Allergies - not for the faint of heart
- Allergies - not for the faint of heart
- Anaphylaxis and my budget
Our income and budget just are not jiving with some of our most recent medical findings. Goro, the oldest boy at ten years of age, is beginning to show more signs of food allergies lately.
I posted about our most recent trip to the ER after having a snack at Target while shopping. He had a cinnamon-sugar bagel and within minutes was sick to his stomach, had hives, a stuffy head, and was getting more uncomfortable by the second. We didn’t know what had done this to him as he had had absolutely everything before.
A week later on a Saturday the children were eating some cinnamon rolls I had bought at the store and within about fifteen minutes Goro was having some similar problems. This time, being at home and closer to our regular medical facilities and just having gone to the ER for similar issues, we made the call to just go with some liquid Benadryl and watch him. The Benadryl took are of the immediate, but the hives lingered so we took him to the pediatrician on Monday. They made a referral appointment for us with a specialists the next town over.
Dr. O. is a great guy. He is a bit quiet, to the point (I like that), kind, thoughtful, took the time to listen, and knows his stuff. He has a deep voice and a very thick accent. The depth of his voice sometimes added to the richness of his accent made it harder to understand him. Only twice did I have to ask him to repeat himself (and that was because he spoke so quickly I couldn’t catch the words enough to hear them clearly) and he just smiled at me and slowed down.
I gave him a quick rundown of Goro’s reactions over the years. He asked me a few specific questions related to different instances: the one when he was four/five months old, the one when he was two years old, and some more specific to his recent rash (pun intended) of reactions. I told him of my concern about cinnamon and cassia (and I was relieved to see he knew the difference). [For those who do not know, in the US most foods that list cinnamon in them really don't have cinnamon, but cassia. Real cinnamon and cassia are two different plants and they taste different. Some people are allergic to just one, but others are allergic to both.]
When Goro was four he had a basic allergy test done. It showed a marked allergy to some basic things I already knew like: dust mites, certain weeds, grasses, pollen, etc. and a few small reactions to foods, but nothing that should ever cause great harm. I was not particularly pleased with those results because my child had awakened one morning with his face twice the size it should be and I knew there were more things to test for. We (meaning SmockDaddy and I) set out to do our own test. The night of the food in question Goro had had some shrimp for supper.
Up to the more recent situations (two years ago at our church’s Passover Seder) and the most recent reactions (three in the past two months). A little more chit chat about my suspicions and concerns, then the testing began. My boy underwent ninety-six (yes, 96) pricks of the needle with allergens on the end of each. He was a real trooper. And five minutes into the twenty-minute wait his back looked like this:
and this:
It turns out that he is very allergic to hazelnuts and some other things, but mostly to additives and preservatives. This is almost exactly what we suspected. Five large vials of blood were also drawn to have some other testing done to make sure there isn’t something else in play here.
The Epi-pens abound.
Next up: Anaphylaxis and my budget
Yikes! Ouch ouch ouch. That does not look like fun.
MKs last blog post..The Susan
Poor thing! So sorry!
Ouch, Gross, Ouch. With emphasis on the final ouch.
So sorry! As a child, they tried to test me like that, and when they pricked the 5th test, I fainted. That was the end of the allergy needle tests.
I hope they can help him soon!
Oh, poor baby. I had an allergy test when I was in high school, but I can’t imagine being so small and having that done. I sure hope that y’all can get this resolved now.
I really feel for your son. I didn’t have that test done on me until I was an adult and I KNOW how painful it was. At least you know now what to avoid- knowledge is power.
My allergist also gave some good advice on the cumlative effect of different allergies- think of it as a glass being filled with drips of water. So one allergy adds some, another slight allergy adds just a little and then the water flows over the top. That’s why you can all of the sudden have a fierce reaction to something you are only moderately allergic to.
If your son has many airborne allergies, they will probably change over time. I have found (and this was confirmed by another allergist) that you have about a 1-2 year grace period when you move someplace new before you are allergic to their indegenous plants, molds, etc.
Louises last blog post..Grilling Lobster Tails Step 1: How to Kill a Live Lobster
Any other test results back yet? I cannot imagine what it would be like to manage food allergies. Keep us posted!
Chefs last blog post..My Next Volunteer Gig…The Food Police?
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