Does anyone have autistic child /adult with brain allergies?

[Eldermom]

My adult son is allergic to tree, grass, weed pollens ,molds and house dust. These allergies do not result in respiratory symptoms. Rather, he has chest pain tho cardiac tests are normal. Despite allergy neutralization drops and antipsychotic medications, he suffers from violent rages / seasonal dyscontrol especially in tree and ragweed season. We use quercetin and Ester C . Antihistamines only increase the rage. Any feedback would be appreciated.
Eldermom

[Eldermom]

That is a good suggestion to get a pulmonary function test ,but I don't think my son would get the concept. I believe I witnessed my husband having one. And you are right about Yale , not the best care or diagnostic abilities. I will look into other tests for asthma and pulmonary function.
Eldermom

[888mom]

You're welcome for the description.  Your son isn't going through Yale's health plan or hospital to get assessed is he?  My husband was in grad school there, and I thought it ironic that one of the country's top medical schools would have such crappy health care.  They missed my diagnosis of lupus (I traveled and went down to a specialist in the DC area where my parents lived).  Their allergy department was pretty sad too.  Oh, they also missed the whole thing that I had asthma too.  Until one day I had to get taken in when I couldn't breathe and my arms and legs were going numb because the oxygen level was so low.  I didn't wheeze so they kept saying I was out of shape not asthma every time I went to the primary care doctor.  But, I did have asthma.  I was diagnosed with it as a child, but they seemed to disregard that diagnosis or thought that it was wrong.  They finally did a pulmonary function test after I had the ER visit, and determined that yes I did have asthma.  And it's not that the doctors there were stupid.  I think that they either just didn't care or didn't have the time to bother.  Has your son had the pulomonary function test?  They have you breathe into a tube thing that's hooked up to a machine, and they test what your air flow out is.  You do it a few times.  It's amazing what an inhalor for asthma will do as well.  Not sure if your son has asthma, but I wouldn't have the doctors rule it out until they've done all the tests for it.  Not all people with asthma wheeze.  I've had other doctors since Connecticut confirm that as well.

Well, I hope you find some good doctors there.  I'm moving (again) and dread finding a good doctor (again).  

[Eldermom]

Thank you so much for your description of your lung and chest pain and especially of your behavioral reaction. My son is 30 years old and every diagnosis for his behavior has been thrown at us  all of which are incorrect. I began charting his behaviors in 2003 to document the patterns which always occur during tree season ,  even more  so than in ragweed season . High mold levels make him miserable , too. By the way we live in Connecticut!  We do encase the mattress , etc., and use air filters. He could not do allergy shots either , but he does do allergy neutralization drops which do keep some of his other miseries in check.
I have been searching all these years as has his doctor to block these violent rages but there sems to be no answer. It's a shame since he is a handsome  humorous young man. Last year we had a drought here in CT and he went the entire year without any rage episodes for the first time in his life.We added quercetin to his regimen  and that seemed to help , too.
Thank you again for your intelligent input,
Eldermom

[888mom]

Oh, as for house dust... make sure you encase his mattress in one of those allergy encasing things, if you haven't done so already.  There are bedding sets for people with allergies.  Plus, if your heater uses a filter, be sure to get a 3 month kind that has a high rating for all allergens.  I also found that switching to organic sheets and organic detergent has helped my allergies somewhat too.  I am allergic to dust pretty severely. I realize all these allergy things are expensive, but if you buy them one at a time and slowly switch over.. well, it does make a world of difference.  I also bought an air filter for my bedroom.  I actually rotate it around the house, so I didn't have to buy more than one.  

[888mom]

Could his chest pain be pain in his lungs?  Usually when I'm having a bad asthma attack, my lungs will hurt.  Your lungs are in your chest area.  Sometimes I find I can have an asthma attack without wheezing, sometimes my lungs will just feel tight and my chest will hurt, but I won't breathe any different or wheeze.  I also feel "chest" pain when I have inflammation (I have a connective tissue disease, lupus).  It isn't "chest" pain like a heart attack or heart related, since it involves the joints and tissues in my rib cage being inflammed.  I don't know if allergies can cause inflammation of that area or not.  

When we lived in Connecticut for several years, the first year we rented a house near Long Island sound, and beyond our backyard was a marsh.  I found out later I was allergic to marsh grass.  That year was horrible, but my husband and I were recently married, and poor since he was a grad student.  Anyways, after months living there, having migraines twice a week, allergies horrible beyond belief, and I didn't know the source at the time... I thought it was just Connecticut... well, I went through rages were I am ashamed to say I once got mad I went through my closet and ripped up many clothes.  Maybe like 1/4 of what I had.  And I would throw things a lot. And cry.  I also had lupus back then too, so my health was pretty bad.  I don't have autism, but I hurt so bad between the lupus and the allergies, and I didn't know how to express my anguish, so I would just either scream or sit in my closet.  I can't imagine how a child would deal with allergies if they affected him that badly.  Probably worse than how I acted.  After the docs figured out what I was allergic to, we moved a lot farther inland, and I was much better.  I also have not behaved ever again like I did back then.  Health is of utmost importance.  Ill health can cause bad behavior and depression in an adult, so I'm sure it can in a child.

Can your son get allergy shots?  I tried as an adult, but I had quite an adverse reaction I couldn't continue.  I hear they help lots of kids.  They take a few months to see some affects, a year to see substantial affects, and a few years to get complete affect.  Anyways, it's something to look into if you haven't.  Not sure how he would handle weekly shots, though.  My husband and I live in a neighborhood now with no trees (you know those cookie cutter houses they put up where farm fields once were).  We will probably never live in a neighborhood with trees or not many trees again.  Bright side of no trees = seasonal allergies are not as bad (you still get the grasses though) and you don't have to rake leaves in the fall.

[MJIthewriter]

I forgot to ash, is your son verbal?  You can try asking him if he's suffering something like I described.

[MJIthewriter]

I don't think there's such thing as brain allergies... That certainly is a new one. I do know that the more stuffed up, plugged up, gunky, itchy, and so on I feel, the less patience I have...

I know when I'm constantly having to blow my nose every time I exhale... I can get very short tempered...
Likely that is what is happening that's causing your son's aggravation. I'm not so certain that he isn't suffering some kind of postnasal drip. That would cause the coughing and likely some of the chest discomfort, especially if he has asthma associated.

Some allergy meds have a tendency to make post nasal drip worse. Not only that but Claritin has a tendency to make hard chunks that only makes the feeling worse...

If that's causing a sore throat, then he probably is reacting to the postnasal drip.  I take Fluticasone for my post nasal drip and it seems to help, but when my allergies are aggravated it seems I don't feel the spray and I tend to spray more than needed...

And yes... I suffer bad hay fever allergies, and this is the worst time, besides ragweed season... I highly doubt the aggression occurs without a cause. Another idea is, some antihistimes cause drowsiness. It could be the drowsiness that is making your son cranky.

[Angela77]

I work with a student with outdoor allergies.  I see a big difference in him when he is on his allergy meds.  He takes Claratin.