Relief is on the way!

So, if you remember, at Thanksgiving Tyler had a major allergic reaction to something he ate, which we thought was maybe some kind of tree nut. Also, his whole life he's gotten strep throat and ear infections quite often and within the last year or so he seemed to be congested A LOT, especially when he would sleep at night. He always needs to have his pillow inclined so he can sleep better. Well, near Christmas we started noticing a loss of hearing from him, so we took him in and they said his ears had fluid in them and they had started looking red again. So he got on antibiotics and we set up an appt. with an ENT specialist. He went last week and the doctor said he definitely had lots of fluid in his ears and needed tubes again. I talked to him about Tyler's allergic reaction, so he referred us to an allergist.

Good thing we went because we found out that Tyler is allergic to dust mites, which is probably why he has such a hard time sleeping at night, cockroaches (huh???? I guess they are similar to dust mites), Brazilian nuts, hazel nuts, and a mold called Alternaria, which is spread around from March to November, especially during harvest time. The allergist said a lot of his congestion in his ears probably have come from his allergies, so by addressing all those issues, hopefully Tyler can start feeling more normal again! I bought a zip cover for his mattress, box spring and pillow that keeps dust mites out and washed all his sheets really well. He also gets a nasal spray at night now, so I am hoping to see some results soon.

When the doctor went to put tubes in his ears, he said he pulled out a bunch of glue-like stuff that must have been fluid that had been in there for a long time. YUCK! I'm sure a lot of it was because of his allergies making him just collect lots of fluid and congestion for a long time and so it just started to harden! When we go to my in-laws he would have some sort of allergic reaction now and then, which could have been b/c they live in front of a field, or because they had furniture and such that could have had lots of dust mites in them. They have fairly new carpet and new furniture now, so that might help out. It all makes sense now and I just feel so bad for Tyler having had to suffer all those years for something that could have been addressed, but we didn't really understand it or know the true cause of it. Hopefully we got to the bottom of all the problems and he can start feeling much better soon!

Both doctors were SO nice and helpful and I am just grateful for people like that who go into the medical profession to help others improve their health. I learned a lot in the past couple days and feel much more informed.