this may be silly, but

klmno

Active Member
Has any one noticed any correlation between times of escalating difficult child behavior and high allergy periods? It might just be coincidence, but my difficult child had asthmatic wheezing and ezcema conditions as a baby and toddler if he caught a virus in allergy seasons (spring primarily, fall secondary). I have noticed that these are the times of year now that there are difficult child escalating issues (spring primarily, fall secondary). He "grew out of" the asthmatic wheezing around 4 yo. He started with big difficult child issues right about the time he turned 11. I was thinking it was just coincidence- but, i'm watching this dr on oprah and he just said there is a necessary gas in the back of our sinuses that "mixes" with the air we breath and helps oxygen get absorbed in our lungs and helps get oxygen to our brains. Am I out on a limb? Wouldn't our psychiatrists be bringing this up if it were a contributor?
:doctor:
Just wanted to see what you guys thought!!
 

totoro

Mom? What's a difficult child?
Well spring is the time for people with mood disorders to have heightened Mania and more episodes, "March Madness", Due to the increased daylight. But I am sure allergies can trigger things also for kids... just like being sick can. Any change in circadian rythyms, health etc. can trigger our kids...
Some docs just don't know anything... ( I am a bitter Betty right know)
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
N has allergies. I always noticed increased gfgness during fall and spring. (more with spring)

I got to where I just gear up for it without thinking. Actually, now that you've mentioned it...... I've been seeing some increased gfgness in her recently.
 

smallworld

Moderator
I think it's intuitive that when kids feel sick from asthma and allergies, they become more irritable. This spring easy child/difficult child 2, who has significant asthma and allergies, has been a dream for two reasons: first, she's stable on her psychiatric medications; and second, we've treated her asthma/allergies vigorously (see medications below).

Does your difficult child still have allergy symptoms? If so, is he under treatment for them?
 

jannie

trying to survive....
I believe all kids(and adults) are more irritable when they are not feeling well--I'm sure there is a connection.

Talk to Tired Mommy--She has so much experience with kids and allgergies.
 

tiredmommy

Well-Known Member
I've watched my Duckie for symptoms of eobd for a long time now due to a family history (my mother), and they just aren't there. At least not yet. What I did have as an infant, toddler & preschooler was a child that displayed autistic-like symptoms that would come & go dependent on how bad her allergies were. I mean she'd be a complete easy child one day, then be a toe-walking, twirling, raging, eyes-bugged-out, monotone talking, sensory sensitive, toy lining up kid the nxt day. This would go on for several days to maybe three weeks then POOF! I'd have a easy child again. It wasn't until she had a very bad allergic reaction in October 2005 that we began to aggressively treat her allergies. They still aren't under control completely, but the change was incredible. We still get some break through behavior now & then (like right now, lol!) but you would never think this was a child that would have been evaluated for autism. Never. I don't even think of her as a true difficult child anymore, more like easy child with very strong difficult child tendencies.
So I do think it's possible that allergies play a part in all this. However, I wouldn't bet the farm on it. Still have him treated for the diagnosis'd mood disorder and treat his allergies as aggressively as you are able. Having his allergies better controlled will only help his overall health. I wouldn't want to see you pursue this line of thought to the point of stopping treatment for his mood disorder because many kids with mood disorders worsen as they go through puberty. But you may want to take him to an allergist to find out what his specific allergens are and come up with a treatment plan. Good luck.
 

klmno

Active Member
Thanks, everyone! Don't worry- I definitely don't think treating allergies will cure the mood disorder, whatever it is. Just wondered if there could be some medical connection- pertaining to chemical imbalance or something.
 

Marguerite

Active Member
We noticed this years ago with difficult child 3 - whenever he's developing some illness, his behaviour gets a lot worse. While he's acutely ill his behaviour's not too bad, then as he's recovering it gets bad again.

What I put all this down to - he has to work really hard, all the time, to cope (and to try to control his behaviour). When he's coming down with something, or having an allergic reaction, he feels unwell and his body is letting him down. His ability to maintain his concentration is unreliable and he then fails to cope. He simply can't predict how much personal effort he needs to exert, to control his behaviour as well as normal. Then once there are problems, it escalates as people lose patience.

Once he's in the acute phase of the illness he is unwell but it is at least stable. There is no worsening of change in his body's reaction to whatever is causing his illness, so once he finds his own stable point, it's easier to maintain it.

As he's recovering, his body is once again changing. This changeability is also unpredictable and once again, he's not able to manage himself as well. His behaviour in this phase is still a lot better than when he was getting sick, though.

For difficult child 3, it's ANY illness which challenges his body in some way. Think how we feel in these circumstances - we're coming down with a cold. Our head feels a bit stuffy, we feel more tired, we might be aching a bit more. We have a lot more leeway behaviourally, but for a lot of difficult children. It's like walking a tightrope without a safety net. Getting sick is like someone shaking the tightrope - it's not always where it's supposed to be.

With difficult child 3, a deterioration in his behaviour that is fairly sudden in onset and is lasting more than a day, now has us keeping an eye on him and reducing his stress over the next two days or until his behaviour improves. Often, when his behaviour doesn't improve we find that about Day 3 he has developed a virus, or some other reaction. His drop in behaviour warns us.

With an allergy, the behaviour drop begins with exposure to the allergen and continues until the contact is gone. Treating him with antihistamines only makes him worse, as if he's unmedicated. Back when he was in mainstream, we kept him home with allergic reactions. That's when we really began to teach him at home to catch up with all he'd been missing academically for years.

Doctors don't tell us either because they think it's obvious, or because they figure that it's simply the child's coping mechanism not working as well due to illness. I don't think increasing medications is the way to go - just deal with it, in the same way we'd deal with being sick by staying home from work. Find a way to cope by reducing what difficult child DOES have to deal with. By making it easier to cope, this hopefully compensates for the unsettling caused by getting ill.

Marg
 

timer lady

Queen of Hearts
kt is always worse this time of year; officially (she's been tested) she doesn't have huge allergies - she does react to the spring bloom.

Nope - see it every year.
 
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