Allergies or Something More Serious?

R. I'm almost willing to bet it's food allergies. You are right fot asking these questions. The doctors are not looking for the problem, they are just treating her symptoms. Chest congestion/phlegm can definately be food allergy related and 99% of people and children have them. If you find out the allergies now you can change your childs health for the rest of her life and save so much suffering. If you want the name of a great doc let me know. She is great and will find the problem instead of trying to fix the symptom.

I would ask your doctor to do a simple allergy test on her since they just draw blood. If she does have allergies I wouls make an appointment to see an allergist. We se Dr. Tanna in the hospital district in Fort Worth. He is FABULOUS! My son was the same way and ever since he has been on his allergy meds he hasn't been sick except for once - that was a year ago. Good luck!

I would say its def worth it to check into allergy testing. We kind of ignored my son's congestion for a long time, thinking it was cold after cold. Well now he's almost 5 and facing sinus surgery next week b/c his sinus are almost all occluded.

H.

R.,

I believe that Z Cough has codeine in it. You might check that. She could be allergic to the cough medicine. That could also make her sleeepy as well as the benadryl.

Is this an ongoing problem that reoccurs, or an lingering cough? My son was having recurring coughing episodes and it did turn up that he has some allergies that were causing his "colds". We saw Dr. Van Wagonner at Soutwest Allergy in Plano. He's great if you decide to go that way. She also just may need a different antibiotic.

Good luck!

C.

Hi R.! I totally understand the "is it a virus?/is it an allergy?/is it a secondary infection?" dilemma. My oldest daughter went through a period where we dealt with the same thing. Here's what we did:
1) Do NOT spray Lysol around the house, thinking that you're getting rid of "sick germs." I say this from experience because I used to use Lysol. Lysol is an extreme lung irritant and only makes the problem worse.
2) We did have our daughter tested for allergies. She was 4 at the time, and all the tests came back negative. Our allergist told us that at a young age, the tests sometimes are not accurate and that we might have her tested again at an older age. I'm not sure if this is the case for food allergies, however. You might ask your pediatrician if decreasing her milk intake would be advisable for a while. Milk has a thickening effect on mucus in the body.
3) Expectorants were always helpful during these episodes. They actually thin the mucus and help rid the body of that yucky stuff that's hanging around. Also, we only gave a suppressant at night and only then if the cough kept her awake.
4) We got rid of all harsh chemicals in our home. Bleach, ammonia, and other cleaners/detergents are so bad for our bodies and immune systems.
5) Daily mulitvitamin, vitamin C (our bodies can handle more than the RDA), and LOTS of water.

Since your daughter is/was running a fever, she should finish her antibiotics since there may be a secondary infection. I've heard that walking pneumonia/bronchitis is going around, and that should be knocked out (as much as I try to stay clear of antibiotics if we can help it!). Hope this helps! Blessings to you.

I would say if her lungs sounded bad enough for the dr. to order a chest xray that it isn't allergies. Sometimes it takes a while for the antibiotics to kick in and you definately need to finish them for her to get well. You didn't mention a fever, if she does have a fever, you know it isn't allergies. I would do what the doctor recommeded. My kids have had rashes on antibiotics and continued taking them with benedryl. As long as it is not severe or seriously bothersome to her I wouldn't be too concerned. Good luck and I hope she is better soon.