Amy had Allergy testing today...

[webfoot]

Thought I'd share our experience. I called and talked w/ the local Allergy/Asthma doctor a couple weeks ago and decided to take Amy in for testing. Given her history w/ skin breakouts etc it seemed warrented. So today was our appointment. I had several local friends express their horror that I was taking her in to do the skin prick/scratch tests but I talked with the doctor and nurse and they both said it was no big deal so we went for it.

IT WAS SOOOOOO NOT  A BIG DEAL!!! OMG I was prepared for the worst on this one. I was picturing myself holding her down for 15 min while they stuck her w/ needles. That was not it at all. It was a VERY child friendly office w/ a nice clean carpted floor, lots of toys in the "children's" exam room. Dr. came in took history. Nurse came in, quickly wrote the numbers on her back, that's probalby what bothered her the most. Then she sat in my lap and they did the scratches which probalby didn't take more than 3 min and Amy did't fuss one bit. On the second one she flinched and said "owwies" but the nurse said "that didn't hurt bad did it?" and Amy laughed. She was THRILLED when she got hte biggest pile of stickers you could imagine (like 10-12) from the nurse for being a big girl.

The best news. We have one allergy Peanuts! We've suspected this but were stumped b/c we eliminated it and then when she had it again she didn't react, BUT the doctor said that w/ peanuts that's how it goes. They actually will lose sensitivity to it w/o exposure, then build it back up. So she said try 5 years peanut free then see if you can introduce it back in.

We'd already cut it out again for hte last two weeks and the loose stools are gone and her behavior has been markedly improved. I think she was eating PBJ sandwich for lunch every day and not feeling well afterwards runining her for the rest of the day. We've transitioned back to Almondbutter w/o any complaints.

So sorry to write a novel. BUT I hope it helps someone else who is looking at going to the allergist.

[Mariek]

Tanya

I'm glad everything went so well - it's terrible when people tell you horror stories about situations because it makes you more tense about everything, at least everyone was proved wrong.

Well done Amy for being a big girl!!

Hopefully stopping the peanuts will make her feel much better and she can get on with the important stuff - like running you ragged and making a mess

love

[Livvismum]

Tanya, you must be thrilled that now it's pinpointed - mothers intuition again eh!

Thanks for posting as it is definitely helpful to have reall accounts to counteract the negative stories some people hear about.

Hope life becomes more predictable for you all.

Sara

[GraceKellysmom]

Wow! Good for you for figuring it out! Funny how we "know" even before the doc tells us.

So does this run in your family? Do they suspect it with ds#1?

[webfoot]

Well know allergies haven't really run in our family. I'm allergic to bee stings which is familial. And I am also allergic to Tetracyline, Kyle has reacted to Amoxacillin. But other than that has never shown an allergy.

I asked if I should be cautious with Evan and the Dr. said that sometimes it's familial, sometimes it's not. They can't figure out why peanut allergy is on the rise. But caution is better than none.

She also said to watch for other food allergies. They only tested for a handful of the main culprits: peanuts, milk, soy, wheat, egg, cat, a few different pollens....

So she talked about keeping a food diary and noting if we see a reaction, esp loose stools. Melon, which Amy loves, can be highly allergic.

Dh and I both feel like her behavior has been better the last couple weeks so we'll just keep those peanuts away from her! Thank goodness it wasn't Dairy, that would have been hard to eliminate.

[~tess~]

glad the experience was good!  we had good ones until recently....then he had to do the full thing, 60 needles!  and we had to come to the office twice!  i did it myself a month later and it was horrible!  the skin pricks are so much nicer, lol!

good luck on the elimination and 5 years no peanuts!  whew, i think peanuts is hard to avoid.  a friend of mine's dd was just diagnosed. 

but we eliminated dairy and egg for 3 1/2 years.....and he is now not showing allergy signs when we reintroduced it!  a large amt of dairy will get him in the bathroom, lol, but he can eat without pain and major reactions, yay!

[Amsmom]

Hi Tanya,

Im glad Amy did not have a bad experience. We actually did have that horrible experience of restarining Amber. She had it done in her arm. We are going back for the food part of it on Feb 2nd and our neighbor mentioned that she had hers done in her back in front of Amber and now Amber wnats hers done in the back. I called and the secy said she didnt think we could do it that way. I wonder why. This is a specialized childrens hospital. Do you happen to know why we couldnt get it done that way as well. Amber said she would be more calm if she could have a lollipop while they were doing it in her back. Who knows? But Im desperate not to go through what we did before.