Allergies? Or habit?

Jeannie85

New member
Looking for any insight or opinions....my 4 year old daughter for the last few weeks has been sniffling. It's a dry, quick in and out breath, thru the nose. Never is runny or wet. She does it on and off but more frequently while watching the ipad. (While resting ) I also notice her taking deeper breaths sometimes. It had me concerned so I called her cf doc who said we could try an allergy medicine. That didn't help. She isn't coughing and still plays, runs, does normal stuff. It just makes me worry because I don't know if she just does it for no reason, or Is this something? We have her clinic app next week. I've done extra vest treatments, her pulse ox is good. I also should mention that she has no complaints and when I ask what causes her to do it she says she doesn't know.
 
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mom2two

New member
Jeannie85, my daughter (who is 11 and does not have CF or any allergies that we are aware of) does that too, and has done it for years. Twitching her nose, wrinkling it, sniffing, etc all seem to be habit for her. She does it more when she is nervous about something, bored, or worried. I'm not saying your daughter doesnt have a medical problem, but the possibility exists that the sniffing could just be a habit.
 

Ratatosk

Administrator
Staff member
Could be sinus issues, could be caused by allergies. DS' nose never runs because his nasal mucus is extra thick. He does the same thing. Can you get her to try sinus rinses? DS started when he was 4 years old. Or you could try a saline nose spray. DS' ENT does comment that his nose seems dry at times, so he suggested doing that. He went to an ENT after he was becoming more an more of a mouth breather and we were concerned with polyps. Turned out he had a lot of inflammation that a nasal steroid took care of. He also had a sinus CT, which showed typical CF sinus disease, but he doesn't really have issues that some do.

On another note, DS used to have this odd, dry throat clearing cough that I just thought was a habit. Turned out he was culturing steno. Maltophilia.
 
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