How allergic can you be?

I knew that hubby was allergic.  We did testing on him and he had 80 drops put on his test during a scratch test.  60something reacted and 44 of those were HIGHLY allergic.

Well big boy is no different.  He had a smaller panel, but it appears he's allergic to the air.

The bottom left is grass.  GRASS.  Poor buddy :(

Getting oily

So, the last post was about our first experience with the big three:  lavender, peppermint, and lemon.

There is one amazing thing that I CAN attribute to the lavender: skin.  Big boy scratches himself in his sleep and creates sores that he picks.  I know.  uber gross.  He looks awful.  I began directly applying lavender to his sores.  They are healing faster than any other ointment or steroid cream I've tried.  For this reason alone, we will keep lavender in the house.

As I mentioned, hubby also has debilitating allergies.  He will be down for days.  Since we have moved into this new house though, his asthma is horrible too.  He can't move because he can't breathe.  We are outdoorsy people so this kills him.  I try to be understanding, but it can be frustrating.

I told him to go ahead and start but he said, "I'm fine!  I don't need anything!" blah blah blah.

After a couple of days though, he changed his tune.

*I need to add here that neither one of us were super smart.  We have been working on a wood project, a beautiful chair.  It's made of cedar.  Which, we didn't really think about until Sunday afternoon after he had worked on it for an hour.  oops.  Can you say asthma??

I had also ordered RC from Young Living, which is for congestion and it had also said it might be good for asthma.  I also started him on the big three mix.

Long story short:  It wasn't immediate for him.  I used RC on his chest about once an hour for most of the early evening.  He also still had to use the nebulizer and an inhaler.  I went ahead and told him to continue with the big three.  He was still a mess by bed time.

The next morning he woke up, and he only had a stuffy nose.  huh.  There is really no way of knowing what caused this to happen.  Our only other reference point this season was the last time this happened it was days of the coughing.  This time, only two.  And the day after the RC, it's gone.  I don't have any scientific way to explain or figure this out.  But, it is better than it was.  Hubby took a roll-on of the big 3 with him on his trip this time in hopes that we can keep things at bay from now on.

I have since ordered Vetiver, Frankincense and tee tree oil.  I'm certainly interested in the Vetiver for ADHD and can't wait til this afternoon when it arrives.  I'll let you know!

I didn't think I liked granola

That's probably offensive to some isn't it.

Restated:  I wasn't sure I believed in all the "natural, organic" stuff.

Til now.

I may or may not have mentioned that oldest monkey has SEVERE allergies.  They are debilitating.  He can not spend any time outside in the spring without eyes that itch so bad he can't keep them open, a nose that runs AND is stuffed up and just feeling plain miserable. The last six months, in addition to all that, he has been having some pretty severe asthma attacks.   Hubby is the same way.  Spring and fall are brutal around here.

What to do?  I sent both to the allergist and $700 later hubby is set up with allergy drops instead of shots and I've made another $700 appointment for the monkey to get allergy testing which will tell me what I already know:  he and his dad are allergic to the air!  This is the loot they came home with from that appointment:

I took the plunge a few weeks ago and added omega 3 to the monkey's daily routine in hopes of finding something that will keep his ADHD meds last longer, and I think it's helping.  I do think he's more aware of his surroundings and people.  Of course, this could be in direct line with our independence training at home too.

After yet another week of horrible allergies, his showing up at my bedside at 2:00 AM three nights in a row because his itchy eyes woke him up and way too many asthma attacks, and not going to recess for a week, someone asked if I were trying essential oils.  I said no while secretly thinking they were bonkers.  Crazy people.

I realized I had no other options and I'm taking the "won't hurt, might help" approach to most things these days.  So off I went to research essential oils.  Man, there is a LOT of stuff out there.  But I did find many many people's stories and lots of recipes for allergies and thought it was worth a go,

I chose to order Lavender, Lemon and Peppermint, Young Living brand.  I can't really tell you why I settled on this brand but I did.  I was not pleased with the price, and will be looking into other brands later.

The first to arrive were Lemon and Peppermint.  I had done my research and knew that you must use a carrier oil for peppermint, as it's a "hot oil" meaning that it could hurt the skin if applied by itself.  I mixed a couple of drops into a tsp of olive oil and put it on my monkey's chest.  He LOVED it. He loves mint anyway, so this was an added bonus!

*I need to add here that many times asthmatic coughs are wheezy since the airways are so constricted and tense.  Littlest monkey can have a cough like this but after several breathing treatments, it loosens up and becomes "wet", which is good.  That means stuff is moving around and things are open.  Oldest Monkey NEVER gets this cough.  He never loosens up.

I didn't have the lavender yet, so this was all I could try.  I hit him again in the morning and sent him to school.  When he got home that afternoon, his cough was wet.  He was open.  No wheezing.  But I realized that I had ALSO started the new inhaler and asthma med so I really didn't know if it was helping or not.

Then, the lavender arrived.  He actually didn't mind the smell, nor did I for that matter.  I mixed them up and hit the kids.  Not literally people.

I used the mix on the kids each night before bed and then in the morning before school.  I put it on their feet and put socks on.  They found it hilarious and didn't mind at all.

After about 24 hours, I noticed that neither one of them had a stuffy or runny nose.  At all.  Weird.  And the littlest one has had NO allergy meds in over a week.

I kept it up for a few days and felt very confident they were working, but still wasn't quite sure about the older one.  I didn't really know if it were the asthma meds or not.

Speed ahead to last Thursday.  We were now within our 5 day range of no antihistamines before testing.  I have been worried about this since we are at the height of pollen season.  I stopped all oils and antihistamines on the oldest one.

Result:  His breathing stayed the same, but his stuffy nose and itchy eyes came back.  Again, I really think they were effective.

So, we will continue with the three oils for the boys.  Today is allergy testing and he is so excited to have his oils back.  He said, "mommy, thanks for getting those so I don't have to take medicine!"

Next installment:  How Hubby took to them :)