Anyone Know Of An Allergy Specialist In Bangkok?

[BuddhistDruid]

Does anyone know of an allergy specialist in Bangkok?

My 4 month old daughter is having extreme difficulty breathing. It has been going on for about 2 months, but is getting steadily worse. We have already changed her formula to a hypo allergenic soy based one, we have gotten rid of the dogs and cleaned the house from top to bottom. Still no luck. It does not appear to be a cold or flu because it has been going on for weeks, there is no fever, and the mucus stays clear and runny.

We just don't know what else to try. The doctors haven't been much help so far either.

Any recommendations? We've been to several different hospitals so far with no luck. I really want to find someone who can help us get this thing fixed.

[bina]

your daughter was a preemie ? or im mixing u up with someone else; either way, she needs a pulmonary specialist and cardiologist as well as allergy checks... difficulty breathing is a broad term:

asthma? heart problems? ear nose and throat problems? what meds up til now? steroids? ventolin? inhalations? (machine, mask and the drugs put in the machine, dont know what its called in english)(nebulizer?)...; tonsil polyps problems>

btw, soy is not hypoallergenic. some children respond badly to soy products...

[BuddhistDruid]

your daughter was a preemie ? or im mixing u up with someone else; either way, she needs a pulmonary specialist and cardiologist as well as allergy checks... difficulty breathing is a broad term:

asthma? heart problems? ear nose and throat problems? what meds up til now? steroids? ventolin? inhalations? (machine, mask and the drugs put in the machine, dont know what its called in english)(nebulizer?)...; tonsil polyps problems>

btw, soy is not hypoallergenic. some children respond badly to soy products...

Thanks for your response Bina.

The formula we tried was specifically labelled hypo allergenic, available only at Tops and specified by the hospital, thus my desire to clarify it as a hypo allergenic formulation, rather than simply a normal soy based brand. You remember correctly that my daughter was premature, but her early days were never serious (I can say that now....I was scared then.) She was on CPAP for a couple of days during her early period at the NICU and then after that no issues at all. She has actually been amazingly healthy for an 8 week preemie. We have certainly explained her medical history to all the doctors we have visited, and none of them have yet indicated they thought this was anything more than an allergy after examining her.

Aside from the difficulty she has breathing due to all the mucus, and this becomes particularly difficult during feeding when she has to try and suck and breath at the same time, she is otherwise healthy. I do want to clarify the problem is with the mucus in her nose and her throat clogging her sinuses. It isn't really trouble breathing per se.

She has had no drugs at all during her short life aside from the standard issue children's cough suppressant and decongestant we gave her when we believed this might have simply been a cold.

I'm still back to what else to try though. I can go back to the same round of hospitals again, but I'm simply going to be told the same thing, so it doesn't seem like a particularly fruitful endeavour. I'm really looking for someone who has experience with this kind of problem (more than just your standard pediatrician) and can help us find out for sure what is causing it. If it does turn out to be something more serious than allergies, then I would hope they could tell us that as well and send us to the correct place.

Any advice appreciated.

[bina]

your daughter was a preemie ? or im mixing u up with someone else; either way, she needs a pulmonary specialist and cardiologist as well as allergy checks... difficulty breathing is a broad term:

asthma? heart problems? ear nose and throat problems? what meds up til now? steroids? ventolin? inhalations? (machine, mask and the drugs put in the machine, dont know what its called in english)(nebulizer?)...; tonsil polyps problems>

btw, soy is not hypoallergenic. some children respond badly to soy products...

Thanks for your response Bina.

The formula we tried was specifically labelled hypo allergenic, available only at Tops and specified by the hospital, thus my desire to clarify it as a hypo allergenic formulation, rather than simply a normal soy based brand. You remember correctly that my daughter was premature, but her early days were never serious (I can say that now....I was scared then.) She was on CPAP for a couple of days during her early period at the NICU and then after that no issues at all. She has actually been amazingly healthy for an 8 week preemie. We have certainly explained her medical history to all the doctors we have visited, and none of them have yet indicated they thought this was anything more than an allergy after examining her.

Aside from the difficulty she has breathing due to all the mucus, and this becomes particularly difficult during feeding when she has to try and suck and breath at the same time, she is otherwise healthy. I do want to clarify the problem is with the mucus in her nose and her throat clogging her sinuses. It isn't really trouble breathing per se.

She has had no drugs at all during her short life aside from the standard issue children's cough suppressant and decongestant we gave her when we believed this might have simply been a cold.

I'm still back to what else to try though. I can go back to the same round of hospitals again, but I'm simply going to be told the same thing, so it doesn't seem like a particularly fruitful endeavour. I'm really looking for someone who has experience with this kind of problem (more than just your standard pediatrician) and can help us find out for sure what is causing it. If it does turn out to be something more serious than allergies, then I would hope they could tell us that as well and send us to the correct place.

Any advice appreciated.

ok, clarified.

my comments are personally related: daughter now 16 yrs old, still allergic (to water on skin, to horses, to all sorts of wierd things, asthmatic but on a low key level, has gone thru various meds. has been to both an allergest and lung specialist (they are door to door at the med facility, we are on social medicine here). has suffered horribly from mucous enough that she was checked for CF which runs in certain jewish family backgrounds as a genetic problem. (funnily enough son for similar reasons different circimstances was also put on CF follow up at one time and is just chronic but low grade asthma and suffers from mucous...)

as a baby it interfered with her breast feeding as she had to stop to breathe and then feed again. eating and swallowing baby foods the same-- small amounts, time to breathe through mouth and then feed again and as a young toddler and child, she was the one with contstant running gooey green mucousy nose. we still go thru much more toilet paper then otehr families (forget tissues, too expensive)...

also atopic skin problems (excema). she is also blond and blue eyed (super allergic profile, both biological parents we are allergic also).

we went homeopathic for half a year as a small child (french homeopathic, based on doctor recommendations.) did the no milk thing for half a year in pre kindergarten age(no real changes);tried the various no gluten, blabla bla diets.

she was given daily meds of many different types all the various recommended for use with pediatric from the states and approved by israel medicine (from sudafed to all the other one spoon full daily/one pill daily of anti allergy rhinitis meds-- she learned to swallow pills early)

the main instigator to her asthma was the build up of mucous, also causing her nausea and vomiting up the mucous as a child and even sometimes now, although she now knows how to get that shit out of her throat in a more decorous fashion. also suffers sinus headaches and ear aches due to fluids in ears and sinus caviites... but has never needed 'buttons' or other things. we have enough skull xrays to provide several students with pics of cranial cavities.

but still, rarely sick with actual childhood diseases/ear infections, no strep throats, etc... she did have pertussis at age 12 which masked itself a sa a sevaere asthma attack... even though she'd been vaccinated like everyone here.

mucous . we used saline solotion spray for nose (here its very dry so helps mucous membranes stay healthy); loratadine (lorastine) was started as soon as it was approved for her age although she only uses it during really bad seasons. ventolin and inhalations as she needs. buticort inhalor as needed. we tried various nasal sprays but she has an asthetic problem with that (grosses her out so wont cooperate so no patient compliance there she'd rather suffer ....

still horribly mucoused and some days affects her nite sleep . as a child it seemed she often sounded like choking on phlegm at night. she has learned herself what htings bother and what doesnt before she goes to sleep . (no yogurts, milk, ice cream , and some other things)

as a baby, it was horrible. she puked a lot just from mucous build up and as a result coughin up phlegm and dinner. half of her child hood pics she is with a running snotty nose usually with some infection starting due to the constant rubbing of nose. during performances and plays at shcool her pictures have her as one hand to snotty nose.

been thru lots of docs here and everyone said same thing: keep trying different things until u find something that works, then use it. and that might change with time. is now being tested for sleep problems due to snoring although ear/nose/throat doc seems to feel that things are fairly normal. at various times she has had cultures from phlegm and snot with no real id as to flora/fauna.

she still suffers horrible mucous build up when with a cold/flue which also aggravates her asthma. ive tried menthol drops, lozenges, oils... steam vaporizers/cold air vaporizers . we cant use A/C as that immediately aggravates her mucous secretions as does school class room heating/A/C... her chest fills with phlegm also, so sometimes she gets inhalations of saline and sometimes mixed with expectorant all though that seems like a bs medicine to me; doesnt seem very effective. thyme tea as an herbal remedy actually seems to help but tasts awful. get a toddler to drink that.

the point of all this: as they get older, their nasal passage ways open up more, as do their ear tubes etc... its hit or miss with medications and how much u want to use meds. how much all that runny gooey green snot bothers the child or causes other illnesses. the constant irritiation can also cause potential problems to nasal passages being constantly inflamed but we've found no real solutions neither here nor with ideas from my american sister's medical suggestions she got from their family docs/allergenists.

(small doses of prophalctic antibiotics, causing my daughter other minor but uncomfortable health problems and fairly useless in the long run) my duaghter still sleeps with two or three pillows, window open all year round; travels to sleep overs, etc with own pillow and tissue supply... is now again refusing to use meds apart from the as needed asthma meds; and stil is blowing her nose and suffering from huge amounts of mucous build up in nose and throat...

son is similar but is mouth breather... much less runny nose though.

so while i have no new ideas i thought i'd share with u m experience. on kibbutz here my duagher and her gooey green snot and huge amount of toilet tissues (she can use a roll or so a day with her nose) are part and parcel with her identity. (a. always always has tissues in her purse/backpack etc... she snores at night so hard to sleep with her in tent!, A. the red nosed reindeer...) we havent as yet found a solution and doctors cant give us one either. doesnt affect her socially as she's learned to wipe her nose. as a child it did cause her embarrassment though.

have run the gamut of no carpets/molds/mildews/curtains/furry stuffed animals/no perfumes scented items, flowers in the house etc in room to the 'nothing makes a different anyhow' method. we ahve three dogs. her room , well, as a teenager, u cant find the floor. and of course all her darn tissues under pillow on floor etc... the only thing that i did change is take her out of horseback riding. although she loved it, it caused a 500% increase in snot,phlegm in huge quantities, and also severe acute asthma reactions that stayed for days after, so we decided that the better part of valour is to give that sport up. cats usd to cause same problem but she seems to have desensitized herself. she uses horrible perfumed deoderants that cause us to sneeze and probably cause her to get the usual increase in runny nose.

forgot. because huge amounts of moisture are lost this way, the docs all agreed on one thing (especially in our desert environment). must increase fluid intake i.e. water and nasal saline spray can help too.

not any suggestions for u but to put in perspective. no real help but, as u can see, been there, done that, for 16 yrs!!!.... forgot, we used to put towels under her mattress to make one end higher up a bit since as baby no pillows are used.

good luck, bina

israel