going to see the GP about dd's (9) persistent 'hayfever' - what to expect please?

[geekgirl]

I'd posted this in allergies but thought I'd repost here..

Dd1 has had what appears to be allergic rhinitis for over a year now, she also occasionally suffers with shortness of breath and a productive cough at times. We usually just treat it with Clarityn and to be honest I have probably been too cavalier about it and should have gone to the GP before .

The main issue is that I can't pinpoint what she is allergic to. It is quite bad in her room - I'm wondering whether it's her hamster but really would need to get her tested before we gave said hamster away. But she does occasionally have problems at school and has sneezing attacks after swimming - she can sneeze and sneeze for 15 minutes solid in the car afterwards.

I really could do with knowing what specifically she is allergic to - if I knew she was allergic to dust mites for instance I would seriously step up the cleaning regime and get an air filter for her bedroom. If it's the hamster, I'd rehome it.

Will the GP refer her for testing or will they just prescribe antihistamines and an inhaler?

[Buda]

Well you could try and pinpoint yourself a bit. Take the hamster out of her room for a few days and give the room a really thorough clean and see if this makes a difference.

[geekgirl]

have removed the hamster today - I have done this before though followed by a mega-clean and anit-mite bedding all at the same time, and it didn't seem to make any difference IIRC (was ages ago though)

[EustaciaVye]

It could me some chemicals. Eg, chlorine from the pool. Do you use air fresheners or polish in her room?

[msdemeanor]

You should insist on a referral to an allergist at the hospital. A simple blood test can find the root cause of the allergy and then you can have treatment.
By the way, if it is dustmites, then all the studies show stuff like dusting more often and air filters are useless and make no difference. The only thing I do slightly differently is air the bed every day, in a room with open windows and wash all bedding at at least 60degrees, but even that probably makes little, if any difference. A mild steroid inhaler completely controls the problem. however.

[TheArmadillo]

dp has allergic rhinitis and takes Clarityn all year round. We know some things he is allergic to but I don't think anyone will ever manage to pinpoint them all, or even if they do we could avoid them. He's never had specific testing - but I think this has been a life long problem (he was premature with underdeveloped lungs)

He is also asthmatic and if his allergies are bad then his asthma gets bad.

We know those he is severely allergic to (the worst in his case is guinea pigs - he has to avoid them and anyone who has been in contact with them).

Most we just try to keep house dust free, don't use candles/joss sticks/anything strongly scented and avoid any strong chemicals unless absolutely necessary (e.g. strong oven cleaners, insecticides, and I tend to avoid bleach adn use disinfectant instead), and then I would use them when he was out and air house out before he was back.

As long as he takes tablets he's mostly fine until hayfever season when it gets worse but is bareable.

He did turn out to be allergic to our holiday house, which was a pain though. I think it was the fly spray (which we didn't use because of him, but I think was impregnanted into the house).

Dp also allergic to certain wash powders/shower gels etc which I think is linked - we can only use fairy washpowder and cannot have radox in the house.

Mostly he gets his antihistamine on prescription, but we buy it off prescription in summer as offers make it cheaper.

[EustaciaVye]

I cant use Radox either. And any spray deoderants make me sneeze for ages.....

[TheArmadillo]

yeah spray deoderants make dp bad as well.

Meant to say it is worth seeing gp as there are other types of treatment - clarityn is loratidine, but there are other types of antihistamine, plus there are sprays as well that she might find more useful.

It may be worth asking for allergy tests cos it might be just one or two things she is allergic to. Just with dp it is an endless amount of things, so that is worth bearing in mind.