Sensory Issues and the Common Cold!

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Last night was rough! We had one of our little ones padding back and fourth the hallway time and again over the simple issues of having a cold. Simple to some, but not to someone who doesn't really understand what is happening to them! Our young dd aspie is very sensitive to things outside her body let alone in her body. She tends to panic when feeling that her nose is clogging (she can't effectivly blow yet) or her throat hurts terribly to swollow. I know she will calm down and not freak out every time it hurts to swallow probably, hmmm, next time she gets a cold this season. As for right now, she is consumed with this phenom she doesn't really understand. I try to get her to try things like drinking warm rather than cold water and it results in screaming, spilling water, saying "that won't work" and making her throat worse from the screaming. I know some simple things would ease her discomfort, but her sensory defensivness keeps her from receiving my nurturing and care I so want to give her.

Anyone relate?

I, too am an aspie, I remember how it felt for me as a child, yet I still can't coax her along. One of my other children is also an aspie, but as he is 12, lol, he can now blow his nose. I do have a fair grasp of how she feels, I just don't know what to do about it. Any ideas or stories from when young children have gotten through routine illness would be nice to hear, even if no one has any "solutions".

Edit: Just "taught" her how to blow her nose by sharing some of my hankies with her and showing her, step by step how to do it. Then, I had to leave the room for her to try it. She can't stand being put on the spot to try and fail in front of others! She still needs practice, this cold will give it to her. The important thing is she can blow her own nose and that cuts down on her anxiety tremendously. I wrote this, got my head together and got myself totally calm inside to go try again with her. I think the sensory buffer of the cloth hankies rather than the paper tissues actually helped. Or maybe it was just that she wasn't already in a full blown panic. Little victories, right?

Yes, I can relate to your daughter's specific sensory problems! Here I am 60 years old and I still am plagued by my lifelong belief that if I can't breathe through my nose, I will smother in my sleep. The result of this is that I simply have hardly been able to sleep at all with a stuffed up nose. Considering all the potentially life-threatening illness I've been through, the common cold remains my bete noir. A humidifier helped the nose, but there was no non-invasive solution for the swollen, painful throat-- just time. All I have for you is much sympathy, and for me, a better understanding of what my mom went through with me as a child (and what my husband endures now). Hopefully someone else will have practical solutions. Best of luck!

I know a thing that my Mum showed me. I don't know if it would help her and it would be best for you to try it first, to check how it might affect her.

Get a bowl of hot water and put a few drops of olbas oil in it, put a towel over your head, and your head over the bowl, breathe through your mouth until your nose starts to unblock, then try to breathe through the nose. You've probably tried to use this method already but as I'm not sure, I put it in the post.

Olbas tissues are good for colds (as far as I have used them) as well.

I totally identify. Luckily my PDD/AS son doesn't seem to have the same issues, because he has had some horrid colds without getting worked up, whereas I still do get quite "emotional" about the physical discomfort involved.

For me the lifesaver has been discovering how diet can help not only cut down on the worst symptoms but also on the frequency of colds:

I eat concentrated proteins separately from starchy carbohydrates ( ie. eggs, fish, meat, cheese, etc at different meals from rice, corn, potatoes, and other carbs ), and find that this HUGELY reduces the number of colds that I suffer each year, ( aswell as causing me to lose weight effortlessly ) . It has gone down from four or five bad ones, to one or two max per year. I still, sometimes, eat "bad mixtures", as my son calls them ( he is used to eating this way too! ), but if I notice that "cold onset" feeling I immediately switch to separate without exception, and often manage to stave off the incipient cold ... and ... the other factor;

I reduce/cut out dairy consumption, because it triggers increased catarrh production, which is the last thing you want if you have a cold. And again it has made a HUGE difference, to myself and my son. I no longer get so bunged up, nor as "dribbly", and it doesn't seem to extend into a bacterial ( when it all goes green, so to speak ), secondary-infection so often either.

Good luck.

PS. Water on its own, even warm, won't soothe a throat because of osmotic/iso something gradients ( like in "sports drinks" ). You need honey, lemon, ginger, apple juice, blackcurrant syrup or something in the warm water so that it doesn't contribute to the swelling of the throat.
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I am so grateful for the many replies. I will have to look up that kind of oil, we use some essencial oils but I've not wanted to irritate her passages with eucalyptus or peppermint since she seems so raw. I haven't tried the hot water and simple steam b/c she gets so freaked out. If I catch the issues before she totally flips we seem to have the most success.

Thanks for the tip about the water, I know it still burns, but less so and for me it is better than not having a drink of water when first waking to a dry, painful throat that has had drainage all night! I did make her some "throat tea" after that that has lemon in it. I guess part of it is I am going through my own isseus having the same cold and can't think "clear" espeically in the night when she is melting down. I feel like I am going into toinght armed with more ideas and strategies formed in my "right" mind. (whatever that is- ha ha)

I think I have to give her permission to sit up and stay awake sometimes b/c when she lays down she feels like she is sufforcating and drowning. My husband has that issue with his sinus off and on yr round, when he lays down he clogs right up. That just sends her into a panic. I appreciate the input from you who said you are 60 and still feel this way, and the one who gets "emotional" with these symptoms. It seems for my daughter she hates something being that far out of her control or understanding. Not tolerable to her! She is a bit of her Mommy though, so what can I say?

We do avoid dairy and casein, I can't imagine the snot this kid would have if she were on milk! Good to get the word out though, sounds like you are very knowledgable and I should revisit the idea of not having various foods together. I did that years ago in a kick start to a weight loss after one of the kids (don't even remember which one now, lol) It was Adkins type diet of not eating carbs with other foods... sounds like this is similar?

I am going to research what I can give her for decongestant b/c she is allergic to dyes in most meds and the other "inactive ingredients" Also, that new PE junk makes her nose bleed. Ah, the things that consume a Mothers time. Someday I will miss it terribly, this I know.

I completely relate. My son has major sensory issues and had a terrible case of strep throat last year. He refused to drink and went into complete meltdown mode every time he swallowed. We almost had to take the poor guy to the ER for dehydration. He's almost 5 now and still cannot blow his nose. He won't eat or drink anything that's too hot (or even warm) or cold - no soup, ice pops, etc. He also won't eat anything that's too sweet so honey and cough drops (they look like candy) are out too. This also makes Halloween a very interesting holiday! Sick kids are hard enough, but when you add sensory issues to the mix, it's just plain horrible. Hope your little girl feels better soon!

Well I can relate to some of this.
My son uses a nasal saline solution regularly, it's gentle but you have to deal with a small squirt. Also I would try propping up a few pillows at night so they don't actually have to lay down flat.
Neither of my kids can handle cough drops with menthol, so it's always Luden's. I found kid's sore throat pops too. But I read several times about taking a small piece of dark chocolate for a cough. It does help.
Frozen juice or Gatorade, then crushed makes tasty ice chips. My son won't do soup or jello either.
If they can handle it, the Breathe right strips across the outside of nose helps and they come in small sizes.
Sorry, I know it's hard. Hope it's better soon.

We're still coping, had to resort to some otc meds we don't usually like to use as she has such allergy to some of the things in them. Sometimes it is a hard trade off. This has helped her along with trying these various comfort measures when she is not already in a fit and before the moment of panic. She is very happy with the "hankies" and seems to feel very special now for all the efforts we are making to give her comfort. At first, she screamed madly in the middle of the night because I put a damp, cool cloth on her head to help bring down the fever and as a standard Mommy manuver I come with the damp, cool cloth... but no one told her this! She couldn't figure out what the heck I was doing and kept screaming, "Mom-mmeee! It isn't my HEAD that hurts! It is my THROAT I said!" Funny now, lol, at the time I was sure she'd wake the other children and I wasn't laughing, my own head was throbbing. Oh, kids.

Well, thought I'd share in case anyone visits the thread later to say that explaining and over explaining and being very verbal and narrating everything we do has helped tremendously. She has gained control of the situation through learning what can be done to attempt to ease her suffering. She really has to get a firm grasp of what is going on though or she seems to not be able to process both what we are doing and the information inside of her at the same time. It brings a meltdown of confusion, overstimuation, desperation and she looks at me like I am Judas the ultimate betrayer. Times like this I have to remember it isn't me, it is the accumulation of all the things that have assalted her senses and understanding in a time of build up that is as varied as the melt down itself. I know because I am just like her, just like my little girl.

Maybe I don't throw myself on the floor and have a screaming fit, yet I know just how she feels. Sometimes I am melting down inside when things become too-too much and Mothering her helps me see that in myself and change all our lives for the better. Little blessing #3 will be well soon, and stronger emotionally for it. Life sure does throw plenty of "therapy" our way, lol.

I'm just over the cold, and I can relate to it being sensorially troubling. But one thing that is worse, is when my ears clog up *after* the cold. I'm fortunately not having tha tnow, but had it in Sept and it sucked.