<p><div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote><i>Originally posted by: <b>ymikhale</b></i> <div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote><i>Originally posted by: <b>Nightwriter</b></i> Hi ymikhale Sorry to hear that your daughter is getting a lot of colds. You know many colds are not caused by the rhinovirus and in fact is allergy. Especially if they last for more than 10 days. Do you use a nasal rinse? And there are many nasal sprays -- is she allergic to all of them? Zyrtec has been helping me more than Claritin. When symptomatic Zinc lozenges. Airborne. All over the counter. I also take Singulair which is now being used for nasal symptoms all though my dr has always used it off use. Do you have a good air purifier?</end quote>
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<p>hi Nightwriter,
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<p>thanks for your response. I thought about allergies too, but since it started around october last year and she kind of gets well, then gets another cold and so on, it seemed to me more virus related? The thing is also that I get the same symptoms right after her. We did a blood test (IGa?) for allergies during one of her colds in January (i actually suggested it to her doctor) and it came out negative.
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<p>I do nasal rinses with sea salt solution at least 2 times a day (when well) and up to 4 times when she is sick. I used rhinotrophyl (not sure abour US equivalent, it is some kind of antibacterial i think) and she got a rash from it. I have been looking for Zinc lozenges but could not find an equivalent here in France.
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<p>I do have an air purifier. It is the only one i found here that has Hepa+carbon filter, but it is relatevely cheap. I know it is useful given the state of the filters when i change them, but surely not as good as the one that you use.
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<p>Sorry it took so long to get back to you. A few things come to mind. The first thing that jumped out at me is October. That has always been a bad month for me. Why? Because the seasons change. I would assume you get the winds that knock the leaves off the trees...and along comes allergies.
<p>If you were able to read my other posts, when I say allergies, it doesn't always mean a true allergy. In fact I test negative to most things. One, they can't test for everything, and two, these same substances in the air act as irritants that inflame the lungs -- whether it is pollen, mold, particulates (big and small), and/or in combination with high ozone days.
<p>One of the blood tests that I had was IgE test which was actually low for me, but if is high can be an indication of allergy or chemical sensitivities. And I had scratch tests for about 400 things which are spread out over a few weeks. They are grouped into 3 or 4 different categories. Just some clues in the puzzle.
<p>The fact that you get symptoms...allergies and sensitivities are often inherited. This means that allergy people (diagnosed or not) usually have allergy parents. I do. October and late April/May are usually especially bad for me, too. My bf and best friend have allergies and the days that my lungs are bad with no triggers, they too are sick -- for them, more with scratchy throat, eyes, nasal symptoms. Almost always.
<p>I know that kids do get viruses more often then adults -- all I'm saying is because you said October in particular, perhaps what I am saying makes sense.
<p>Also the fact that you say she got a rash from something -- allergy or she is a hyper-sensitive person like I am as are probabaly most people with chronic inflammation/chronic disease.
<p>As far as Zinc lozenges, I do remember it was hard to find zinc lozenges in England, but eventualy found zinc mixed with something in a health food store -- so I know it's not easy in Europe to get the same things. I have a really great response with Airborne for "cold-like symptoms" . Plus I don't know about what the kid friendly equivalents are.
<p>Another point, if you make the environment really good, your daughter's inflammation may not be so high, that every trigger bothers her. When I am in a good phase, I can tolerate more. There are so many things to do about changing environement that I have listed in the posts stated. I hope that you can read them.
<p>And lastly sometimes I know that I go through bad phases, but I have learned to identify what has caused the change. So it helps if you can do some detective work and then you can come up with solutions to at least try to elicit some improvements.
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