A few dates ago, we told you how to know if your child has an allergy to something. We have already explained the complexity of this phenomenon that affects the health of so many people, many children among them. Due to its diversity in origin and symptoms , and also because some of these are shared with other pathologies, it is not easy to detect in many cases. And neither is it to treat. At least there is no one way to do it. Allergy treatment can even be distinguished in several different stages or phases, both in adults and in children.
Before detailing which are these different ways to treat allergy, which we already announced will depend on various factors, such as the type of allergy, the symptoms and the clinical history of each patient, we insist as always in these cases on the importance of do not take a step as a mother or father without the indication of a qualified health professional to do so.
If there are allergy symptoms in your child , whether they are abrupt and punctual or continued for a long time, go to the pediatrician to analyze whether it is due to an allergy or another health problem. Moreover, it is very likely that he will refer you to the allergist to make the diagnosis at home of being an allergy. There is also the figure of the pediatric allergist, a specialty regulated by various organizations that in Spain values, among others, one of the best sources of reference to expand knowledge about childhood allergy – with the protocols of the Spanish Association of Pediatrics is another very good source about it.
Beyond medication
That said, once the allergy is diagnosed. We repeat, once medically diagnosed, you can begin the treatment prescribed by the specialist. We said previously that there are different levels of action because there is a previous step that is common to all cases of allergies -except for food allergies because they are so particular that it is obvious which is the first firewall: eliminating from the diet what causes them- and does not entail the use of specific medications or treatments. They are simply environmental control measures that will improve the quality of life of the child with the allergy.
Among these measures are hygiene and cleanliness in the home environment . Avoid the accumulation of dust and dirt in the room, keep the inside of the cabinets clean, ventilate the house often, wash clothes at high temperatures , avoid wool from blankets or feathers, also carpets and rugs to the extent If possible, and even protect the mattress with an anti-mite cover, avoid a lot of accumulation of plants, in addition to choosing an optimal material for bedding, are some of the very efficient measures that can be taken if the child suffers from allergies. In this text of the Galician Health Service, all of them are very well detailed.
They are especially necessary if this is to the, but in general they work very well in all cases in which a person who suffers from allergies of another type resides in the house because they are generally hypersensitive also to mites. In addition, to these should be added personal hygiene measures such as always having them and carrying physiological saline, because it usually relieves a lot in case of irritation.
The best treatment
Along with these measures that do not really require a diagnosis to be put into action if there is already a suspicion that the child is allergic, the doctor will determine the treatment that will be most effective to treat the allergy. Basically, there are three clinical options to combat allergies that are applicable to children: pharmacological, vaccines and immunotherapy .
Within the first, both decongestants could be prescribed, whose drawback is that they can lead to excess stimulation in the patient, and the famous antihistamines , which in most cases tend to the opposite, to generate a lot of sleep in those who use them. ingest. The former are usually applied by drops or sprays and the latter are sold in capsule format, although there are child-friendly formats in the form of syrup and also a chewable tablet. In any case, the pediatrician will specify and prescribe the most appropriate. They should not be administered without prior medical advice.
On the other hand, there is the possibility of recommending it, which in any case can be applied as a treatment after undergoing in-depth tests to detect what causes allergic reactions. By injecting small extracts of allergens that, based on the experience provided by the family and the child and the medical considerations, will be one or the other, it is possible to know what causes the allergy. They can be one or more, and based on which ones you want to treat, so will the prescribed vaccine. Years ago it was used to bet on a more generic one, but nowadays it usually chooses to attack an allergen with each type of vaccine. For this reason, it is usually prioritized to treat that allergy that is either the most powerful in the child or the one that causes the most problems in their day-to-day life because they are in regular contact with what causes it.
Other options: immunotherapy
Finally, immunotherapy has gained strength in the last decade, which according to words taken from this article specialized in this technique, consists of “the administration, subcutaneously or sublingually, of high doses of the allergen identified as the cause of allergic disease with in order to ensure that, after subsequent natural contact with this allergen, the clinical symptoms that the patient had do not appear and, therefore, tolerance to it is achieved ”.
According to this same publication, specific immunotherapy -ITE- is very effective in children, and can be applied “provided that it is demonstrated and documented that the symptoms are due to specific allergens”, since it has been shown that “it prevents new sensitizations, reduces the progression from rhinitis to asthma and contributes to the remission of the disease by achieving allergen tolerance ”. Again, as in the two previous cases, it must be the pediatrician and the allergist who set the standard for the treatment of each patient.
It is not about choosing as parents the one we consider best based on what we have read, but about knowing what the available options are and thus being able to understand why the specialist has opted for one or the other in the specific case of our child.
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