Allergic rhinitis is an extremely common chronic nasal mucosal congestion disease in children, usually seen after the age of 2. The main clinical symptoms include itchy nose, sneezing, runny nose, nasal congestion, nasal reflux, and sudden coughing at night. Unlike colds, allergic rhinitis usually strikes when the climate changes, when you wake up in the morning, or when there is dust in the air, but this phenomenon, which usually lasts only 10 to 20 minutes, may occur intermittently throughout the day.
Allergic rhinitis in children is a very common disease, and its incidence varies around the world. The incidence increases with the age of the child. Children can have symptoms of allergic rhinitis at about 1 year of age, and by about 6 years of age, these symptoms are significantly stronger, and 40% of patients are ready to make a diagnosis at this time. In fact, the symptoms of rhinitis in children are not as simple as parents may think. There are many different types of rhinitis, and the symptoms vary from one to another. There are many atypical symptoms of rhinitis in children, and below, I will talk about some science for the most common allergic rhinitis in children. This is thanks to my teacher, Professor Xu Pengfei of Beijing China-Japan Friendship Hospital, who has enabled me to learn so much.
Allergic rhinitis in children is a common disease in children. In addition to the chronic runny nose, itchy nose, congestion and sneezing that parents see, there are many lesser known atypical symptoms.
Nosebleeds
A large part of nosebleeds in children at the border of spring and summer seasons is due to allergic rhinitis attacks leading to itchy noses. In allergic rhinitis, the inflammation invades the local mucous membrane of the nasal cavity, resulting in increased capillary fragility. After dryness, the blood vessels dry up and crack or bleed easily after collision. The nasal cavity is rich in blood vessel distribution, and the capillaries in children’s nasal cavity are more fragile than those in adults, so they are more likely to bleed. The Little’s area of the nasal cavity is the most common site of nosebleeds in children.
Dark circles under the eyes
When it comes to dark circles under the eyes, most people think that the appearance of dark circles under the eyes in children is related to liver and kidney diseases, lack of sleep or poor nutrition. The truth may surprise many people, as the latest research proves that dark circles under the eyes of children are highly correlated with allergic rhinitis. After a child suffers from allergic rhinitis, the long-term allergy causes the child’s nasal turbinates to become enlarged. The enlarged turbinates will compress the pterygopalatine plexus, which further leads to the stasis of blood in the lid veins of the eyes and the veins at the corners of the eyes, so that a dark gray-blue ring appears under the eyes, which forms the dark circles we see.
Throat clearing
Many parents find that their children love to clear their throat or cough, especially when they wake up early in the morning or lie down to sleep at night it will suddenly appear, this is because the inflammation of the nose produces a lot of nasal snot, because the oscillation direction of the cilia in the nose is toward the back of the nasal cavity, so the snot will flow backwards to the back of the nose and throat, or even backwards to the vocal cords or trachea, unless the snot is a lot or relatively thin, then it will flow forward at the same time, so many children’s long-term cough is misdiagnosed and parents always think that their children have throat inflammation.
Sleeplessness
Many children do not sleep well and roll around all night, in addition to eating too much at night and poor digestion, very often, it is likely to be related to nose inflammation, nose inflammation will lead to nose blockage, the whistle is not smooth, so the child will keep rolling around.
Whistling
The child’s rhinitis, if repeated, will lead to adenoid hypertrophy behind the nose, adenoid hypertrophy will obstruct the smooth whistling of the respiratory tract, when the child opens his mouth to whistle, airflow through the pharyngeal cavity vibrates the uvula and soft palate, so he snores.
“Fake cold”
If your child has had a cold for more than 2 weeks and still hasn’t gotten better, and your child is always coughing and always feeling better, it is important to rule out the possibility of allergic rhinitis. If your child has intermittent headaches, runny nose, and low fever, you should consider that your child has sinusitis, which is more difficult to treat.
Hyperactivity and twitching
Many parents and even some doctors, when they see a child with ADHD and tics, always simply classify this as a mental illness of the child. In fact, these children often have a combination of allergic rhinitis, the child’s eyebrow squeezing, nose rubbing, throat clearing and other strange movements, and nose allergies have a lot to do with. At this time, the effect of taking anti-hyperactivity western medicine is not only unsatisfactory, but also may cause harm to the child’s body. From my experience in treating cases, when the child’s allergic rhinitis is treated, the child’s twitching and hyperactivity will be reduced.
Bad Breath
Some small children have bad breath, parents always think that the child’s spleen and stomach is not good, some of them are actually related to rhinitis, long-term rhinitis is not controlled, will cause sinusitis. Because of nasal congestion, long-term mouth whistling, resulting in a dry mouth, losing the original saliva to the oral cavity cleaning role; sinusitis produced by the purulent secretions flowing into the mouth or throat, will emit an unpleasant odor.
Frequent abdominal pain
In the clinic, I often see children with recurrent abdominal pain around the belly, and after many tests, only “large mesenteric lymph nodes” are found, which may be associated with rhinitis. Mesenteric lymphadenitis is often associated with recurrent colds. If allergic rhinitis is not taken seriously, recurring episodes of rhinitis can lead to colds, and the lymph nodes can then grow repeatedly, causing pain.
Teeth grinding
Teeth grinding. Why do children with rhinitis love to grind their teeth in the middle of the night? Because snot flows backwards into the throat, and when something flows through the throat, the body mistakes it for food, so there is a chewing reflex, and that is gagging.
High fever does not go away
When a child has a high fever, often over 40 degrees, and many other children have a combination of febrile convulsions, be careful of the presence of sinusitis in your child. Because of the large sinus opening in children, the sinus cavity is not fully developed gasification, nasal cavity, narrow nasal passage, mucous membrane and nasal cavity connected, and the mucous membrane in the blood vessels and lymphatic vessels are rich, the occurrence of infection easy to cause sinus drainage ventilation dysfunction, secretion retention, pathogenic bacteria multiply. The sinuses are deeper and the infection is not easy to control, and the concentration of drugs entering the sinuses after oral medication is not enough, which is why many children have poor oral antibiotics and have to be given fluids to reduce the effect of fever.
Constipation
Many children with allergic rhinitis also have constipation, taking a lot of drugs, eating and drinking a lot of water, but the effect is still poor. In fact, the root cause is caused by allergies.
Having said that, parents know something about their children’s rhinitis. I hope that my article will not lead you into another misunderstanding. What I want to say is that the human body is a whole, never forget that. Nowadays, the departments in big hospitals are getting more and more detailed, so if you just treat the headache and the foot, you will often assist the doctor to misdiagnose.
If your child really has rhinitis, you can’t simply judge it from the symptoms I mentioned, but parents must bring their children to the hospital for a specialist examination. The doctor will give you a correct diagnosis with the help of rhinoscopes, endoscopes and other instruments, combined with the specific circumstances of the child.