Rodger: Recovery from Asthma

Here’s my son Rodger’s story of recovery from asthma.

Rodger was a fairly healthy and typical toddler until he began to show signs of environmental allergies and asthma around three years of age.

While he did have eczema (a subtle sign of immune dysregulation) as a baby, there were no other signs that anything was amiss with Rodger as an infant or toddler.

Because Rodger’s father, Rodger Sr., has known allergies to nuts, we kept highly allergenic foods out of Rodger’s diet to protect him from any possible harm.

When Rodger entered preschool at three years old, we knew they could not control our son’s exposure to allergens, so we felt an allergy test was in order.

Sure enough, Rodger tested positive on a serum IgE test to shellfish and nuts.

We closely monitored his exposure to these foods from that point on because they knew how dangerous these allergies could be.

During September of his first year at 3-year-old preschool, Rodger caught a normal childhood virus and developed a cold with a runny nose, congestion, some wheezing and a persistent cough.

I took Rodger to the pediatrician where they were told that Rodger had environmental allergies and asthma, triggered by an infection.

The Meds Begin

Our pediatrician promptly prescribed Zithromax (an antibiotic), Rynatan (an antihistamine), Xopanex (a bronchodialator prescribed for asthma), and prednisolone (a corticosteroid and anti-inflammatory agent).

Four medications for Rodger’s symptoms seemed like an awful lot at the time, but I just wanted my son to get better, so I complied with the physician’s recommendations.

About a month later, Rodger developed another cold, with the same symptoms: runny nose, congestion, wheezing and cough.

We went back to the pediatrician’s office where wewere given Xopanex, Rynatan, and this time they were given a new drug, Nasonex (another corticosteroid).

That same year, Rodger went back to the pediatrician on several other occasions with the same symptoms and each time he was given more prescriptions.

He finally ended up on Singulair, a medication used to treat the symptoms of asthma and allergies.

Singular is a popular, although somewhat controversial, drug as the FDA put out a warning in 2008 due to an increased number of reports of suicidal behaviors among users of Singulair.

I was told by my pediatrician to give Rodger Singulair every day to prevent symptoms of asthma and allergies; Rodger took Singulair (and some of the other medications intermittently) for nearly two years.

Additionally, Rodger’s allergist told me that Rodger would probably have his allergies and cough for life and that she should consider immunotherapy – a treatment that would require Rodger to get weekly allergy shots for the rest of his life.

Not one word was mentioned of recovery from asthma.

This suggestion, combined with the overwhelming number of medications that were prescribed to address Rodger’s symptoms, began to make me feel weary about conventional medicine’s approach to allergies and asthma.

I knew that my son was being drawn into a vicious cycle of pharmaceutical dependency, and I was determined to find another way to help him.

Recovery from Asthma

It was at this time that one of my coworkers told me how her granddaughter had recovered from celiac disease by going to a BioSET practitioner.

I liked that BioSET did not require using any drugs, so she found a local practitioner to see if he could help her son.

Not long after Rodger began his BioSET treatments, he ate walnuts in a cookie and experienced no allergic reaction, and he was off of all of his asthma and allergy medications with no further symptoms.

I made no dietary or other lifestyle changes, and he was able to achieve a full recovery.

Rodger, now seven, has no symptoms of seasonal allergies, asthma, or food allergies.

He plays baseball, soccer, golf, tennis, and he loves to swim–all activities that could be difficult for a child with severe environmental allergies or asthma.

There is no telling what could have happened to Rodger had I kept him on his many medications or had she not found an alternative treatment path for my son.

All we know is that Rodger is thriving and living free of allergies, asthma and medications; he as made a full recovery from asthma.