What Else Can You Do To Help Detect Why Your Child Is Ill? Watch for a sudden: Decrease in ability to breathe. Increase in pulse. Change in your child's ability to write. Change in your child's ability to draw. Craving for certain foods near menstruation in older girls. HOW DO YOU CHECK YOUR CHILD'S BREATHING IF ASTHMA IS A PROBLEM? Children or adults who have asthma should use a Peak Flow Meter (PFM). This is an inexpensive plastic breathing tube which measures the ability to blow air from the lungs. It is used to detect if a meal, room, or exposure repeatedly causes a drop in a child's ability to breathe. A sudden drop of 30 or more points is often significant. For example, your child may routinely breathe 250 just before bed and 175 in the morning. This suggests that something in the bedroom or something your child ate at bedtime might be a factor related to that decrease in ability to breathe well. Measure the air flow before and 15 minutes after each meal, exposure or contact. Notice changes in breathing: In different locations (bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, basement, stores, inside versus outside the home, in school versus at home, in mom's versus dad's car, at friend's homes, etc.) Before and after meals, especially after eating suspect foods or on each day of a four day rotation diet. Before and after use of any drugs or medicines. Before and after the use of allergy extract therapy. Before or after certain chemical exposures, i.e. tobacco, perfume, cleaning products. HOW DO YOU CHECK YOUR CHILD'S PULSE? Ask a nurse or your doctor to teach you how to take your child's or your own pulse. It is not unusual for the pulse to increase by 20 points or more shortly after exposure to some item to which a sensitivity exists. The pulse acts like a silent smoke alarm. If the pulse is about 80 before a meal and fifteen minutes later, when your child is quiet, it has increased to 100, this could indicate that one of the foods just eaten is causing an alarm reaction in the body. Check each of the possible suspect foods separately at a four-day interval and you often can quickly detect which food not only raises the pulse, but probably also causes some other symptoms that you did not realize could be due to a food. At time, foods, contacts, or odors cause tight joints, an irregular heart beat, or an elevation in blood pressure. If hypertension is a problem, similar blood pressure records might be most helpful. HOW DO YOU CHECK YOUR CHILD'S WRITING AND DRAWING? Notice if your child writes or draws well or within the lines one day or in one class but consistently writes upside down, large, sloppily, or in mirror images at other times. Some children are able to do well in the morning, but their school work can deteriorate as the day progresses. Others are worse after lunch or art class. Ask why. Maybe a food, dust, pollen, mold, a teacher's perfume, tobacco smoke, a cleaning substance, or some odor from some classroom is causing this problem. NOTE: If changes in writing or drawing are associated with significant pulse or breathing changes, dark eye circles, red earlobes, wiggly legs, or changes in personality and behavior, you may have found a significant clue which can help your child to learn or feel better. What was eaten, touched, or smelled just before the change? If the pulse goes up and the breathing ability repeatedly goes down after some contact, check with a doctor. This strongly suggests you have found a cause of a medical illness or "made a connection." In particular, note if any of the above changes consistently recur on moldy damp days or when your child is in a damp area or home. Mold allergies can drastically affect how some children feel, act, and learn. Moldy homes often are one of the major causes of chronic asthma. FEMALES SHOULD WATCH FOR HORMONE-RELATED PROBLEMS.. Females often crave the foods to which they are most sensitive premenstrually. The combination of hormonal changes and problem foods can alter the normally lovely disposition and well-being of some older girls and women. Appropriate treatment often helps. WATCH FOR UNSUSPECTED YEAST PROBLEMS If your child has had many infections and needed repeated antibiotics, look for: A white coated tongue. Smelly hair or feet (in spite of washing). A red ring around the anus or rectum. Genital touching in young children. A bloated abdomen. These clues often point to a possible overgrowth of yeast due to the excess need for antibiotics in the past. This problem often responds quickly to yeast therapy. CHECK YOUR CHILD'S LEVEL OF VITAMINS, TRACE METALS, MINERALS, AND ESSENTIAL FATTY ACIDS Some studies indicate that the intelligence and scholastic performance of some children can increase if they are given appropriate nutritional supplements. Improved nutrition can aid the immune system to function better and this in turn, should help to diminish the tendency to develop allergies. Next: What You Can Do After. BACK TO: Allergies and Chemical Sensitivities..