allergy testing

[Anonymous]

What can I expect with allergy testing?

Here’s a little background. I know that Justice has dairy, beef, and strawberry allergy. For awhile now he has had a runny nose and cough. I took him to the dr. and he thought it might be allergies so he put him on zyrtec for a month to see how it would go. Justice finally started sleeping and also eating again. Well this past Sunday I am almost positive he got some dairy at church because he is back to waking at night. He outgrew his reflux at 9 months, but if he has dairy or beef he gets acid reflux. As do I because I am also allergic to both. So, I have been having to give him a half of pepcid complete at night to get him to go to sleep. We went back to the dr. today for a followup and he suggested allergy testing. I am concerned mostly with food allergies. Is that something i need to tell them when we go in for allergy testing or will they just test him for everything? I hope all this makes sense. Thanks for any and all replies. It is very much appreciated.

[Anonymous]

I think that every allergist is a little different. Ours talked to us first before doing the testing to help decide which tests to do (since there isn’t room to test for every possible allergen). He felt that it was unnecessary to test for environmental allergies until she was a little older (she’s already on allegra and that’s all that he would do for that type of allergy). As for food, he did the big 8 allergens and then went through a list of foods to see which ones she ate the most frequently. Basically, he tested her for any foods that were concerns for me.

[Anonymous]

Ours also spoke with us for a bit before the testing. He also tested us for the top allergens ..both environmental and food.

I am interested to see how it turns out!

[Anonymous]

Our allergist talked to us extensively before the skin testing and then tested for the most common food and environmental allergens.

Keep in mind though that skin testing will only reveal IgE allergies (the so-called “true” allergies or immediate response type allergies) and won’t show intolerances. Oftentimes, nasal congestion, allergic shiners, chronic ear infections, irritability, poor sleep, GI reactions, etc. are delayed reactions and symptoms of IgG related allergies (often referred to as intolerances) and won’t show up on skin prick tests. Many allergists won’t even test for this, since they aren’t really viewed as “true” allergies.

MFPIx22008-02-20 23:22:41

[Anonymous]

Just to update you all. Justice had his allergist appt yesterday and it was a complete waste of time. They would only do the skin prick test not the blood also not sure why because the boys were being crazy. Anyway, it showed no allergy to anything. So, the dr. came in and said he was probably lactose intolerent. He suggested we try some lactaid and give him some dairy. First of all my understanding is that a lactose intol. baby is rare and he has had this since he was an infant. Also I have been told that breastmilk has lactose and if he was lactose intol. he wouldn’t have been able to tolerate my milk either. All things I believe and agree with. Anyway the dr. said no, lactose is only in cows milk. So, like a dummy I trusted him and went out and got some lactiad and gave it to Justice and then gave him some cheese. Well, I’m sure you guessed what happened, he was up all night long last night. So, as usual another drs. visit that was a waste of time and money. The funny thing is we went to Vanderbilt children’s hospital and it is highly recommend by everyone and we have never had a good experience with them and we have had to go quite a few times for other things. Well, that is my lovely update. I guess Justice might just be intolerent to dairy. I’m not even sure what that exactly means. It is so bad for him that he can’t even have a few goldfish or anything that has even a little dairy in it. Ugh!

[Anonymous]

I’m so sorry to hear this! hang in there. I know how you feel! I have 2 kids where I have felt like I am going to go crazy figuring out what they can/cannot have and hearing doctors tell me it is this or that. You ARE NOT crazy! Something is bother him. If you are pretty sure it’s milk, most likely it is! I hope you find a definitive answer soon, and if not…mommy’s instinct is always best! I’ve got a soy drinker and rice drinker b/c I am positive that my boys are intolerant to dairy (well, landen is dairy/soy free…)

HUGS!

[Anonymous]

That stinks Shelby. Just so you know, my older dd Sarah was having very bad symptoms of lactose intolerance shortly after drinking milk or having dairy products. As a baby she was a happy spitter but I still don’t know if it was reflux vs normal spitting. When I told my doc about her most recent symptom of saying that her poop burned, he sent us for a breath hydrogen test for lactose intolerance. Her test came back normal, but she still had the symptoms. We’ve found that unless we minimize her dairy, she has these complaints- tummy aches, burning poop, gassiness, bloating, diarrhea. But she’s not lactose intolerant yet clearly she can’t tolerate something about digesting milk. I don’t know what. Maybe Justice is the same. If you want the definitive on lactose intolerance, then you can ask for the breath hydrogen test, which was really easy. But you’re right, it’s very rare.

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