A couple weeks ago we were driving home from a regular Sunday dinner at the in-laws when my six year old started complaining that his eyes were hurting. I thought he was probably tired, until I looked back and they were puffed up as pictured. This has happened before, last summer in Iowa from a cat and three summers ago from a dog, both times in contact with his face. He knows to stay away from cats and dogs, even though he doesn’t seem to be affected by all of them. We started questioning where he was and what he touched at Grandma’s house, we were baffled as to how this happened. We asked him to recount everything he touched and the only thing that came up suspicious was flowers, boganvia flowers. My husband said all the cousins had been picking then and they were all over the yard.
I washed his hands and face really well, then had him soak in a baking soda bath. In previous cases, his eyes returned to normal in a few hours. I put him to bed and he slept fine, but the next morning, when I was expecting full recovery, I found him with one eye completely swollen shut, the other a slit with crusties all around it. I started Benadryl and dried nettles every four hours and my husband gave him a blessing. It took three days for the swelling to go down, but even after that, his eyes were scaly and itchy, with terrible dark circles around them. That Saturday, as we left on our trip, nearly a week later, he cried for three hours because his eyes hurt so badly in both the car ride to the airport and most of the flight. When we got to Florida he was looking better and improved quickly the next day. By Monday he looked completely normal and didn’t complain about his eyes for the whole trip.
The day after we got back his eyes were red and itchy again. He seems to have developed allergies to some pollen in our area right now. He has never suffered from seasonal allergies before. I was teasing him that maybe he needed to go back to Florida and asked him if he wanted me to find him some new parents that lived there and he broke out in tears! He is such a tender spirit with so much love; it is extremely difficult to see him suffering. This is what drives me to be so vigilant about improving our health.
It has been a disheartening experience and I am determined to figure this out. Besides knowing exactly what is causing it, I want to prevent it, I want healing. The last thing I want to do is the first thing many people choose to “fix” a problem, which is popping a pill. I have my heart set on finding another way. I feel there is too much risk with a pill; effectiveness, side effects and irreversible damage. I have so many questions and unknowns that my biggest vice becomes patience. We can’t just instantly know these things. They have to be pondered, carefully researched, taken to the Lord and given time to be made clear, little by little. My! Mothering is a spiritual experience. At times like these, I gain great strength and hope through studying words such as these.
Poor baby! I hope you get to the bottom of it soon. That's miserable.
ReplyDeleteThat's really scary! My son has pollen allergies and never has gotten like that. I hope you can find a good allergist and get it under control while you are looking for other ways to cure it. I used to be scared of medicine, too, but I'm getting over my orthorexic ways. lol
ReplyDeleteI know that scary "what in the world is causing this?" Feeling all too well. My little guy was recently prescribed an epi-pen for allergies to dogs and cats. It took us about 4 years to figure it out/confirm what the problem was. Has he had an allergy panel done before? They can test for every kind of local allergen that might be affecting him. Also, if it's some kind of pollen, have you heard of using (local) raw honey to build up a tolerance? I had suffered from seasonal nasal allergies until I started using it (about a teaspoon or so daily in my tea or on toast etc). This was more than a year ago and haven't had any issues since.
ReplyDeleteWe haven't done an allergy panel, since in previous episodes it happened so immediately we knew what caused it. I am looking for a good natural allergist. Since being on GAPS, honey is the only sweetener we use. I buy it raw and local, thick and full of pollen.
DeleteSo scary. Boy it is a heavy weight we carry. I like Max's allergist - he is not holistic at all but he is very thorough and when I told him that we were going to try the GAPS diet he was supportive of that and said it is a hard diet but the people who do it see great results. His name is Dr. Shemamoto and he's one of the top doctors in the area.
ReplyDeletePoor guy, I'm so sorry! I wish I could suggest an allergist, but I do not know any. I hope he feels better soon! Loved your cruise post! So fun!
ReplyDeleteOh! You're LDS! Hope he feels better!
ReplyDeleteWow, that sounds horrible. I am glad he is better. I have allergies and a milk allergy too. My mother in law told me up with a Chiropractor in Phoenix who does applied kinesiology (AK) to determine what things you are allergic to and then treats them with calming energy and red lasers to retrain your body. It might sound crazy but it works. I am not allergic to dairy any more. You will be surprised at how many things you are allergic to. Check them out at www.becomeallergyfree.com or my mother in law has just found another office that does the same thing but is cheaper. http://adjusted4life.com/ they are in Chandler. It is not inexpensive but I believe the power that made the body can heal the body and I like to be as natural as possible. Good luck. Stacey ps: almost my whole family has done this and has had positive results.
ReplyDeleteI have heard of this practice. Good to hear your experience with it, what a blessing!
DeleteI have really bad reactions to my allergies too. I sympathize with your little gut. Since this post was written two months ago, I don't know whether or not you've found a good allergist. I am seeing Dr. Lee, located in Gilbert,AZ. He is treating me with immunotherapy drops. I have seen some great improvement since beginning and am now on the maintenance dose, which is taken under the tongue. I still needed to take an antihistamine, in the beginning, but now I only take one when I have a severe allergic reaction, usually to foods.
ReplyDeleteHis number is 480-722-0252.
-Paulette
3sisters-pjr.blogspot.com
Thanks Paulette! Always good to have another resource.
DeleteMy son had the same thing happen..around the same time, same year! And so this is why we also are on the GAPS diet. We just started. We also live in Phoenix.
ReplyDelete