to draw blood or not??

[Anonymous]

Hey everyone. I am at loss for what to do, and need some opinions. I have done rice milk now..and still no improvement with sleep. We have an EEG scheduled for this week, and I am nervous, but it isnt too invasive so we are doing it. BUT the GI nurse also gave me a sheet to test for allergies by getting his blood taken. (This is when he had mucous in his stools..but it went away when we stopped the soy. She said if it doesnt go away we will have to see what else can be causing it. (We did allergy skin prick testing already)). SO, i thought maybe i should still do it because his sleep is still so restless. but I am not sure though!!

On one hand.. he has no other allergy/intolerance symptoms since he has been off of dairy/soy. But, on the other hand i would love to know if there is something else going on that only shows up as restless sleep. Is that possible? and is it worth drawing his blood for??? It is KILLING ME to do this.. that is why i keep putting it off.

so i would like to know what other mothers would do.. My mom says to let him be..and its not urgent/neccesary to do to him.

What do you guys think? He is a “baby” still.. gets very scared and frightened easily.. and is very emotional. So thats why I am not sure as well.

Thanks for any advice!

[Anonymous]

I’m not sure what I’d do because I know very little about food allergies, but if you do decide to go with the blood draw you can probably ask them to numb his arm first. They usually don’t suggest it because it’s time consuming, but if you ask they’ll probably do it. It takes about 1/2 hour longer (maybe more) because they put this patch on the arm and it takes that long to numb the skin. I did this for Liza once when she had to have an IV and she didn’t even flinch.

Good luck with EEG.

[Anonymous]

It is tough to do, but think about when you get your blood drawn. We all hate the anticipation, but it really doesn’t hurt that badly, and when it is over, the pain is gone.

It might also give you answers and rule things out. Shane will probably scream, all kids do when you hold them still against their will, but if you can rule other things out, or know for sure if he has an allergy, then it might be worth it.

The problem is if his restless sleep is due to an intolerance to any food, and not an allergy, no test will give you that answer.

All of these decisions are tough ones. Just keep in mind, that if you do decide to go for the test, Shane will persist to being held down, but you might get some answers and it is really not that painful at all…..

Hang in there!!!

Ann Marie

[Anonymous]

thanks christine and ann marie..

well we already know he has dairy/soy.. so the liklyhood of more i guess is pretty good. We decided to bring him this afternoon.. i am VERY nervous and hate the idea ..but i know it is worth it (hopefully). And if its an intolerance i am not sure what to do..because i wont know.. but at least i will know if there are other true allergens or not. UGH. i’ll let you all know how it goes.. and thanks for the numbing advice!

[Anonymous]

We had 3 rounds of bloodwork done for Hailey. It wasn’t fun but it was over fast and I knew that it was for her own good. It’s hard to put them through these things, but we do it hoping that the answers will help them to feel better. There’s a numbing patch that you can put (sorry I can’t remember what it’s called). You can ask the bloodwork department if you can use it. You attahc the patch a certain amount of time to both arms and then it numbs the area so it doesn’t hurt. The only problem is that you don’t know for sure if that’s where they’ll insert the needle, but it’s worth asking.

[Anonymous]

LOL, I should have read Christine’s reply first. Sorry to repeat myself. You can buy the patch at the pharmacy and put it on yourself first as long as they agree.

[Anonymous]

haha, thanks lori.. great moms think alike 😉 (cheesy, i know)

[Anonymous]

Here’s our drawing blood update:

IT WAS AWFUL!!!!. I thought he was emotional.. i really had no clue how emotional/strong he could be!!! He would not stop screaming/trying to get out.. it broke my heart. At one point he bent his arm! and the needle was in it!! They had to bring another nurse in to hold him down..and start AGAIN in the other arm!! UGH…it was soo hard to watch, thank God dh was with me though!

BUT.. i think it was worth it! Atleast we’ll get answers in a couple days.

Oh yea, and they wouldnt give my anything to numb him 🙁 .. I should have called his ped. before hand.

well thanks for the support.. I am still happy we did it..and will update you guys when we get the results!

[Anonymous]

Poor little guy. I’m glad it’s over and that you don’t regret doing it. I hope the results come back soon so you have some answers.

[Anonymous]

I’m sorry to hear that it was so hard, but glad it’s over. Hopefully the results will be of value to you either way. I also found it really hard to watch- they had to strap Hailey down to the table the second time (she was about 11 months) and it still took 3 nurses to hold her down. She was hysterical, and projectile vomitted all over the nurses.

[Anonymous]

I’m sorry he had such a hard time. Bryce has had to have his blood drawn many times, and I always hate having to put him through it. I hope you get some answers from the results.

[Anonymous]

i agree with ann marie—there just isn’t that much pain invlved in having blood drawn—–kids just don’t want to be held down. i think that even if you could numb a child for a blood draw—-they still would scream bloody murder.

you all will probably think this is awful, but i was helping to hold one of my kids down for stitches once– -he was throwing such a fit and yelling “get off me, get off my legs!”. he was just scared and mad at being held down—-he wasn’t in pain. the nurse was asking me if i was alright and telling me they could get someone else to help hold him——and i was trying to keep from laughing because the whole thing was just so comical. the doc told the nurse that he thought i was alright—–i don’t know if he could tell i was trying to keep from laughing or not.

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