Treatment Strategies

Some parents see such changes in their children once treatments are in place that they decide that their child is better. However, it is a mistake to then stop giving the medications and treatments that have been prescribed. 

Improvements are seen because the treatment prevents the allergy symptoms from starting, or reduces the severity of the symptoms. Stopping treatments without the help of your GP, or specialist, can cause a sudden escalation in symptoms.

The treatments for allergy are usually very straightforward, safe and effective. If your child has been diagnosed with an allergy they may be prescribed one of the following common treatments:

• antihistamines
• emollients / moisturising creams
• steroids
• adrenaline

Other allergy treatments include:

• antibiotics
• immunotherapy
• cromoglicate
• anti-leukotrienes
• anti-IgE drugs
• Calcineurin inhibitors

Medications and treatments help to control the symptoms of allergy rather than cure the underlying allergy itself. However, allergy can be an unpredictable condition, and sometimes treatments become less effective over time. This can be due to a change in the nature of a child's condition, or because as they have grown they need an increased dose or a different medication because their symptoms have changed.

Treatment regimes can take time to become established and the routine and medications your child has been prescribed can also take time to take effect. Remember to write positive and negative changes in symptoms in a symptom / treatment diary.

Always follow the medical advice about treating your child's allergies and do not stop prescribed medications without appropriate medical advice. Even when medication seems to be controlling symptoms it is not advisable to stop the medication without first checking with your GP, or to follow other prescribed or self-medicating instructions.

It is also an important part of managing your child's treatment that they understand their conditions and why the treatments are important. Chatting and talking to your child about their symptoms and treatments could lead them to have an increased ability to manage their symptoms themselves as they get older.

Reviewing Treatments

• It is important for children’s medicines to be reviewed at regular intervals because their bodies are growing and changing.
• Rapid growth and development may mean that a treatment which was working previously suddenly becomes less effective, and symptoms may return or increase.
• A child may need a higher dose, or a different kind of medication or treatment, as they get older and bigger in order to keep symptoms controlled effectively, and enable them to enjoy their childhood.
• GPs, allergy specialists, allergy nurses, practice nurses and health visitors are all there to help you understand and maintain treatments; they will also monitor and review your child’s treatment.
• Talk to these people so that medication and treatment options can be kept going, adapted or changed if necessary; this will lead to your child having a happy childhood where the effects of allergic conditions are kept to the minimum.
• As well as making sure that children are given their treatments, you should always make sure that medications are reviewed at regular intervals. Ask your doctor how often this should be.