Allergy and Back to School

Q and A
True or false: It is important for allergic kids to have a hot breakfast before school? Answer at the end of this article.

For most parents going back to school means the shopping for shoes, clothes and stuff. For parents of allergic and asthmatic children there is the dread that their children will be sick again.

What happens is that the school may be a significant source of dust, pollen and fumes. There was a leak in the roof and several areas have mold. There may be a brand new rug that has remained in a closed heated room and is giving off formaldehyde. There is even a case where Susan plays with her cat in the morning and brings the cat dander to class where your Billy attends and gets his asthma attack due to cat.

Number ONE action. Be sure to bring a note from your doctor about your child’s condition. Give one copy to the principle, one to the nurse, etc. Be sure that they understand Billy’s needs and medications. Unfortunately there is no uniformity from school to school regarding inhalers and antihistamines or use of EpiPen.

If it isn’t one thing, its another. Either the school room is dusty and musty and not clean: or they used the best high ammonia cleaners that have left an aroma your child is sensitive to. Under the best of circumstances the rooms have been aired out.

Your child will probably catch a cold. Close quarters, new viral contacts, etc. Expect this and discuss with your doctor your game plan. The more hot tea, lemon and honey the better. You can use decaffeinated tea. And chicken soup. If the cold hangs on despite these, it may be due to impaired cilia movement. Ask your doctor about use of the Hydro Pulse™ Nasal/Sinus irrigator in order to remove bacteria and restore the nasal cilia movement.

Some of my allergic patients get infected easily because of slowing of their nasal cilia. For those patients I have them add two teaspoons of Xylitol – the sugar used by diabetics- to the 500 ml of saline in the Hydro Pulse™ basin. This reduces bacteria load because bacteria can’t digest Xylitol sugar.

Allergy Shots? The decision re allergy shots or not, is always tough. My take is, how will it benefit school?
Jimmy was out of school last year for a week due to a bad asthma attack. But he is eleven and maybe he will outgrow his allergy. My idea is that one week out of school isn’t so bad and maybe defer the shots.
Alice missed weeks of school last year. She is highly allergic to dust and will get serious sneezing spells and will miss two or three days of school almost every month. For Alice I will strongly advise desensitization because I feel missing school can be a serious handicap.

Q and A
True or false: It is important for allergic kids to have a hot breakfast before school?
Actually a hot breakfast is most important. When you have allergy your “thermostat” is off. Instead of warming up normally when you hop out of a warm bed into the cold room, you sneeze, cought and hack. Than this starts a cascade that con continue all day. It can be avoided by having HOT as early in the morning as possible, even breakfast in bed.

Millions of allergic kids are returning to school. Please pass this information on to reduce unnecessary problems.