DS10 hayfever and blocked nose

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DS10 has awful hayfever atm. He is on Piriton but it's not touched the sides for the last few days. He has the Optrex eye spray but it's his blocked/runny nose that's making him miserable and waking him up in the night.

He's asleep now and I've just phoned the pharmacy who say I can give him Sudafed as well if he wakes in the night.

I've got cetirizine for kids and Loratadine tablets in the cupboard (I have year round dust and pollen allergies so I take Loratadine daily) so might try those instead over the next few days.

I guess it's trial and error. He was playing football in a field today (his favourite thing to do) but the Piriton didn't do much.

Any remedies/suggestions greatly appreciated!

Fexofenadine is now available from pharmacies over the counter. However, the strongest dose - 180mg - remains prescription only.

A simple saline nasal spray may help too. Or Vicks Sinex, if it's OK for children.

Not helpful right now but nasal rinses (neilmed) to clear the nose then Vaseline round the nose.

fexofenadine is worth looking into, not sure if kids can take it but it’s fab for allergies and hayfever (I’m a year rounder to, used to have on prescription before it moved over the counter)

Try him on a range of hay-fever tablets to see what works for him. I've tried a lot of different ones over the years, and now take fexofenadine (Allevia), which I can buy at a local supermarket and through an Amazon subscription. I use Optrex hay-fever eye drops, too. Some people on here like hay-fever wipes.

Make sure that he showers, washes his hair and changes his clothes on coming home. Don't dry his laundry outside if you can help it. Please stand up to people who say to him, "You should spend more time outdoors. That way, you'll become immune to it!" Believe me, being allergic to going outside isn't fun.

Cutting out dairy might help, as it reduces the snot/phlegm production. You can try reintroducing it after a few months.

For the runny nose, you need something to clear it. I had a friend swear by putting Vicks in hot water, sitting with her head over it, and a towel over the lot... I prefer a quick application of the farmer's favourite Uddermint. It's a peppermint-based cream and a quick swipe under the nostrils has got me through blocked noses caused by hay-fever, colds and the flu! You can buy it through the likes of eBay. There is a human equivalent (Mint Ease), but I don't know how effective that is in comparison.

I hope that he feels better soon!

My DS is suffering too. We do loratadine daily along with allergy eye drops, salt nasal spray and the Calpol vapour plug thing for a bit at night.

Spoke to pharmacy the other day and there's nothing else over the counter until they're 12. If not then it's a doctor job.

Haven't tried cetirizine yet but will do if the loratadine is not working.

It's exhausting for them.

DS used to have fexofenadine, montelukast, beconase nasal spray and murine eye drops. The first 3 we started at the beginning of March each year. He was a bit older than your DS when his hayfever started.

None of his laundry was washed outside and he showered after getting home from school and again if he had evening clubs.

This year, age 17 he’s hardly suffered at all

My 10yo is now on immunotherapy for his grass pollen allergy (his face swells up etc)…

Since aged 8 we switched to fexofenadine 120mg once/ day (occasionally twice/ day), with absolutely regular nasal steroid spray (mometasone) and eye drops twice a day. Never miss a dose, so stay ‘on top’ of it. The switch in antihistamine (and step up in dose) really helped. We had to be really proactive in our proactive regime not just to ease his symptoms, but to reduce the time he was losing at school.

the Fexofenadine 120mg is adult dose (typically 30mg twice/ day for children up to 12) but his allergy specialist was very happy with higher dose during peak grass pollen season.

Air purifier in bedroom, shower before bed/ immediately after any outdoor sports, all polleny clothes washed and dried indoors- esp bedding. Wet facecloth in bed on his eyes when needed.

These measures made it more manageable- hopefully by next year the immunotherapy will have reduced his reactivity.

You can buy 120mg fexofenadine in shops but be aware it is above the licensed dose for a 10 year old. You can also buy beconase nasal steroid spray which would really help his nose symptoms.