He Doesn't Need More Sleep

For a very long time I was sure my our younger son, dubbed Linus, wasn't getting enough sleep. He would go to bed at a decent hour, wake up at a good hour, but he always looked tired, always. Oh, he would run around, be the little wild man we fondly referred to as "ramrod, wreckage, and ruin" (if you don't know John Wayne well, you won't get that reference). But he always looked tired in the eyes.

One day, as I was browsing the Internet determined to help him sleep better, I looked up and noticed the term "allergy shiners". What? Crazy people. But, the more I looked the more I saw picture after picture that looked like my son.

Photo Credit

Photo Credit

Photo Credit

I also noticed something else. The cute little extra wrinkles he had under his eyes were a symptom. I decided to start with our doctor. I like Google, I am a researcher by nature, but I also am not Dr. Google and wanted some more facts to back this up. Seems even the most traditional of doctors recognize this symptom, though often they don't speak up until the parent asks about it.

I will stop right here. If, by some weird chance, a doctor reads this ... SPEAK UP! We want you to. We don't want our kids to suffer for no reason. Mention it, even if the appointment isn't anything about the shiners. MENTION IT! 

OK, off my soapbox. 

We did traditional allergy testing, intolerance testing, and kept a detailed food log. We learned a few things, but not everything. It wasn't until our dive into Feingold for other health reasons that we really saw the shiners disappear. I mean GONE! He has clear eyes that look healthy and like he got enough sleep. 

So, if your child always looks tired like mine did, maybe he isn't. Check it out, start simple. Make a food diary for a solid week, make an appointment with a trusted doctor who will listen to you, and see what happens. 

I am attaching a few links about this issue so you can start your own Dr. Google search. Enjoy! 

TMR - Allergy Shiners

Alive - Food Allergies

Dr. Paul - Allergy Signs

Real Healthy Kids - Allergic Shiners

You also need to know that some old school doctors (usually those who are NOT keeping up with the medical journals, latest research, etc) believe only in anaphylaxis reactions to foods and nothing else. Thankfully MOST of those guys are retired, but you will find a few. If you run into one, you can try and educate them (but you need real help so educate on your way out the door to find someone else), but the best thing is to find someone who understands food intolerances and allergies. It won't be hard.

If you want to have the pollen count for your area sent to your email for free, here are two links for that, as well.

Pollen.com

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