stay inside at playtime, as much as I hated it, there was a group of us! We were always allowed 'ice' for our eyes - wrapped in paper towels - believe me, ice on my eyes was bliss - I still do it today when it gets really bad!

I knew myself that I had to stay off the grass.
The school gave me all my medicine.

Hope it all goes ok for you.