Kids and seasonal allergies............
 

Ashley's allergies are so bad this year, red itchy eyes, congestion, runny nose. Do any of your kids have spring allergies? What do you use for them. I've had her on Reactin for about a week and it doesn't seem to be helping, so i'm going to switch to Aerius. Do you guys have any suggestions/relief tips?

My kids had really bad allergies when we lived in Georgia. I gave them low doses of children's zyrtec (their pedi told me the doses) and it helped. They still sneezed and were stuffy, but it helped. I don't know if that would help your daughter though if she's already on allergy meds. I've got really bad allergies (all symptoms you described for your daughter) and I just deal with it after taking zyrtec. I noticed a difference when i'm not on the zyrtec, but being on it doesn't take all my symptoms away either, just lessens them. I feel for her. i hope you find something that works soon. Allergies suck :(

Essential Oils from Young Living seem to have lots of great results. The allergy trio is lavender, lemon and peppermint:

http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/23...00d10598b9.jpg

I've been researching this for my own allergies, and all the positive testimonies make me think this is something that could be good for my family.

Cheyanne seems to be outgrowing them thankfully but when she was younger she had them bad in the spring. We tried so many things from natural remedies to prescriptions, etc. and what finally worked was taking 1 over-the-counter loratadine tablet a day (they're about the size of a birth control pill - really small and easy to swallow). I take it year round since my allergies don't seem to prefer any particular season :glare:

My daughter takes Claritin from time to time. She also has a prescription nasal spray. I wondered about the nasal spray has steroids, but her allergy doctor said that he prefers the sprays because they are a local treatment, instead of a pill that circulates through your whole body.

I'll second Jacinda's suggestion. My husband has severe seasonal allergies and this season is the first time he's used the peppermint, lavender and lemon and he says it's the best thing he's ever done to fight them.

Thanks for all the info everyone!
Natalie or Jacinda.....How do you use the essential oils? Where do you purchase them from?

ditto...how do you use them? I would love to try this for my girls

I need to do this for myself. My allergies are HORRIBLE!!! So I'm interested as well.

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I had really bad allergies as a child and ended up having to do shots all through college. Then they finally went way down... now I get some problems, but usually Zyrtec is all I need.

With J - Benadryl to help the stuffy nose... but am, too interested in the oils... my dental hygienist was talking about it the other day - her son who is near J's age, has really bad allergies and she was defusing them and it was helping a ton... but I don't know what defusing means... :o

I'm pretty sure Mary Larson sells essential oils. She's posts about them a lot on facebook anyway.

DoTerra sells the three oils in a capsule so all you have to do is take it. That way you don't have to put the oils in a veggie capsule yourself.

https://nettrax.myvoffice.com/doterr..._US_WEB_v1.jpg

I can't seem to link to the specific product, but here's the Web site. It's under the New Products link.

Yes, I am huge into essential oils! Feel free to send me or Jacinda a PM about them or you can see lots of great info in graphics on my Facebook. I swear by the allergy trio!

https://www.facebook.com/mary.larson...7772285&type=3

I learnt about them from Mary, so definitely ask her any questions. I'm just starting my essential oil discovery, and there's a lot I still don't know. Mary, jump in and share your knowledge.

As for application of the oils, there are lots of options. You can diffuse, apply topically or ingest via capsule.

There are lots of different brands around. Just be sure to get 100% pure essential oils, otherwise you may get an inferior product and wonder why it doesn't work. Many who claim to be 100% are actually half full of filler oils. I know Young Living grows, harvests, produces and distributes their oils, so they can vouch for every step of the process, and guarantee that their product is 100% essential oil. (Disclaimer. I don't work for Young Living. This is just the info I've found during my research).

Diffusing gets the essential oil into the air (kind of like a vaporizer). You can get fancy things like this from Amazon:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...wL._SX522_.jpg


Or go the cheapy way with a candle diffuser:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/515TUaZytxL.jpg

Either way you are going to smell it. So if ya'll don't like smells....

And as far as taking essential oils...there are some that you can do this with and some you can't. You would need to know something about them before you decide to go swallowing them.....the person who is selling you them should be able to provide information on whether your oil would be appropriate for that. :)

You can only ingest 100% pure essential oils. You'll find a warning on oils you buy at health food stores saying not to do that. Young Living is the only brand that is actually 100% pure essential oils. Like Jacinda said, they have their own farms and a seed-to-seal process and guarantee.

You can also use them topically and aromatically. But you can't heat essential oils - it ruins the healing properties of them. You'll still smell them, but they won't be doing you any good.

I started with them because of my headaches and trouble sleeping and I had exhausted all regular remedies. I was eating Advil and Tylenol like candy and taking Benadryl or Tylenol PM every single night. Who knows how much damage all that has caused on my liver and whatever else. :o The oils have solved both of those problems plus a ton more, including allergies. My family rarely uses any kind of drugs anymore. :thumbup: And of course, then there is the help with stuff like anxiety and depression and other emotional issues. I so wish I had known about these when my boys were all younger!

Anyway, if you want to do some research on your own, there is a great website here with tons of testimonials. The company Young Living has been around for 20 years, so these testimonials go back several years. http://www.oil-testimonials.com/

And if anyone has any questions, just ask! If I don't know the answer, I'll find it. :)

Oh and I have 2 Pinterest boards with lots of info also if that's more your thing.
http://www.pinterest.com/maryinaz/yl...-healing-info/
http://www.pinterest.com/maryinaz/yl...ils-diy-ideas/

I use an herb called eyebright for Connor and Jacob ( I can't use it bc of my coumadin ) it's been a lifesaver ( literally ) for Jacob. He was on xyzal which is a pretty potent allergy med and he had more side effects than positives while using it. Anyway. I buy organic ground eyebright from starwest botanicals ( all other herbs I get from mountain rose ). And the vegan gel caps & prepare my own capsules for them. ( I have a little pill maker thing ). It works amazingly well. Connor takes 2 in the morning and 2 at night before bed. Sometimes on an awful day he takes another 2 mid afternoon. Jacob being a man and larger lol usually takes 4 every 4-6 hrs. His allergies are also way more severe than Connors so that impacts things too. Mom also uses eyebright for my father and brother. Obviously as it's an herbal remedy it might not be the best option for every single person ( ie it will make me bleed to death lol.) but doing your research and deciding if it's the right thing for your family never hurts ! I have found pre-made eyebright in a tiny alternative market nearby when we had an uh. Poorly planned empty bag of herbs :p but it's not organic and I don't really like using them on the boys. I feel much better controlling what goes into their body :] pharmaceuticals aren't for us in the allergy med department so this was a great alternative.