Allergies

We finally made it back to the allergist for Isabel's skin test. She was tested for environmental allergens and for eggs and peanuts. She had some sort of reaction to almost everything, but not eggs. Peanuts were the worst. She did such a great job and didn't even cry. She really loves Dr. Kayser and was willing to do anything she asked. Dr. Kayser was surprised at her reactions and said that some allergists don't recommend skin testing on kids under 5 because there usually isn't a reaction. I think the only thing that didn't show a reaction was cockroach. Glad we have that figured out. We marched upstairs to get blood drawn to see if she has a protein reaction to peanuts and other tree nuts. If she doesn't show a reaction on the blood test she MIGHT only have contact reactions and might be able to eat nuts in the future. Unfortunately peanut allergies are only outgrown in 18-25% of cases. Eggs have a 75-85% rate, so it would be better if she were allergic to eggs and not peanuts. Anyway, she was a superstar getting blood drawn even though it took a LONG time because the tech had a hard time getting blood out. She got a sticker and sucker afterward, so she was pretty happy. We hit up Chipotle for lunch, so that made it even better.

The negative skin reaction to eggs was interesting. The only thing we can think of is that the few times she's had egg it was around a dish that had nuts? I know one particularly bad reaction was after eating Thai food. We're going to do the egg food challenge that involves me bringing a scrambled egg to the hospital and them giving it to her over 4-5 hours. No other food is allowed and she can only eat up to 2 hours before the testing begins. That should be a great day.

We really like her allergist, so I feel confident that Isabel is getting very good care. Dr. Kayser gave us a prescription for Allegra, but said if she's not having symptoms that it was ok to fill it and give it to her as needed otherwise she would be on an antihistamine every day with the type of allergies she had. Her skin reactions have been very minimal since we tossed everything in our house that contains nuts. I think maybe the dishes getting washed next to or near a dish with peanut butter was enough to cause a reaction.

I should have waited until the reactions really started happening, but this was a couple of minutes after they finished testing her.



After the blood draw a lollipop and Chipotle makes it all better!