Essential oils for allergies

[AnnieBrooke]

One of the moms in my son's school says she puts essential-oil drops on her son's feet for his allergies.  She and her husband have asthma and she swears it is helping her son.  Anyone every done this, or any other folksy type of treatment, with any noticeable results?  My son is allergic to tree pollen, grass pollen, airborne mold, dogs and cats.  I'd be delighted to hear about another direction to try besides simply continuing to give him Claritin all his life.

[Paderla Anitha, DNB]

Good Luck with his therapy.

[AnnieBrooke]

This did help, because my child's allergy doctor told me pretty unequivocally that children do not grow out of their allergies.  But I had always read that they might.  

We did change from Claritin to Zyrtek on the doctor's advice, and my son seems to be sneezing less without a corrresponding increase in coughing (which has always happened in the past when we changed him to something other than Claritin).  We do have a steroidal nasal spray as well as a lung-oriented inhaler called QVAR.  I'm willing to give those preventatively especially if I have a hope he will outgrow the whole issue.

I have also heard that working to prevent excess fats and sugars in the diet, and to give things to strengthen the liver, can help.  Since doing those things will certainly not hurt, we'll go that direction as well.

Many thanks again.

[Paderla Anitha, DNB]

Hello and hope you are doing well.

Understand your predicament. The goal of therapy for Asthma must be to keep the child symptom free even during exercise. The child must carry on all normal activities and physical activity will increase her appetite and in turn, her weight. The good news is that children who develop it early, outgrow the problem early too.

For this along with the rescue inhaler, preventive steroid inhalers are used regularly for prevention of attacks. The steroid content is very low in an inhaler and only acts locally. Use will prevent the causative allergens from triggering an attack. Repeated cold with nasal blockage can trigger attacks. Keep the nostrils clear of blockages by using nasal drops or sprays and try steam inhalation. So, don't worry and discuss these options with your doctor when you meet him next time.

Hope this helped and do keep us posted.

[AnnieBrooke]

I appreciate that fact, which is why I didn't race to the essential-oils store.  I'm distressed that the doctor who ordered my son's tests merely told me what he was allergic to and acted as though there was no hope he would grow out of it (my son is 6) and didn't suggest much of anything to do besides continuing to give him Claritin.  I'm wondering anything else that might help ... diet changes? anti-inflammatories that come from spices? acupuncture?  I don't intend to remove the Claritin and we do have Albuterol as back-up, but it seems there must be more that can be done to improve his body's ability to tell a harmless substance from something that continually triggers his system.

[Paderla Anitha, DNB]

Hello and hope you are doing well.

Unless studies have been done it is difficult to comment on the medical benefits of a product. In Asthma there is inflammation of the air passages that results in a temporary narrowing of the airways that carry oxygen to the lungs. Essential oils are applied on the skin, it is difficult to understand how they reach the airways and help with the inflammatory changes in the lungs.

Hope this helped and do keep us posted.