Persistent Hayfever

[GrownUpNow]

My DD has been on an antihistamine for the past year, she was diagnosed with "allergies" most likely to dust, pet dander and pollen. She has always been particularly mucus-y and after being told she likely had asthma, it was decided that the symptoms were more likely allergies and that the post nasal drip was causing chest infections and wheezing.

Her symptoms died down a bit in November until February, so much so that I was able to discontinue the antihistamine without too much rhinitis returning. She got a couple of colds but was more or less a normal snotty child.

Her symptoms returned this year at the end of February. They seem to be worse. She is sneezing, complaining of sore eyes, getting dark circles, coughing persistently, to the point of old inhalers being brought out to try to stop the wheezing and choking one night. I am starting to keep her indoors more, it's just a real shame. I'm worried this latest cough may have developed into an infection as it's been about five or six weeks and only getting worse.

What can I do to reduce her symptoms? How can I make this easier for her? She is still only two (three in June) and has 5ml of cetirizine a night. It usually stops the worst of the symptoms in a few days, but hasn't had much impact and has been a couple of weeks since I last stopped it.

In the first instance you need to go back to who prescribed the cetrizine (assuming your G.P.).
Although they may be reluctant to increase the dose, your DD may respond better to a different anti-histamine.

Other options include adding some topical therapy on the worse days, a nasal spray and eye drops perhaps.

If you're going to try and keep extra use occasional, avoid mast cell stabilisers.
They work very well but only after 4-6 weeks of continuous use.

We've tried a different antihistamine with no effect so far. I thought being able to have it throughout the day might help, so she went onto Clorphenamine Maleate 2.5mg ever four to six hours.

Her nose is still streaming and she is still coughing at night and now on physical or emotional (read screaming tantrums) exertion, so have reintroduced the inhalers to see if there is an improvement. Her eyes seem less irritated most of the time though.

How long would you continue a new drug to try for effectiveness before going back to what you know? We are going to be coming up to four weeks soon and she's no better.

I just want to stop her from feeling so bunged up and horrible. Her face gets sore from constant nose wiping, she is just completely overwhelmed with mucus all the time.