The appointment was at 10am, and we pretty much got right in. The doc came and looked at him, gave his usual "how is he, when do you want to see me again, a month?" - so I said "I've got some questions, plus we were hoping to do some testing today." That turned our 15 min. appt. into 2 hours.
I had three lists. One list of the things we tested for last time, a list of suspected foods, and a list of foods I wanted to test for. I'll type up those lists for you, but first I'd like to share how testing is done, for those who are interested.
The nurse went through my list of foods I wanted tested, and marked them on a sheet. The ones I wanted tested but they didn't have, we substitued for other items. In total, counting the positive control and negative control, we did 23 tests on Alex's little back. He handled it like a champ, tho, despite being overtired because we were past naptime. I nursed him while she went and got another nurse and the two trays of food serums. When she came back, we put Alex on his tummy - only his lime green Fuzzi Bunz diaper. She then drew a grid on his back (in a washable Crayola marker), and had the other nurse rattle off the numbers (each serum has it's own number). They use these little blue plastic pieces, about 2 inches long, and they twist this, with the serum, into his skin. It makes a little scratch so the serum can get ino the skin. Going as fast as they could go, one nurse called out the numbers again as the other nurse twisted each piece into his back. Here is what he looked like during the 15 minute wait.
Like I said earlier, he handled this like a champ. He only cried while they were putting the serum in, and he calmed down once they stopped. He even looked like he might fall asleep a couple times.
See? Not so bad!
This is what Brother did to pass some of the time -
- he loved the doctor's spinning stool!
Anyway, after 15 minutes, the nurse came in, measured all of his test sites and wiped all the serum off his back, then slathered on some anti-itch-lotion, which I'm sure he appreciated. He reacted to the negative control (like he did the last time we had him tested), so they had to retest that. This time they did it on his thigh while I nursed him/binky'd him/he slept. As you can see from his back in the photo, he did have some reactions, so now I'll give you all the lists.
What we tested for last time
(his reaction to the negative control in April was 0/2, so doc said anything 0/2 and under did not qualify as an allergy. The positive control was a 0/4+++++ which means he reacted really badly to it, the poor feller)
Milk - 0/4 (yikes!! almost as bad as the positive control)
Wheat - 0/4
Mite - 0/4
Mite - 0/3 (I guess there are two kinds of dust mites?)
Whole Egg - 0/3
Cinnamon - 0/3
Garlic - 0/3
------------------
Peanut - 0/2
Oat - 0/2
Rice - 0/2
Cat hair - 1/2
What I suspected
(from seeing how he reacted when I ate these)
Tomatoes
Chocolate
Citrus
Chicken
Carrots
Banana
Onion
Beef
Green Beans
Today's testing
(They did not have some things I wanted to test, such as zucchini, pear, peach, goat's milk, or lamb)
(The negative control was 0/1+ today, so anything o/1+ and under is not considered an allergy. The positive control measured 0/4)
Banana - 0/3
Broccoli - 0/3 (really?? even the doc said he didn't think he'd ever seen anyone react to broccoli)
Cocoa Bean - 0/3
Chicken - 0/2+
Egg White - 0/2+
Turkey - 0/2 (yes! turkey! you know, the stuff I've been basically living off of for 5 months now??)
Egg Yolk - 0/2
Carrot - 0/2
----------------------
Beef - 0/1+
Grape - 0/1+
Corn - 0/1+
String Beans - Green - 0/1+
Sweet Potato - 0/1+
Tomato - 0/1+
Soybean - 0/1+
Tuna - 0/1+
Black Pepper - 0/1+
Garlic - 0/1+ (yay! this has gone down since the original testing!!)
Cloves - 0/1+
Apple - 0/1
Onion - 0/1
And there we go! I feel better having more answers. Only thing, is I thought he reacted when I fed him puree'd green beans (as you read on a previous post), and doc said "Then don't give him green beans. The test could be wrong" - which leads me to wonder what else the test could be wrong about.
So now I'm hoping we can add some of the safe foods back into my diet, and even some of them into his (I might try green beans again once he clears up). Wish us luck, and keep checking back for more updates!
Edited to add: The allergist gave us a sample of Nasonex, which is the same stuff the ped wrote us a prescription for. He repeated that it doesn't get into his system - and if it goes down his throat and into the stomach, it gets ... something...can't remember. Anyway, it doesn't go anywhere. I'm guessing the stomach acids do something to it? The doc showed me a graphic of the linig of the nasal area before Nasonex, then a graphic of it after a year of being on the steroid, and it was pretty much healed. Pretty convincing, but I'm still leary. I"m just not a medicine kinda gal.
I asked the doc how long we were looking at before he grew out of the allergies. He showed me a chart, depicting the different type of reactions, and how long the allergies generally stick around. Atopic Dermatitis (skin reactions) peak around 2-3 years, then taper off. Gastrointestinal (tummy/bowels) peak around 1-2 years of age, then taper off. Allergic Rhinitis (which is what Alex has) doesn't peak until age 20. 20!! My poor baby. But like Lisa pointed out, if it isn't something that really bothers him, as he gets older, he'll be able to make the decision on his own "Do I want this food? Do I mind having a stuffy nose?" - sort of like me and my allergies. "If I eat this nut, I'll have an itchy nose. Do I mind, or do I not feel like putting up with it today?"
I'm taking probiotics (Primal Defense, with soil based organisms) that should help heal my gut (why I have allergies, myself, and why Alex is getting the food protiens through my milk, when typically he shouldn't). Allergist said to give him baby acidophilus (wrong spelling) that will help more with his allergies. He also wants me to be sure I continue to take fish oil, to help his (and mine, I think) brain.
Okay. I think thats it. For now.
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