No RAST or SPT - dr didn't think it was necessary.  Still not sure how I feel about that.  He has had issues with spices in the past, including Sunday evening when he had soup with cumin.  But hives and flushing from cumin are possible without it being a reaction.

AdvocateByFate - DS2 is my hivey child.  We spent a few weeks this summer covered in head to toe hives for no apparent reason.  So by him having hives in the drs office, lets just say I was not surprised.  And honestly I would have probably blown off the other hives the night of the Chickfila but it was concerning to me when he had hives on his arms where his classmate touched him while she was eating Chickfila (Chickfila sponsors most of our school events, complete with dinners  ).

YKW, did you have a RAST done on Monday?

Quote from: GingerPye on September 27, 2011, 09:07:12 PM
Yes, you can still do RAST while on antihistamine.  At least, we've been able to.

Definitely can on the second generation antihistamines (Claritin, Allegra, Zyrtec).  I think you still have to avoid Benadryl for 72 hours or so.  That just sticks in my head.

Ok so forgive me as I admit to not reading all the responses and may repeat.  Considering your DS2 has a sinus infection, perhaps that's what's giving him hives.  Perhaps his immune system is just crappy and shot at the moment and totally sensitized. 

The opposite happened w/my dd.  She had ana rxn, epi, 911 etc (years ago when I was stupid about FA!).  Got her back home, on steroids & gave strict instructions to DH not to take her out of the house per dr's orders as I had work function.  Guess what DH does?! Takes her to Toys R Us (with all the viruses and germs)  .  So next day she has a high fever.  Peds said her immune was down & made her more susceptible to infection.

Could the opposite be possible?  Sinus infection taking down the immune system making your ds2 sensitized?

Yes, you can still do RAST while on antihistamine.  At least, we've been able to.

Quote from: GingerPye on September 27, 2011, 06:35:05 PM

Mom2, you probably would NOT want your son to be off the antihistamine in the fall for testing, if he tends to have allergy problems in the fall. 

yea, that's what I'm thinking. He's already had a sniffling/sneezy/itchy eye thing once and it's not even October yet. With soccer not ending until early november, I'm thinking the EARLIEST we could do testing would probably not be until the holidays or so. I'll wait and see what the allergist says when we see her. We're wanting to pinpoint his actual allergen (we're thinking sesame or sunflower, or even possibly ginger) but yea, I don't think testing (at least, not SPT) can happen in October. Can they still do the RAST test if on allergy meds?

just thinking a bit more (always dangerous) --

I had four years of allergy shots as an adult, and the allergist told me that it's pretty much a crap shoot.  My words, not his.  That the shots will help me, maybe for a lifetime and maybe for just a while.  Because i could develop new allergies or redevelop the old ones.  That even as an adult, things are changing.

Where I currently live, people who previously had no environmental allergies and move here can suddenly develop them.  I live near a major river.

So far, the shots have helped me for the most part --- but a few of them didn't "take" --- for example, my cat allergy.  Highly allergic to cats but if I stay away from them (as in, do NOT pet them) then I am okay ---
(unless I stay overnight with someone who has four cats that roam the house . . . which I did one time and pretty much struggled for breath by morning).
But I do not have the problems I once did with my environmentals, in general.

Mom2, you probably would NOT want your son to be off the antihistamine in the fall for testing, if he tends to have allergy problems in the fall. 

I may ask about re-testing when we go back in next month. I guess I should call tomorrow since his appt is in 3 weeks. But, with outdoor soccer, i'm not sure he can handle being off all of his meds for an extended period of time.

oy!

yes, you would need to know what the environmentals are for allergy shots, so they can mix in the correct allergens for the shots. 

But our allergist told us (just saying what he told us) that when younger, the kids' bodies are changing rapidly and the environmental testing is generally not accurate -- more accurate the older they get and the body settles down a bit.  So  ideally shots would be well after puberty, I'm guessing.   But i know there are kids who have had allergy shots younger. 

I would agree that the meds my DS is on generally are not helping --- or at least are keeping it down to a low roar, and I'd love to get him some allergy shots.  But not yet.   

For us, nothing allergy meds was working, we had been contemplating allergy shots. Since H plays soccer (an outdoor sport) I guess they felt it's important to make sure we're treating the right things. He (as of 4 or 5 years ago) is only allergic to a few grasses, some fall trees and some weeds.

I guess I see both points?

Well, here was the allergist's reasoning: 
will it matter what it shows my child is allergic to, wrt environmentals?   Because the treatment is the same, drug-wise. 

Now, if it showed allergy to dust mites, then yes, there would be things I could do --- but my child is also allergic to many other environmentals -- so, fixing one of those is not going to fix the whole problem.  Cannot eliminate trees and grass, etc.  Hence, the meds.

wow, really? no environmental testing til age 10-12?

Our ped allergist did H's SPT for enviros when he was 4.  She was the one who recommended doing it, and it seems pretty on the money as far as the testing went. Hasn't been re-done since, though we've redone food SPT since then in an effort to figure out just what exactly he's allergic to.

A didn't get enviro SPT until he was 10, but that's because we didn't notice any major issues with him until then. Now that he's on daily claritin, he stays pretty healthy and symptom-free.

oh goodness, you have so much to figure out!!  I feel bad for you.

My DS sounds a lot like your hubby and son.  Constant drip/sniffing/sinus infections.  And a lovely wet cough to add into the mix.

But he has asthma --- and he's on a lot of meds, and I don't know what else to do for him, and neither do the doctors. 

Our allergist said the same --- no environmental testing until older, when it would be more accurate.  I think DD had her first environ. tested at age ..... 12?  something like that. 

And which are true allergies?  And which are false positives??  How do you figure that out on environmentals?

We've always been told --- just treat the symptoms because the environmentals are def there, but who knows exactly what they are.

Not asthma that allergist or ped can tell.

Vicious post nasal drip due to another or same sinus infection.  Well, what is the root cause because DS has been great about nasal rinses, not picking his nose, blowing his nose (he is a sniffer backer upper, you know those kids lol), etc.

I don't think it was from the start of a cold.  Unless my kids have colds that go on for a month which I seriously doubt.  Allergist said he is seeing longer running viral issues this year. 

I asked about allergy testing for environmentals and shots.  He thinks it's a no go and not worth our time.  He said he hasn't even come into his true allergic profile as of yet so I would be spending good money for no good reason.  He didn't think it was worthy of looking into until he is closer to 10.  I could put him in the higher dose of Claritin though. 

Not sure what to do.  In the meantime, I will be fighting him on a stronger antibiotic and steroids.  Oh joy.  I feel for the poor kid though because DH suffers with this daily and I don't want him to do this journey.  Constant use of antibiotics and antihistamines and sudafed have really goofed up DH physically over the years which isn't fun either.

And he also thought nothing of the Chickfila peanut oil issue.  He said he is tending to lean towards a spice or just DS2's skin.  To prove the allergist right, DS2 decided to hive up for no good reason while sitting in the office.

H has asthma ... diagnosed at age 6 I think.

A year or so after that, he kept waking at night-time with coughing and started getting croup-like symptoms. Well DUH mom - he was in the throes of an asthma attack (luckily we were at the allergist) and she upped his Asmanex. 2 years later when it started happening again, we added in Singulair and he's been symptom-free since the very beginning of April.

However, we've noticed an increase in symptoms (light coughing, stuffy sounding)..... hoping that with upping his Asmanex/Flonase to 2x a day that'll clear out whatever he has coming on (he's not sick with a cold).


All that to say that H's regimen is:
Allegra in the morning
Singulair, Asmanex, Allegra and Flonase at night-time.

When he's got mild symptoms brewing (stuffy nose, mild coughing) we up the Asmanex and Flonase to 2x a daily. If coughing is persistent and annoying, we add in his rescue inhaler.

SO far, he's done very well with this - but yowsa on all the meds!