Question:

I was just wondering what people have for a heating and AC source? I purposely purchased a house with forced hot water due to my allergist’s recommendation. Although in my area now forced hot air, ducts with AC built in is what builders are putting in. Has anyone lived with both types of heating sources (forced hot air vs. forced hot water) and noticed a difference in their sinusitis? Also what about the AC method?

Response:

On Fri, 09 Dec 2005 15:58:47 -0500, "sedum41" <sedum41@EMAIL protected

wrote: I was just wondering what people have for a heating and AC source? I purposely purchased a house with forced hot water due to my allergist’s recommendation. Although in my area now forced hot air, ducts with AC built in is what builders are putting in. Has anyone lived with both types of heating sources (forced hot air vs. forced hot water) and noticed a difference in their sinusitis? Also what about the AC method?

There are pros and cons of both types. With forced air, *theoretically* you can filter it but if you still have dust and mold in your room, it will blow it around and this will raise the level in the air in actual fact. In your case, I would stay where you are with what yoy have and try and optimize it.   You should be fine if you have some nearly dust-free rooms,   What I find myself is that in very cold werther, I am fine because the indoor heat dries (either forced air or radiator) out the mold and dust mites. I am also ok in very hot weather, because the AC dries out the mold and mites. It is in the fall and spring that I have problems.   This is because indoor humidity rises and so do mold and mite populations.   In those seasons, a lot of air exchange with the outdoors in needed to keep levels down.   An open  windows in an adjacent room is starting point. If you have active sources of pollution indoors, then you may need more outdoor air exchange even in mid-winter.  This is hard to do but possible.  Of course it will drastically increase heating costs…… You need to experiment to test the effects of various factors……

Response:

If you have allergy problems you can try a local bee keeper/honey producer. I have had a very bad asthmatic bronchitis and a genetic (father family) tendency to asthma and treatment with honey caps (When the water content is less than18%, workers seal each cell with a cap) helped me get over it completely. Even though my father and his mother both had asthma and got treatment, I never got to asthmatic bronchitis again. It was later found that the caps and the mixture bees produce to seal the honeycomb has antiallergenic properties. Alexandra C

Response:

In news:1134317830.999405.55190@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com, birdieb <creaproje…@yahoo.com

typed: If you have allergy problems you can try a local bee keeper/honey producer. I have had a very bad asthmatic bronchitis and a genetic (father family) tendency to asthma and treatment with honey caps (When the water content is less than18%, workers seal each cell with a cap) helped me get over it completely. Even though my father and his mother both had asthma and got treatment, I never got to asthmatic bronchitis again. It was later found that the caps and the mixture bees produce to seal the honeycomb has antiallergenic properties. Alexandra C

So are you suppost to get the cone and consume it, or just the honey? I’m confused when above you say "…treatment with honey cops…"

Response:

Don, I do have allergies to the outdoor types of mold. For me I have most allergy problems June-Sept when the weather is hot and humid. Last year we had a bad summer for outdoor mold. By monitoring a mold/pollen web site for a town next to mine the outdoor airborne mold levels were highest from May-October which corresponded closely with my symptoms. My allergist wasn’t too keen on the forced hot air as he stated most of his patients with the worst allergies had this type of heat/AC. Of course, I am basing this on conversations we had in the early 90’s when I first went for allergy testing and shots. I’m sure the technology is much better now as 15 years have passed. I’ve seen him since then but haven’t discussed heating/AC with him. For me I now think I would be better with a forced hot air that I could attach very good HEPA filters, AC, humidifiers etc. The big question is can you keep the ducts, AC, humidifier free from mold spores or can they be cleaned effectively? I was just curious if people had lived in houses with both types of heat as I’ve only lived in apartments or houses with either steam heat or forced hot water.

Response:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -On Mon, 12 Dec 2005 21:15:51 -0500, "sedum41" <sedum41@EMAIL protected

wrote: Don, I do have allergies to the outdoor types of mold. For me I have most allergy problems June-Sept when the weather is hot and humid. Last year we had a bad summer for outdoor mold. By monitoring a mold/pollen web site for a town next to mine the outdoor airborne mold levels were highest from May-October which corresponded closely with my symptoms. My allergist wasn’t too keen on the forced hot air as he stated most of his patients with the worst allergies had this type of heat/AC. Of course, I am basing this on conversations we had in the early 90’s when I first went for allergy testing and shots. I’m sure the technology is much better now as 15 years have passed. I’ve seen him since then but haven’t discussed heating/AC with him. For me I now think I would be better with a forced hot air that I could attach very good HEPA filters, AC, humidifiers etc. The big question is can you keep the ducts, AC, humidifier free from mold spores or can they be cleaned effectively? I was just curious if people had lived in houses with both types of heat as I’ve only lived in apartments or houses with either steam heat or forced hot water.

Oh I have lived in all of the above but I do not think you will get a conclusive answer. Actually I have both right now (baseboard heaters and central forced air) and switch back and forth.  I really cannot stand the forced air except in very cold weather.  In mild weather it seems to blow around irritating mold or gasses for whatever reason.   My place is really not at all dust and mold free though – things might work better if it were. I like low-temperature baseboard heaters a lot.  They are small closed-off radiators. Some authorities recommend them over other solutions..  High temperature heaters cause gasses to be given off from roasting dust. There is no doubt that well-filtered forced air can work well but I do not think it is the only solution.   What if the major source of dust is locally-stirred up dust and mold within the individual rooms?  Air filtering is not going to get rid of that.   In a super-clean house, central filters might work well.  But presumably you would have to leave the fan on all the time.  Otherwise it would be off all the time if the temperature indoors and ourdoors matched.   The windows would have to be closed.   I prefer to be able to open the windows selectively. It is just horrendously complicated…..

Response:

Only the cap the bee puts on the cone (and the substance it produces to seal it). The caps are usually thrown away by the producer or used to make house beverages, because they want the honey to be clean of wax when they extract it from the honeycomb.

Response:

My mother used a book written by a Montana doctor called Jarvis. Unfortunately, I gave it to someone who has never returned it. It was about the uses of honey and he gave detailed description of the treatment with honey caps. As I remember (I redo the treatment from time to time) he indicated not to use a metal teaspoon, to chew the waxy caps for about 15 mins and not to drink anything after that for at least 30 mins – this keeps the antiallergic substance in place. I did it approximately 4 times a day, for a month. After the first 10 days the allergy started to subside.

Response:

On 12/13/05 6:57 AM, in article 4085r8F1968n…@individual.net, "Susan" – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -<neverm…@nomail.com

wrote: x-no-archive: yes Don Brady wrote: Oh I have lived in all of the above but I do not think you will get a conclusive answer. Actually I have both right now (baseboard heaters and central forced air) and switch back and forth.  I really cannot stand the forced air except in very cold weather.  In mild weather it seems to blow around irritating mold or gasses for whatever reason.   My place is really not at all dust and mold free though – things might work better if it were. I like low-temperature baseboard heaters a lot.  They are small closed-off radiators. Some authorities recommend them over other solutions..  High temperature heaters cause gasses to be given off from roasting dust. There is no doubt that well-filtered forced air can work well but I do not think it is the only solution. What if the major source of dust is locally-stirred up dust and mold within the individual rooms?  Air filtering is not going to get rid of that.   In a super-clean house, central filters might work well.  But presumably you would have to leave the fan on all the time.  Otherwise it would be off all the time if the temperature indoors and ourdoors matched.   The windows would have to be closed.   I prefer to be able to open the windows selectively. It is just horrendously complicated….. I should say that my assumption is that someone who’s going to such lengths to choose a system would already be doing what we do in my house, which is keep dust and other air pollutants to a minimum.  Before relying on filters, ventilation systems, etc, hygiene has to be in place. I have wood floors with area rugs that have no furniture on top, so they can be hepa vacuumed top and bottom.  Dusting is job one, and nothing visible is blowing around my house.  Bedding is in allergy barriers, and there’s a big HEPA air cleaner in my bedroom.h As mentioned, it’s been really important to aggressively dust iron radiators with bottle brushes, long felt rods, etc. Susan

I agree, no matter what you do, wall to wall carpets, etc will create dust. We have eliminated these and frankly the only dust is from "self contained" units i.e. The closed display cabinets have dust all the time from deteriorating wood, I suppose. I haven’t heard anything about wallpaper allergy, except that people chewed this for the glue in Leningrad in World War Two. Anyone know about the allergic situation re wallpaper. I think Susan’s suggestion is correct – eliminate the sources of dust – carpets, etc. If you gotta have a rug, use throw rugs that can be washed. More important, its not that critical that the entire house be totally dust proof. Its the bedroom that is most important. An electric heater and a hepa filter may do the job.

Response:

If you have wood floors or wood pannels, cabinets in the bathroom/kitchen that are made of wood, etc… you might want to try a mold specialist. Sometimes the mold is not visible but its spores reach the air and one eventually inhales them. The specialist would check your house for humidity and molds. It isn’t expensive and they usually do a very good job detecting molds. There are also vaccines that can be prepared from the liquids present at the site of the infection/inflammation. I had a friend who had a recurrent infection and she went to do something like this; she called it "desensitivation". I am not in the medical field, so you have to ask a doctor what it is or find a vaccine research company (like "Pasteur" in France). The advantage is that the research lab/unit is usually in a hospital and offers several options for increasing immunity which combined give better results.

Response:

Don, Susan, Dr. Grossan – Thanks for the good discussion, pros and cons to think about. I don’t have any experience with forced hot air so it is good to hear people’s experiences. I agree that keeping the bedroom environment right is the most important thing for people with mold and dust allergies. I’ve done all the things discussed on this group including installing hardwood floors with small area rugs, keeping it clutter and dust free, using all the allergy bedding and covers for pillows, mattresses, running AC in summer and good room humidifier (with UV sterilization of the water) in winter, running a good HEPA filter year round. I know it makes a huge difference because when we travel, I am sometimes bothered with increased symptoms. In any case, I think it is a moot point as my husband and I like very much where we live. I don’t think I could readily convince him to move at this point!

Response:

sedum41 wrote:

I was just wondering what people have for a heating and AC source? I purposely purchased a house with forced hot water due to my allergist’s recommendation. Although in my area now forced hot air, ducts with AC built in is what builders are putting in. Has anyone lived with both types of heating sources (forced hot air vs. forced hot water) and noticed a difference in their sinusitis? Also what about the AC method?

If you live in an apartment, get one on the top floor with the windows facing south.  Then if you live in a warm climate like CA you will rarely need the heat.  If you are buying a house, make sure its at least 2 story and the bedroom is not on the ground floor, and again preferably bedroom windows facing south.  AC should be OK as long as the ducts are clean.  If they are new, this should not be a problem. Forced air heat can be a problem regardless, I have found.  Radiator is probably better.  When it is especially damp like during rainstorms, you can first heat the house up to, say, 80F then set the AC to 70F which should help drive out the humidity – or buy a dehumidifier. Never ever consider an evap cooler. Woody

Response:

On 15 Dec 2005 20:30:59 -0800, "Woody Long" <woodylon…@hotmail.com

wrote:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -

sedum41 wrote: I was just wondering what people have for a heating and AC source? I purposely purchased a house with forced hot water due to my allergist’s recommendation. Although in my area now forced hot air, ducts with AC built in is what builders are putting in. Has anyone lived with both types of heating sources (forced hot air vs. forced hot water) and noticed a difference in their sinusitis? Also what about the AC method? If you live in an apartment, get one on the top floor with the windows facing south.  Then if you live in a warm climate like CA you will rarely need the heat.  If you are buying a house, make sure its at least 2 story and the bedroom is not on the ground floor, and again preferably bedroom windows facing south.  AC should be OK as long as the ducts are clean.  If they are new, this should not be a problem. Forced air heat can be a problem regardless, I have found.  Radiator is probably better.

Yes low temperature portable heaters may be best. http://www.cadetco.com/show_product.php?prodid=1011 I have 4 of these. However, I find even these irritating if too close – I put them in adjacent rooms. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -

When it is especially damp like during rainstorms, you can first heat the house up to, say, 80F then set the AC to 70F which should help drive out the humidity – or buy a dehumidifier. Never ever consider an evap cooler. Woody

Response:

Question:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Christine M. Dakes wrote:

My daughter has this too!  She had it for many months about 18 months ago, now she has it again, she’s 3 yrs old.  Just like other posters said, she starts coughing about 1-2 hrs after going to sleep at night. A very, very dry hacking cough.  I’ve tried dozens of cough medicines, and allergy medicine.  The one that works best for me is Robitussin Pediatric, lasts 8 hrs. But PLEASE someone email me more about this!  We can’t figure out why it’s happening, if it’s really an allergy or what!  It’s agony for her, not to mention lack of sleep (for us all).  If we hold her upright, she sleeps fine, or prop her up in bed, with lots of pillows, the problem is she doesn’t stay propped up. Please email me  more info…thanks!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~ Christine M. Dakes       Mom to:                                  _ _ cda…@lucent.com        Devin Nicole  1/21/93 — "Princess"      0 0                          Zakary Joseph 3/5/95  – "Tiger Cub"   (  o  )                                                                   _/ …And we’re livin’ here in Allentown, PA                          ^ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~

Christine   What is the coughing like? Does she sound like a seal barking? To me it sounds like my Jean-Thomas. He gets croup quite regularlly and has since he was an infant. He is so sore and tired and fussy. The doctors can’t do much for it. Watch him closely. Give him plenty of pure fruit juices and not lots of milk. Give him warm baths a few times a day and steam him in the bathroom about every 2-4 hours thoughout the day when it is really bad. Keep him warm and out of cold drafts. There isn’t much else you can do.   What we found that helps is pure chamomile or peppermint tea. So does peppermint candy sticks or take peppermint sticks and some hot water. Stir until the stick is all melted and the water cool enough for the little one to drink. This helps coat and make the throught feel better that is so rough and raw from all the coughing. Sometimes if you add a drop or two of real lemon it will help ease the coughing enough so everyone can get a little sleep.     Rebecca

Response:

that coughing/vomiting at night, plus prone to ear infections, sounds just like my nephew. it turned out he had mild allergies with SEVERE postnasal drip. he now takes over-the-counter allergy/cold meds…any kind that lists ‘for post nasal drip’ onthe bottle. i hope yours turns out to be something so easily remedied peg n

Response:

My little Gary has cough variant asthma that is triggered by viral infections.  He also used to cough until he threw up, but it was so often associated with having a running nose or an ear infection or whatever that it was hard to disassociate them.  After I got an idea that it might be this weird form of asthma I really started paying attention.  Eventually I became certain it was asthma (he has a few other symptoms) and I was able to convince my doctor of it.  At about the age of 2 we put him on Intal daily and Ventolin as needed and he has really thrived.  Once we figured he was over it and took him off the Intal.  Bad move.  He came down with croup (which he used to get frequently but hadn’t in months) and it triggered the asthma (or maybe it was all the same thing) and he ended up in the emergency room at 3 am.   BTW, the single biggest factor in diagnosing Gary was my persistance and the newsgroup misc.kids.health and alt.support.asthma. There are some good, caring people out there! Wendy Marsden, Mummy to Gary (3) and Caroline (5)

Response:

On 16 May 1996, Christine M. Dakes wrote:

But PLEASE someone email me more about this!  We can’t figure out why it’s happening, if it’s really an allergy or what!  It’s agony for her, not to mention lack of sleep (for us all).  If we hold her upright, she sleeps fine, or prop her up in bed, with lots of pillows, the problem is she doesn’t stay propped up.

My daughter behaved the same way — insisting on being held in virtually an upright position in order to sleep most of her first year, coughing at bedtime, lots of ear infections, etc.  We finally bought a foam wedge pillow and used it in her crib (it fit tightly from side to side) in order to elevate her head, which helped somewhat.  Just before her 6th birthday she was finally diagnosed with asthma, and treatment has eased her problems considerably, but she still sleeps on her wedge (she’s 12 now). Sherry

Response:

My middle boy coughed every night for over a  years,  age 3 1/2 to 5, some nights worse than others.  There was no apparant problem during the day and routine visits to the pediatrician didn’t uncover anything. He stopped,  again for no apparent reason.  At first I would have to get up and go into his room to make sure he was still breathing but I finally adjusted.  He was the "juicy" one when he was born according to the nurses,  his lungs made the most noise and sounded congested but there was nothing "medically" wrong with him.  He also was the one that got the most earaches. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t be concerned and alert,  just passing on my own experience.   He’s our second  of three,  we’ve tended to get more relaxed with each child.

Response:

In article <4nfg60$…@netnews.upenn.edu

,

Lisa Cain <l…@hops.wharton.upenn.edu

wrote: I wonder if this is related to a reflux problem irritating their throats. My husband thought for years that he was susceptible to throat infections- but it really was related to the reflux problem.  It seems this would be consistent with both the coughing and the vomiting.  

That sounds possible.  I have a hiatal hernia, which causes me some pretty severe reflux problems if it goes untreated.  Reflux is much worse when you’re lying down, and if it happens while you’re sleeping, the stomach acid and crud comes up and can be inhaled into the back of your nasal passages, which is *very* painful, wakes you up, and usually leaves you coughing and spitting for half an hour til it gets better. Has the doctor looked into this?  Diagnoses of something like a hiatal hernia (which means that the muscle that closes the opening at the top of the stomach is loose and won’t seal properly) requires a barium swallow (ick).  It’s probably pretty hard to ask a toddler to explain the systems very well, so the doctor would have to have checked. — Ray Shea                 | "If we are to take the proposition that all men are Infosleuth Project       | born free and equal seriously, then we can’t very s…@mcc.com — MCC      | well ignore the implications." –Judge Taylor Wines, http://www.mcc.com/~shea | reversing a ban on interracial marriage, 1958

Response:

HI, I wonder if this is related to a reflux problem irritating their throats. My husband thought for years that he was susceptible to throat infections- but it really was related to the reflux problem.  It seems this would be consistent with both the coughing and the vomiting.   Lisa Howard Sage (s…@is.nyu.edu) wrote:

: R. Kerr (R.K…@ncl.ac.uk) wrote:  

Andrew Leniart

: The doctors are telling us that : nothing is

wrong, but surely a child coughing and vomiting in the

: evenings at odd

occasions is hardly normal behaviour?! Should we

: demand a refferal to

a specialist and if so, what type of specialist?

: < Cara has suffered a succession of colds and : <viral infections this year

and the development of evening/night

: sickness : seemed part of this. At first,

it simply looked as if one of these

: infections was causing her to cough to the

point of vomiting.

: We’re basically in the same situation. Alan, our 3 year, 10 month old, : every so often (five or six times since he was one) begins coughing about : one to two hours after he fallsasleep. Quite often this coughing is : followed by vomiting. After he vomits he seems to be better and falls off : to sleep for the remainder of the night. : At other times, not the same time as the evening coughing, he gets ear : infections, is given antibiotics, and seems well again. Since the ear : infection seems to predominate, we’ve never actually asked the : pediatrician about the coughing and vomiting. : I don’t have any advice or any more specific questions, just the same : confusion about what is the actual cause and possible remedy for the : coughing and vomiting. We have just started tallying exactly what he eats : on the evenings the coughing and vomiting occur and will see if we can : find a pattern. : I would appreciate any further feedback and advice, here and to our : mailbox, s…@is.nyu.edu. : Howard Sage — no sig

Response:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Andrew Leniart wrote:

If you have something on this topic you feel you might be able to contribute, PLEASE email your reply to "aleni…@netspace.net.au" If you elect to post your reply to this newsgroup, I may miss your reply so please also send a cc: (copy) of your reply to the Email address above. Your help or advice will be greatly appreciated. Many thanks for everyones time. Sincere regards, Andrew Leniart

I am not suggesting this to bypass what your doctor is telling you, but I have seen this same dilemma in our family. The problem is reflux.  It presents itself when the child lays down flat (expecially after anything to eat or drink).  The muscles that hold food in the stomach can be weak, causing what is in the stomach to "wash up" the throat into the mouth.  Also, the phlegm that your child has sounds familiar, too. The acid from the stomach burns the throat and the body reacts by creating alot of phlegm to protect the sensitive tissue.   The snoring could be from the phlegm in the back of the throat. One suggestion is to purchase a wedge for your child’s bed, or prop the bed (books under the feet of the headboard work quite well, too.)  This would be a simple, non-invasive way to test the theory. I purchases a foam wedge for my daughter’s bed and it works really well.  She rarely has the reflux now and her stuffiness and hoarse throat are much better. I didn’t receive much help from our general practitioner/pediatrician, rather, I got some good advice from my husband’s gastroenterologist (he had the same problem and had several ulcerations in his espohagus and upper tummy from the same problem).  Maybe it is genetic, maybe not. Hope this helps a little.  let me know . . . Rita

Response:

Could your child be allergic to dust mites?  Andrico has asthma and some mild allergies.  He often wakes up coughing and choking, and occasionally it leads to him vomiting.  Could there be something in your child’s room that he is allergic to?  When I was 17 my father sprayed pesticide in my room (we’d just bought the house and it was full of bugs), and I had a similar problem as a result.  Do you have new pain or carpeting or anything like that in his room that he could be reacting to? Andrea Baker

Response:

Andrew Leniart (aleni…@netspace.net.au) wrote:

Has anyone experienced anything similar to our problem with /thier/ two year old and would be willing to share their thoughts and experiences as to what the problem might be? I mean, what should we do? The doctors are telling us that nothing is wrong, but surely a child coughing and vomiting in the evenings at odd occasions is hardly normal behaviour?! Should we demand a refferal to a specialist and if so, what type of specialist?

Your child’s symptoms sound very similar to those of my 18-month granddaughter. In her case, things were confused by the fact that, like the rest of our family, Cara has suffered a succession of colds and viral infections this year and the development of evening/night sickness seemed part of this. At first, it simply looked as if one of these infections was causing her to cough to the point of vomiting. Like you, my daughter was shuffled around the medics, including an asthma clinic which said Cara was asthmatic. By this time my daughter had heard so many suggestions, including whooping cough, that she didn’t totally believe this and in total frustration demanded to see a paediatrician. She got an appointment very quickly and asthma was confirmed. Cara currently uses a nebuliser twice a day and at present everything looks fine. I would demand to see a paediatrician or asthma specialist. I am finding in the UK that our medical system is leaving more and more of the initiative to the patients, saying things like: "Well – what do you want us to do?" or "We’ll admit her to hospital if you like", instead of suggesting the best courses of investigation on the basis of their specialist knowledge. Good luck. Ron ————————————————————————   Ron Kerr, Computing Service, Newcastle University, NE1 7RU, England.  Tel. +44 191 222 8187       Fax. +44 191 222 8765  (NOTE new area code) ————————————————————————

Response:

R. Kerr (R.K…@ncl.ac.uk) wrote:  

Andrew Leniart

The doctors are telling us that nothing is

wrong, but surely a child coughing and vomiting in the

evenings at odd

occasions is hardly normal behaviour?! Should we

demand a refferal to

a specialist and if so, what type of specialist?

< Cara has suffered a succession of colds and <viral infections this year

and the development of evening/night

sickness seemed part of this. At first,

it simply looked as if one of these

infections was causing her to cough to the

point of vomiting.

We’re basically in the same situation. Alan, our 3 year, 10 month old, every so often (five or six times since he was one) begins coughing about one to two hours after he fallsasleep. Quite often this coughing is followed by vomiting. After he vomits he seems to be better and falls off to sleep for the remainder of the night. At other times, not the same time as the evening coughing, he gets ear infections, is given antibiotics, and seems well again. Since the ear infection seems to predominate, we’ve never actually asked the pediatrician about the coughing and vomiting. I don’t have any advice or any more specific questions, just the same confusion about what is the actual cause and possible remedy for the coughing and vomiting. We have just started tallying exactly what he eats on the evenings the coughing and vomiting occur and will see if we can find a pattern. I would appreciate any further feedback and advice, here and to our mailbox, s…@is.nyu.edu. Howard Sage

Response:

My daughter has this too!  She had it for many months about 18 months ago, now she has it again, she’s 3 yrs old.  Just like other posters said, she starts coughing about 1-2 hrs after going to sleep at night. A very, very dry hacking cough.  I’ve tried dozens of cough medicines, and allergy medicine.  The one that works best for me is Robitussin Pediatric, lasts 8 hrs. But PLEASE someone email me more about this!  We can’t figure out why it’s happening, if it’s really an allergy or what!  It’s agony for her, not to mention lack of sleep (for us all).  If we hold her upright, she sleeps fine, or prop her up in bed, with lots of pillows, the problem is she doesn’t stay propped up. Please email me  more info…thanks!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~ Christine M. Dakes       Mom to:                                  _ _ cda…@lucent.com        Devin Nicole  1/21/93 — "Princess"      0 0                          Zakary Joseph 3/5/95  – "Tiger Cub"   (  o  )                                                                   _/ …And we’re livin’ here in Allentown, PA                          ^   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~

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Hi, This is my first posting to these groups and I hope I’ve chosen appropriate ones. My apologies in advance if that’s not the case, but we could really use some advice here regarding our son as the problem is beginning to drive both my wife and I crazy with worry.. PLEASE, take the time to read this post and offer some advice if you think you can. We are near at wits end as to what to do next. We have a two year old son that has over the last few months been having problems with coughing and vomiting at night time. He occasionally suffers from mild asthma which we treat with Ventolin when necessary as per our doctors advice, otherwise throughout the day, he appears a typical two year old, happy, full of life and energy. How to explain? Well.. It goes like this. As bedtime approaches, the custom has become for him to lie down and have his evening bottle of Prosobee milk. (He eats a normal tea a few hours prior to bedtime and is quite a good and healthy eater – he’s an active child and enjoys his tucker). He’ll sometimes finish the whole bottle, other times not and then slowly drift off to sleep. That’s usually when the problems begin. He begins to cough and his nose seems to have flegm in it. This wakes him up and he becomes quite distressed. Still too young to blow his nose, we just comfort and lay him down again and he might fall asleep for another 10 minutes or so and then beginning coughing again. Sometimes, the coughing leads to him vomiting, other times it doesn’t. We have noticed that if he does vomit, then the problem seems to be solved for the rest of the night. On other occasions, he’ll begin coughing occasionally, (say one or two coughs every few minutes) even before he’s put down to go to sleep. This doesn’t appear to be an asthma related cough, as we have been shown by our doctor how to recognise an asthma cough by using a stethoscope to listen to his chest), rather it seems to be caused by a runny nose. Occasionally, a small dose of Demazin Syrup (Childrens decongestant plus Antihistimine) will help relieve this, other times it doesn’t seem to help at all. This is partly what is so frustrating – there is no reliable pattern to the problem. Tonight, he began coughing a little and we gave him 5ml of Demazin syrup which seemed to help and he fell asleep nicely. However at 2am, he awoke again coughing, crying and quite distressed. We took him to the lounge where the coughing persisted for about a half hour and then seemed to disappear. He fell asleep again in my wifes arms and is now again sleeping soundly in bed. I on the other hand can’t fall back asleep for the worry this is causing me. Another thing we’ve noticed is that he snores which I beleive is unusual for a child of his age? Countless trips to three seperate local doctors has left us none the wiser. Dozens of trips to three doctors local to our area over the last three months or so tell us that nothing appears to be wrong, but the problem with that is that during the day, nothing ever _is_ wrong. It’s only at night time that the problem rears it’s damn head. We’ve even gone to the extent of taking him to the local hospital during the evening when this has happened, but by the time a doctor get’s to see him, the symptoms have all but completely dispeared and we are left looking like over protective parents worrying over nothing. A pat on the shoulder by the physician on duty and a reasurrance that all is ok does little to relieve our anxieties when the following night the same thing happens all over again. <sigh

It’s been suggested to us that perhaps he may have an allergy to something because he’ll often rub his nose on these problem nights, but if that were the case, then why can he sometimes go and sleep for several nights without a single problem and then for no apparant reason, it all returns again for a while. We’ve changed nothing in the way of surroundings, so if it was an allergy, the problem should happen every night right? As you might be able to imagine, this is terribly worrying for us both. We also have an eight year old daughter who never displayed such problems when she was his age. My wife suffers from hayfever if that is of any relavence, but our son doesn’t appear to be affected by hayfever at all. I on the other hand am a cigarette smoker, however I try to make a habit of not smoking in the house to protect our children and take my habit outside when I do need to have a cigarette. Has anyone experienced anything similar to our problem with /thier/ two year old and would be willing to share their thoughts and experiences as to what the problem might be? I mean, what should we do? The doctors are telling us that nothing is wrong, but surely a child coughing and vomiting in the evenings at odd occasions is hardly normal behaviour?! Should we demand a refferal to a specialist and if so, what type of specialist? We live in Melbourne, Australia. Any ideas as to where we might begin to look for an answer to this problem would be greatfully appreciated. We are at a stage now where we are both getting terribly concerned with this strange type of behaviour by our son and are desperatly looking for advice as to what to do next. If you have something on this topic you feel you might be able to contribute, PLEASE email your reply to "aleni…@netspace.net.au" If you elect to post your reply to this newsgroup, I may miss your reply so please also send a cc: (copy) of your reply to the Email address above. Your help or advice will be greatly appreciated. Many thanks for everyones time. Sincere regards, Andrew Leniart

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