He's allergic to life, apparently
Last month DH and I decided to let the allergy/asthma specialist that both of us have been seeing for a while manage the kids' allergy/asthma issues as well, instead of the pediatrician. We just weren't sure she was 100% on top of things, and we really didn't like the idea of having to take them into a waiting room full of sick kids if they were just having really bad seasonal allergy symptoms.
So we took them in to see him (he's another Dr. H, not to be confused with the OTHER Dr. H) and it was determined that the kids needed allergy skin tests so we would know exactly what we were dealing with. The boy child was VERY upset at the thought of having the tests done, but when it came time to do it he did great! It was almost weird how calm he was during the whole process. They do the thing where they put a drop of solution on the skin and then nick it with a sewing needle (as opposed to those weird panels whatever it is that some doctors use). He got pricked 31 times, all over the insides and outsides of both forearms, and only said "ouch" three times. The rest of the time, he didn't even flinch! I think the fact that they marked him up with a Sharpie distracted him a little bit from what was going on. I told him it was the one time he could have marker all over his arms without getting yelled at, which he thought was pretty cool.
Anyway, we got the results yesterday and it turns out he's allergic to EVERYTHING. Seriously, he reacted to every single thing they tested. They didn't test food, because we haven't noticed any issues there, but dogs, cats, molds, pollens, grasses, trees, dust mites -- you name it. If it exists on planet earth, he's allergic to it, pretty much. Poor kid!
We've decided against allergy shots for now. He may WANT to take them someday, when he's a bit older, but right now it would be super traumatic for him, and also there's just no way we could get down there every week for him to get the shots, especially during the school year. So for now we're sticking with Singulair, which seems to be working well for him (recently switched from Zyrtec, which had stopped working).
The girl child gets her skin tests on Thursday. She's REALLY nervous about it. I know she'll be fine once we get in there; she's just getting herself all worked up. I've pointed out to her several times, NOT within the boy child's hearing, that she is WAY tougher than he is so if he could handle it, it can't be that bad. But she's not buying it. Sigh. We'll see what happens. She does have a lot of food issues, so I'm going to have them test her for that, which means she'll probably get even more arm-pricks than the boy did. I'm sure she'll react to dogs and grass and probably some trees, because we've noticed symptoms with all those things, but it'll be interesting to see if there's anything else she's allergic to.
On the diagnosis front for the girl, we finally got in touch with the one child psychiatrist that was on both our provider list and the list of recommendations we got from Dr. H (the OTHER Dr. H). So she has an appointment -- in JANUARY. That was the earliest he could see her. We're on the cancellation list, and in the meantime we'll be running our provider list by Dr. H again, just to see if he's heard anything good or bad about any of the other doctors on it. But geez! Here's hoping she doesn't become suicidal or anything in the next seven months, eh?
Stupid US healthcare system.
So we took them in to see him (he's another Dr. H, not to be confused with the OTHER Dr. H) and it was determined that the kids needed allergy skin tests so we would know exactly what we were dealing with. The boy child was VERY upset at the thought of having the tests done, but when it came time to do it he did great! It was almost weird how calm he was during the whole process. They do the thing where they put a drop of solution on the skin and then nick it with a sewing needle (as opposed to those weird panels whatever it is that some doctors use). He got pricked 31 times, all over the insides and outsides of both forearms, and only said "ouch" three times. The rest of the time, he didn't even flinch! I think the fact that they marked him up with a Sharpie distracted him a little bit from what was going on. I told him it was the one time he could have marker all over his arms without getting yelled at, which he thought was pretty cool.
Anyway, we got the results yesterday and it turns out he's allergic to EVERYTHING. Seriously, he reacted to every single thing they tested. They didn't test food, because we haven't noticed any issues there, but dogs, cats, molds, pollens, grasses, trees, dust mites -- you name it. If it exists on planet earth, he's allergic to it, pretty much. Poor kid!
We've decided against allergy shots for now. He may WANT to take them someday, when he's a bit older, but right now it would be super traumatic for him, and also there's just no way we could get down there every week for him to get the shots, especially during the school year. So for now we're sticking with Singulair, which seems to be working well for him (recently switched from Zyrtec, which had stopped working).
The girl child gets her skin tests on Thursday. She's REALLY nervous about it. I know she'll be fine once we get in there; she's just getting herself all worked up. I've pointed out to her several times, NOT within the boy child's hearing, that she is WAY tougher than he is so if he could handle it, it can't be that bad. But she's not buying it. Sigh. We'll see what happens. She does have a lot of food issues, so I'm going to have them test her for that, which means she'll probably get even more arm-pricks than the boy did. I'm sure she'll react to dogs and grass and probably some trees, because we've noticed symptoms with all those things, but it'll be interesting to see if there's anything else she's allergic to.
On the diagnosis front for the girl, we finally got in touch with the one child psychiatrist that was on both our provider list and the list of recommendations we got from Dr. H (the OTHER Dr. H). So she has an appointment -- in JANUARY. That was the earliest he could see her. We're on the cancellation list, and in the meantime we'll be running our provider list by Dr. H again, just to see if he's heard anything good or bad about any of the other doctors on it. But geez! Here's hoping she doesn't become suicidal or anything in the next seven months, eh?
Stupid US healthcare system.
posted by Miss Anthrope at 8:13 PM
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