Toddler with Reoccuring Sinus Trouble

I know a couple who's daughter had recurrent sinus infections and ear infections, and ended up having to have tubes in her ears, then have her tonsils and adenoids taken out. Then they got a dog, and found out she was allergic to the dog - they're not keeping the dog.

I know a person who is allergic to cats, and was told by her doctor to get rid of her cats. She refuses. She has 4 or 5 cats and is constantly sick, having respiratory issues, asthma, bronchitis, etc. She may be prone to those already, but the chances of her getting sick would reduce greatly without her cats.

Please consider giving your dog away. If you keep the dog, her issues with sinus problems will only get worse, and other issues may develop (like asthma) because what she's allergic to lives in the house with her - she can't ever get away from it. It doesn't matter how clean you keep the house, how clean you keep the dog, or how often you vacuum, the culprit is still in the house. She may still have to have her adenoids taken out later on in life, but there's something you know you can do something about now that will help her maybe not have to get that done right now.

This isn't like getting an artificial tree at christmas because everybody's allergic to pine trees (like we have to do).

Good luck with your decision.

have u ever tried a sinus spray? I know my aunt had always reoccuring sinus sinulitis (sp?) but when she takes a sinus spray she doesn't even get it! From what i understand ur sinus cavities hold 'gunk' in them and it from the 'gunk' sitting that causes the infections. I started getting those sinus saline sprays for my kids & to this day they haven't had n e colds or anything that has progressed into something worse, especially w/ my one being in pre-k w/ all those germs. My 5 yr old will do the spray himself, my daughter is 2 1/2 and she will 'think' she's doin it but i will help.. I even do the saline drops w/ my 9mnth old especially when he's teething or snotty.. i start w/ 3 x's a day and work it down to one.. but i do it myself and it's nice b/c it's not addicting but also b/c it works.. it may help to push that 'gunk' out of her sinus cavities. I'm the type of mom who doesn't mess around w/ medicine either.. it's not a choice if it's gonna help my kids in the long run.. so i tell my kids 'either ur gonna do it or i am, but either way it's getting done' they usually op to do it themselves and i show them by me doin it myself too.. it may help.. it's worth a shot.. good luck :)

My son had the exact same thing. He has severe mold allergies. Mold on grass, mulch, food etc, etc. His kindergarten year he was on a "maintenance" dose of antibiotics the whole winter, then had a CT scan and it showed he still had one. It was horrible. We then went to an ENT doc and they said do tonsil and adenoids. We too weren't sure what to do, but after another year of chronic infections we opted for doing it. Let me tell you, it was the best thing we ever did. It was an instant fix. That was 2 years ago and I would say since then he has had maybe a few. The few times it has happened is when his allergies kick in (spring/fall rainy season big for mold time) and we didn't get his meds started quick enough.

My advice would be to go for it. Having them be miserable with recurring infections isn't fun for anyone. Goodluck

Hi, Sharah! I will tell you... my son had endless problems with sinus infections as a little boy. He was on antibiotics every 6-8 weeks. It got to the point where he is now resistent to amoxicilin. I spoke to the doctor, and begged him to remove my son's tonsils and adenoids. They finally broke down and did it. Let me tell you, he is like a new child! This all happened about seven years ago, and I think he has had three sinus infections since that time. I am encouraging you to have both the tonsils and adenoids removed. My son's tonsils were so big, they could barely intubate him! They removed them, and now he lives a completely healthy life! DO IT!!! You won't regret it!

Just 2 cents from someone who should have had their adenoids removed as a child but my parents didn't. My problem wasn't with allergies or sinus infections but with breathing. I can only comfortably breathe through my mouth and have the typical "adenoid face" as I have been told before. It really has been something I have coped with through the years, as well as with the teasing for breathing through my mouth. I wish my parents had removed my adenoids as a kid so I wouldn't still be dealing with them. If it will help your child, I would go ahead and do it. Younger people recover from surgery so much quicker than teenagers and adults. Good luck with your decision.

i'm not sure if this would help your situation or not, but this was my experience. when my daughter was 3-4 yrs old, she had recurrent ear infections. the ear nose and throat doc wanted to put tubes in her ears. one of my MIL's friends is a chiropracter and offered to work on her. since she has been to her, she has not had another infection. it's been 2 yrs. the chrio tells me it helps the sinuses drain correctly rather than down the ear tubes. worth a try if your insurance covers it. so glad i didn't do the surgery!

Before you do surgery, might want to consider a couple of other things. One, there is a chiro in Brownsburg who does allergy treatments that gets RID of the vast majority of allergies.

I have a client who had a grandson w/ dog allergies and he had three treatments I believe and no longer has the allergy. In the long run, lots less headache!

Secondly, as a posture, alignment and pain management specialist, I KNOW that sinus infections occur as a result of the sinuses not being able to drain properly. The sinuses are cavities that are SUPPOSED to contain AIR. When the body cannot/does not drain properly, fluid builds up. Thus....the pressure and infection since all of that is collecting in the sinuses.

I've found that I can actually get the sinuses to drain by putting the body BACK into proper alignement. If the head and neck to not sit properly over the shoulders and torso, this can cause the "drainage system" to malfunction.

I have a couple of positions that I put people in as well as a couple of e-cises (very simple exercises) that I have people do. The results are almost immediate.

IF the cavities are not as large as they should be, etc., then that's another story and surgery might be your best bet. I have a cousin who had that surgery when she was in elementary school. To my knowledge, she's never had any more problems. Her cavities weren't as large as they should be and were constantly blocked.

Let me know if you want more info.

Hey S.! I hope this helps because after reading your post title I thought to myself that I was going to get on here and tell you to schedule an appt with a ENT doctor to see if her adenoids should be removed! So, when I read your post, I thought maybe I could help calm your nerves about the possible operation. You could've been literally writing about my daughter, but only she was 25 months when we decided on getting tubes in her ears and adenoids removed. Anyway, for about 9 months beforehand she had persistent sinus infections and was on antibiotics basically nonstop. We too took her to an allergist and were told she was allergic to the same things! There were others, but the ones you mentioned were on the list. Before I get into talking about the surgery, I don't want to forget to mention that if you get "live" Christmas trees, really think about buying a fake one from now on. Mold allergies can cause very bad reactions to having a live one in the house, causing cold symptoms the entire season.

Back to the surgery though, it's an outpatient surgery that literally takes about 20 minutes or so. You go to an outpatient clinic in the morning, they check you in, take you and your daughter back to a bed where they change her into a robe and start an IV. They let you stay with her until it's time to take her to surgery. My daughter cried and held onto me when it was time for me to go, which was hard, but she was just scared, since she was put on a bed and being taken somewhere without me. Once they got her into the room, she was put to sleep and the surgery happened really quickly. The doctor came out about 20 or so minutes after I got to the waiting room to tell me things went fine, and I was either taken to my daughter right then, or they waited until she started to wake up to have me go back. I can't remember which it was for me because my memory of this time is focused on how my daughter was when I went to her. Be prepared because I wasn't....it's not a huge deal, but I just assumed her "waking up" meant that she would be "waking up", as if she were waking up from a normal deep sleep. It isn't quite like that though. My daughter was flailing her arms around a little and crying, well it was more like moaning. It wasn't like a "I'm in pain" cry, it was like a "I'm totally out of it" moan. It was kinda a shocker that I wasn't ready for. I went to her and picked her up into my lap and held her. She didn't know I was holding her though until she started to really wake up and realize her surroundings. Very shortly after, they will let you take your daughter home. I would definitely have grandparents drive there separately because you will want to sit in the back with your daughter while your husband drives, but they give you prescriptions to fill that you're going to want to have someone else fill for you so you can get her home. We were home by probably 9 or so in the morning. My daughter pretty much slept all day. She was very clingy to me and everytime I went to get up, she would wake up a little and cry until I sat back down with her on my lap or picked her up and took her with me. I had a 9 month old son too, so I was thankful that there were people there to help take care of him. Around 5:00 that evening, I decided to see how she did without her pain medicine, and I was amazed because as soon as it started wearing off, she crawled down from my lap and started playing on the floor! Within a couple of hours, she was back to her normal self and I was having to kinda play with her to keep her activity at a low level rather than running around. So, it really was no big deal. It's always scary when your kid has something done, but as soon as those adenoids were out, we stopped having a sick child. She doesn't get sinus infections at all anymore either, and she's 7 now. Hope this helped! If there are any questions you have that I can answer, message me!

Before removing anything I would certainly get another opinion.
And you might go to an osteopathic physician too, for an opinion fro, somepne who specializes in preventative medicine.
Also, look into some natural remedies at your health food store.

My son had the same issues but when it got to the point where he couldn't breath while he was eating because he had gotten to the point where he was only breathing out of his mouth and not his nose, I made a call and found a dr and had the surgery. IT WAS THE BEST THING WE HAVE EVER DONE FOR HIM, I just wish we would have done it sooner so he would not have suffered for as long as he did. OH and one month later, we had our daughters removed as well because she had started having the same issues but we were able to catch it early so everyone was fine this past spring/summer.

My son had his adnoids removed. Before that, he had ear infection and sinus infection time and time again. We had gone 4 straight months, not going for longer than a week without being on antibiotics. He had the surgery in Fed. He went the whole next summer, fall and winter without any issues. :) One year later I was thrilled. Adnoids may have been what was causing all the sinus infections, instead of allergies. He also go PE tubes in for ear infections. Recovery was fast. He was up and around that afternoon.
Since then (two years after the surgery), we have had to go back and had tonsilles removed, another set of PE tubes put in and found out that adnoids can grow back. They were removed a second time. We are another year out without antibiotics. :)

Oh, you are living my nightmare! I am personally allergic to dogs, but I control it because I love them too much to give them up. With 3 dogs (and being actively involved in animal rescue, I know how awful it is for dogs to be turned in, even with a legit reason), I am terrified that my son will have allergies and not be able to take the meds I take to deal with them! I am very glad you decided to keep your dog. I would, too.

Additional advice that I can offer - make sure your vacuum is bagged (bagless vacuums are convenient but no good for those of us with indoor allergies) and has a hepa filter.

If your child has carpet in her bedroom, consider (if you can afford it) switching to hardwoods, which don't trap allergens as easily.

Clean your furnace filter more frequently, about once a month, and make sure you don't buy the super-cheap filters because those don't catch anything. When you get your furnace serviced, ask the guy about what sort of filters will work well in your furnace and help trap allergens (don't let him sell you anything, though).

Your dog should not be allowed in your child's bedroom, of course.

Depending on the kind of dog you have, you might consider shaving. This is not a good solution for every breed, and of course, dog skin also causes dander and so it won't eliminate the allergens. But if you have a breed of dog (as I do) where the fur seems to hang in the air after being shed, shaving may help reduce the amount of dander in the air. Please remember that if you shave a dog, your dog becomes particularly at risk for sun burns and will need to wear sunscreen just like a person.

In the winter, put a cool-mist humidifier in your daughter's room (if you can afford it, the best ones are the ones that tell you the humidity in her room at all times so that you do not over-humidify and risk mold or mildew) and run it when she sleeps. In the summer, keep your daughter's bedroom window closed to prevent spores of allergens from coming in.

Finally, invest in a neti pot (or because she is so small, consider a neti sprayer). These take some getting used to, can be slightly painful in the beginning (especially if your sinuses are tender), and your daughter won't like it at first. However, a Neti pot takes salt water (or saline) and rinses out the nasal cavities and sinuses. Once you get used to it, it stops hurting, and provides relief. It also clears out a lot of the dander and other allergens that get stuck up there and cause infections. You may want to ask your ped. or allergist about one for such a small little girl. This is a surprisingly helpful step, and was how I was able to survive living in my house with 3 dogs while I was breastfeeding and could not take my normal allergy medications.

I wish you the best of luck!

My daughter would have bad sinus infections at least every two months, and she'd miss several days of school each time. We went to the allergist and found out she was allergic to dogs, cats, molds, and pretty much everything outside. She started allergy shots, and he had her taking mucinex, sudafed, and flonase every day. Zyrtec or Claritin was added as needed during the high outdoor allergy seasons. Two years into the shots we are now going every two weeks, and the inflammation in her sinuses is almost gone. She only takes the other medicines if she's really stuffed up, usually only a day or two each month. And she hasn't had a sinus infection since last fall!!!

We had the same thing with my daughter for the first year and a half of her life she was constantly sick. She always had a runny or stuffy nose. We had her adnoids out when she was 1 and a half and it made a HUGE difference. Her adnoids were really enlarged and had trapped all kinds of gunk. It's been a year now and she's had a few colds, but nothing like before. The procedure was really fast and easy. We got to the surgery center at about 6:00 am. They took her back almost immediately. They will use anesthesia and then remove the adnoids. If I remember correctly, the procedure lasted about 30 minutes from start to finish. She was in recovery for about two hours. Since they're little, they let them come out of the anesthesia on their own. My dd woke up after about an hour, ate some cheerios and drank some water, then fell back asleep. She was groggy the rest of the day, but nothing too bad. They tell you to keep them calm, no rough housing, for two weeks. We had dd's done a few days before Thanksgiving and she was playing with her cousins on Thanksgiving day. It's really not that bad, as far as surgeries go. The only thing I've noticed is that her voice is a little more nasally, but it's not a big deal. Good luck with what you decide.