De-medicate

Today is day one of Alex's de-medication process. For the past six or seven months (I've lost count to be honest) Alex has had to be on three different medications to control is asthma, allergies, and allergic rhinitis. When spring his last year, he started getting a very bad asthma cough and it happened the worst at night. Which, according to the doctor, means bad dust allergy. But during the day, he was a disaster due to pollen and all the happy joy-joyness of springtime. So seeing as how it is now winter, and the first frost has (should have) killed off the outside allergens, we have been told to try and get him off of his allergen meds. Now, in order to do this, I have been in psycho cleaning mode. I just bought his mattress allergen-proof cover and done all the possible cleaning I could possibly do to prepare for this. About two weeks ago, I took him off of Nasonex. I was nervous, but it turned out great! No sniffing or nose rubbing since. Woo-hoo! One med down. The big one I want to get him off of is Claritin. It's literally been in his system for well over six months straight and I have no idea how he is going to react without it. Last night I got up the courage to skip it. It has now been almost 24 hours without it and I am pleased to say that day one is a success. So far there are no sneezes, no sniffles, and no nose rubbing. Now, I have no idea how long it takes to get the effects of the drug completely out of your system. So if you by chance read this blog and know anything about allergies and meds like Claritin, feel free to comment and give me your take on how long it took to get it out of your system. I'd be delighted to hear what you have to say. Otherwise, this is going to take some prayer and patience. I am hoping that he is going to do well for a few months until pollen season jumps back into high gear. It would be nice to not have him so medicated for awhile. He will remain on his controller medicine, Pulmicort respules, until who knows when. I can only pray to God that his asthma gets better and that one day he won't have to be on any medications at all. Until then, please keep Alex in your prayers in this situation. And if you have a spare prayer for me, I'd appreciate it too. Sometimes his health issues can weigh very heavily on my heart and nerves.