Allergies in Children - From a Parent

I want to share with my readers an experience about allergies in children and maybe it not only applies to your children, but maybe to you.  My son has a history of spring allergies since he was 2 or so and Zyrtec-D was used to manage them for 5 or so years and then they seemed to just go away.  Well, they are back but they are no longer spring allergies.  Saturday he was suddenly sniffly and whiny as only a teenage boy accustomed to feeling healthy can.  I gave him an Allegra which has been our daytime "allergy cure all" as needed.  He complained bitterly hours later that nothing worked and was sneezing out a fur ball again.  The Allegra is a 12 hour dose so I made him wait the appropriate time and promptly forgot. 

A side note about the offending allergen.  He had spent the night at a friend's house who has a cat, so I suspected his mild allergy had been violently shoved into a true allergy.  But that being the allergen could mean the reaction would subside now that he was away from the cat, ergo the forgetting. 

Sunday morning was harsh.  He hadn't slept and was CRANKY.  I gave him liquid Benadryl thinking this would allow him to clear up and function.  The liquid one is supposed to be the non-drowsy formula.  Note: IT'S NOT!  He did not wake up until almost 2:30 in the afternoon.  I administered another Allegra thinking this could easily be just left over from the interaction with the cat.  Monday, I treated it with Allegra as needed.  Then today, Tuesday he was a gut-wrenching, fur ball hacking, stopped up, runny nose, sneezy mess.  In passing, my cousin told me it's ragweed season and it is high right now.  I spoke with my mother within five minutes of that conversation and she is or was also allergic to ragweed.  Fortunately, my younger cousin is also allergic to many things and takes Zyrtec.  That reminded me that my son took Zyrtec when he was little and it worked wonderfully.  I practically ran to Walgreens for Zyrtec-D.

I am delighted to report that within an hour of him taking the one 12 hour tablet (with Gatorade, yogurt and chicken broth/noodle soup - homemade, no preservatives), he was wandering the halls again! 

My message... know what's in your family, know what works for your kids and be prepared for "childhood" illnesses to rear their ugly heads at random, unspecified times.

~ Windy City Diva

Obesity in Children, Let's Talk...

Many years ago I wrote an Op Ed piece about an article, “Happy Birthday! Have Some Carrots”. It is another manifestation of the obsession our society has with weight, without being willing to look at the root cause of the problem. Maybe we should consider finding the root causes of obesity. 

Let’s take a look at funding in schools for physical education, which has progressively decreased since the late-1980’s. What about funding for park districts that formerly provided after-school programs with physical activity and academics? The schools and park districts in Chicago have experienced more than 85% in budget cuts within the last 10 years. I attended public high school in Chicago. We had junk food, pizza parties and cake for birthdays; but we also had gym 5 days a week instead of 2 like my son does now. We had a Health class that educated us about food groups, the effects of certain foods on our systems and discussed the benefits of running and playing. We played running games outside with our friends after school, instead of lying on the floor playing video games for hours. 

As the parent of a teenager, I believe it is my job to ensure that my son eats a balanced diet, plays outside on a regular basis, participates in sports, understands the importance of balanced meals, knows how to select proper foods and portion control. America is fat beginning with our children, because of our over-indulgence, our “right now satisfaction” mentality and funding being cut at every level for physical education. 

Can we stop blaming the end results and start truly breaking down and attacking the root causes of the obesity levels in the United States? I agree that Type 2 Diabetes in children is deplorable, particularly at the current levels. However, I believe some alternate solutions to serving carrots at birthday parties and putting only healthy snacks in vending machines would include: putting the funding back in public school physical education and extra-curricular school sponsored/organized sports activities, after-school fitness activities at park districts and continue the health education in the school and with parents. Certain types of education begin at home and healthy eating habits are some of them. 

Windy City Diva