Hellobee Boards

I haven’t actually taken my son to the allergist (also 3.5, his allergies are linked to asthma), but I did talk to my allergist briefly at my last appointment (he comes by it honestly), about how they approach allergy treatment for kids. Just hearing him talk have me so much confidence that he knew what he was talking about and could help get DS on a comprehensive plan that makes sense. I’m not sure if I’d feel exactly the same with the high congestion vs asthma, but I wonder if that might also be something you’d want to consider. Although I love love love my pediatrician, I often saw other doctors when he needed to be seen, and it just felt like we were treating event to event instead of looking at the whole picture.

Just another thought!

We started seeing an allergist at 3 for my oldest. We tried all the rx stuff but it only made a small dent so we started shots at 4.5 and it has been a HUGE help. It’s not fun to do, but it’s pretty successful in many kids and can make a big difference in one season. If you think it’s allergy based I would see an allergist vs ENT but both may be helpful.

For her it also changed behavior and she was always tired. She also had the super dark eyes and in tree season they could swell almost shut. I don’t even know if it kept her up at night I think she just felt horrible all the time. It was a huge quality of life issue. It even exacerbated a speech issue she had. Pretty much the day the worst allergy season for her ended it started improving again. And we know others with similar success. I get shots too but improvement is slower in adults.

She’s 7 now and we’re almost done probably (monthly shots for 3 years after initial buildup is their recommendation). The nice thing about shots is it can really cure the underlying issue vs just treat symptoms.

@MrsADS: FWIW, I was very nervous and scared about the surgery even though we really wanted to get it done. I even had to talk it out with my therapist! But I have no regrets whatsoever and it went really well. It did have to be done at the children’s hospital under general anesthesia but it was one of the best things we’ve ever done for him. I am so thankful we did it before he began school and the recovery was like 3 days over a long weekend.

Our issues were more about long term speech problems as the other stuff did get better over the months/years. I think that’s why it’s hard for these specialists to do so many tests/procedures, etc on young kids because sometimes they actually do improve as their bodies mature. At 3.5 though, if things are still miserable I wouldn’t hesitate to rule it out.

@ShootingStar: yep, my son has had 2 mild ear infections his entire life and you would never think he couldn’t hear properly. He always responded to everything and our families were shocked he had conductive hearing loss. Even his SLP was surprised! But basically the audiologist described him as hearing like he had water in his ears at all times...which made me feel horrible but again, so glad we kept at it. Once he had the surgery he could enunciate his words and finish the sounds at the end of words, which he couldn’t do before. This is our first winter after and no snoring, a couple mild colds. Nothing like before. We also had feeding issues with him and nearly went to a feeding clinic (it improved over time as well) Keep pushing! It took 4 failed tests, 2 of which he was not sick before or during, before he finally met whatever arbitrary criteria the ENT had.