Update on James

[Jimbob]

James had his appointment at hospital on 29th October which was supposed to be with his usual consultant. It turned out to be with the doctor under him but we were not too concerned about that as we had already been told that he was very good with allergies by our friend who is a peadiatric nurse at this hospital. Before James went into the doctors room he was weighed and they measured his height. James weighed 12.7kg (27.9lb) and I can't remember his height off hand. The doctor mainly concentrated on James's allergies and gave us copies of his test results from 2005 and 2006  as he said that he likes parents to always have a copy so they have it for reference. James's scores were a lot higher in 2006 than they were in 2005 which we had not been previously made aware of.

Test results for 05/09/06 were

Milk         KUa/1   668.0
Egg         KUa/1     96.3
Chicken    KUa/1      1.4
Wheat      KUa/1    29.9
Peanut     KUa/1    41.6
Hazel nut  KUa/1    10.1
Orange     KUa/1    13.2

After we had been given the scores instead of just being told what James tested positive to I asked if James was likely to have an ana reaction to any of his allergies. The doctor said that it is possible especially with peanut or any tree nut. I asked if we should have an epeipen but was told that they do not prescribe them in the UK unless the person has already had an ana reaction or they have asthma aswell as food allergies.

We then went on to discuss James's feeding issues and he said that he would expect it to be at least 2 years before James is eating anywhere near like normal as his feeding aversion is severe due to the amount of allergic reactions he has experienced. The doctor also said that the reason we have not heard about the feeding therapy is that he does not think they deal with cases like James it is mainly for premature babies that have difficulties swallowing etc. Having said that he did say that he would ask the new dietician to call us to try and work through James's issues and also to contact the feeding clinic to be absolutely sure they don't deal with children like James.

All in all we have not really got any further regarding the food aversion James has but I do feel we were given better information regarding James's allergies and I now feel that I am not being an overprotective mother so something good has come out of it at least.

[Samuel's mum]

Sounds like you were given some good new information. That's interesting about the epipen. I would have thought they'd give you one 'just in case'. Does he recommend using puriton or something oral if an attack were to happen (touch wood).

What else is a 'tree nut' out of interest?

[Jimbob]

The doctor did say to make sure we always have piriton with us which we already do. James has already had reactions to foods but luckily we have always been able to manage them with piriton. Having said that he has not had peanuts or tree nuts to date.

Other tree nuts are almonds, brazil nuts, cashews, chestnuts, hazelnuts, hickory nuts, macadamia nuts, pecans, pine nuts, pistachios and walnuts.

There might be others but those are all I can think of right now off the top of my head. I do have a list that I take to the supermarket but I keep that in the car and my husband is at work at the moment.

Kelly

[Jimbob]

There is a list on the food allergy forum which I had forgotten about. It has a few extras on.

[jennyh]

at least you got to see the results.hope you get some help that james obviosly needs.hugs....jenny

[Jimbob]

Hi Jenny, how is India at the moment?

[jennyh]

not the best .her inhalers are at the max .the joy of kids

[Jimbob]

Sorry to hear that India is not doing well. I hope things start to improve soon.

Kelly