I saw a new allergist today, he has food allergies and that is his special interest in his practice. I got his name off of the AAAAI doctor search. I was pleased with my appointment and among other things he mentioned I should start taking FAFH-2 because he feels my food allergy has caused me a lot of stress and is stopping me from doing some things due to my over worrying. He explained to me ofc I cannot eat shrimp but he said if I were to go to a restaurant for example (which I stopped eating in restaurants since my reaction in 2011) he said the FAFH-2 would make it less likely to have an anaphylaxic reaction or possibly no reaction, if accidently I ingested something that was cross contaminated with shrimp/shellfish.
The Dr. said I can get FAFH-2 from this place in Chinatown (I live in NYC but not Manhattan) He said he had given them the formula and when I call or go there I mention his name and FAFH-2 and they will make it for me in powder or capsule form, or if I want to see Dr Li to get it that's fine too.
My question is do you think it is okay if I get FAFH-2 from this place and not from Dr Li? or is it better to make an appointment with her.
My new doctor looked over all my medications and said FAFH-2 would not interfere with any of them.
Your opinions and advice would be appreciated.
I would definitely go through Dr. Li. I'm surprised that your allergist would recommend going to Chinatown :-/ .
Here's some info that Boo collected on FAHF:
http://foodallergybitch.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-food-allergy-herbal-formula-2-fahf.html (http://foodallergybitch.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-food-allergy-herbal-formula-2-fahf.html)
Quote from: LinksEtc on September 12, 2014, 06:09:17 PM
I would definitely go through Dr. Li. I'm surprised that your allergist would recommend going to Chinatown :-/ .
Here's some info that Boo collected on FAHF:
http://foodallergybitch.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-food-allergy-herbal-formula-2-fahf.html (http://foodallergybitch.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-food-allergy-herbal-formula-2-fahf.html)
Thanks so much that's the feeling I had too.
ahh yes I follow food allergy b**** on FB and her blog.
I looked up the pharmacy my allergist recommended where they have the formula to make FAHF-2 and they have a Practioner search and Dr Li is listed, I am wondering if this is where she gets hers made up. When I do a search for Chinese herbal pharmacy in NYC this is about the only one that comes up with a Practioner search and says its one of the oldest, and largest Chinese Herbal Pharmacy.
But I am going to call her office tomorrow and see if and when I can get an appointment.
I'm thinking going through a doctor is best. I would imagine she compounds it there at the hospital.
I agree about going to see her I am just hoping I can get an appointment. I will psot tomorrow what they tell me.
You are probably right about her compounding it at the hospital.
I called Dr Li's office this morning A gentleman answered and after I told him why I was calling he gave me another number. I called and spoke with Dr Li's assistant. After our conversation she emailed me several forms I needed to fill out and email back, which I did. My next step is to get some blood work done. Once that is done I call Dr Li's assistant back and we set up an appointment for me to see Dr Li.
I will call my doctor tomorrow to make an appointment with her to get a script for the specific blood tests Dr. Li wants.
Wow. Great! I know at one point I had talked with her office about participating in the trial. I lived a bit too far from NYC then, and it wasn't feasible. I hope this works out for you!
Thank you Macabre :) I hope so too unfortunately my primary, who Dr Li's office recommended I get the blood work from, said she can order the cbc and other routine tests but not the blood allergy testing, since it is not what she has ordered for patients before and feels she would not know what to explain to the insurance company why she is ordering it.
. But she was very interested in hearing about FAHF-2, her brother in law also has a strong allergy to shrimp. She will be looking up info for him about Dr Li and FAHF-2, since she was not familiar with either.
So I made an appointment with my new allergist again for this Friday at 11:30 AM, hopefully he will order all the IGE testing Dr Li requires. I hope he doesn't resist and urges me to use the pharmacy he recommended.
I was a bit disappointed today.
I got the scripts needed :) I will double check with Dr. Li's assistant that the IGE testing is what Dr Li wants and nothing is missing on my script, then off to the lab :)
Why not just have Dr. Li as your allergist at this point?
Quote from: LinksEtc on September 20, 2014, 09:00:19 AM
Why not just have Dr. Li as your allergist at this point?
Just that its not easy to get to Manhattan, from the NYC borough I live in, (no subway system here etc) we drive into Manhattan and that's a major hassle with parking etc.
I rather have someone locally, but I will need to see her periodically anyway, my local allergist and she will work together on this. So in a way I will have 2 allergist I suppose.
I asked her assistant why doesn't Dr Li write out the scripts, she said she doesn't know why.
Oh almost forgot Dr Li is outside all insurance so all my visits to her and any herbal meds will be out of my pocket, Her office visit is not cheap :( but so worth it if this all works out.
well. I took the IGE Blood tests Dr Li wanted and just got the results back, I am quite in shock, everything that was tested came back normal, including Shrimp, cockroach and dust mites ??? I have 7 prior different IGE test showing I am allergic to shrimp, cockroaches and dust mites and broke out in full body hives from 1 shrimp.
I am waiting for the allergist to call to go over the results, I have no idea what to think of this and how can I send these results to Dr Li and wanting to start taking FAHF-2..
My total IGE was 24 it has never been that low, I just don't know what to think
Any input on this? is this common when you are allergic to have results come back <.35 in the things you are allergic too??
Quote from: forvictoria on September 26, 2014, 05:06:16 PM
well. I took the IGE Blood tests Dr Li wanted and just got the results back, I am quite in shock, everything that was tested came back normal, including Shrimp, cockroach and dust mites ??? I have 7 prior different IGE test showing I am allergic to shrimp, cockroaches and dust mites and broke out in full body hives from 1 shrimp.
I am waiting for the allergist to call to go over the results, I have no idea what to think of this and how can I send these results to Dr Li and wanting to start taking FAHF-2..
My total IGE was 24 it has never been that low, I just don't know what to think
Any input on this? is this common when you are allergic to have results come back <.35 in the things you are allergic too??
It is definitely possible to be allergic and have results come back <.35. This happened to my dd for several years ... although her last sesame blood test was positive.
An expert allergist will be able to interpret the big picture by taking everything into account ... testing (blood/skin) & a careful history (ex - when and what your reactions were like). If they think there's a reasonable chance that the allergy has resolved, they might offer you an oral food challenge.
Just take things step by step ... share all the info with your allergist & Dr. Li ... they should hopefully be able to guide you through this.
Don't go into this thinking that you have to get FAHF ... work with the docs and be willing to change course as necessary.
Shrimp is known for having a lot of antihistamines. You can have a response to shrimp that iis not an allergic rreaction to shrimp.
Quote from: LinksEtc on September 26, 2014, 06:06:48 PM
Quote from: forvictoria on September 26, 2014, 05:06:16 PM
well. I took the IGE Blood tests Dr Li wanted and just got the results back, I am quite in shock, everything that was tested came back normal, including Shrimp, cockroach and dust mites ??? I have 7 prior different IGE test showing I am allergic to shrimp, cockroaches and dust mites and broke out in full body hives from 1 shrimp.
I am waiting for the allergist to call to go over the results, I have no idea what to think of this and how can I send these results to Dr Li and wanting to start taking FAHF-2..
My total IGE was 24 it has never been that low, I just don't know what to think
Any input on this? is this common when you are allergic to have results come back <.35 in the things you are allergic too??
It is definitely possible to be allergic and have results come back <.35. This happened to my dd for several years ... although her last sesame blood test was positive.
An expert allergist will be able to interpret the big picture by taking everything into account ... testing (blood/skin) & a careful history (ex - when and what your reactions were like). If they think there's a reasonable chance that the allergy has resolved, they might offer you an oral food challenge.
Just take things step by step ... share all the info with your allergist & Dr. Li ... they should hopefully be able to guide you through this.
Don't go into this thinking that you have to get FAHF ... work with the docs and be willing to change course as necessary.
Thank you. That is good advice and good to know the tests can come back negative even if one is still allergic. I hope my doctor calls soon. I will post what he says.
Quote from: Macabre on September 26, 2014, 06:07:19 PM
Shrimp is known for having a lot of antihistamines. You can have a response to shrimp that iis not an allergic rreaction to shrimp.
Thank you that is good to know. Is there any way to tell the difference?
Not really-- some people are idiopathically hypersensitive to histamines. Anecdotally, one of the ways that this seems to crop up in families is dietary triggers for migraine.
(Cheeses, chocolates, that kind of thing.)
Quote from: CMdeux on September 26, 2014, 06:49:10 PM
Not really-- some people are idiopathically hypersensitive to histamines. Anecdotally, one of the ways that this seems to crop up in families is dietary triggers for migraine.
(Cheeses, chocolates, that kind of thing.)
wow interesting because I have Meniere's and MAV migraine associated vertigo (but do not get headaches which is common with MAV) and MAV foods like the ones you mentioned definitely are a trigger for me and set off vertigo and feeling unbalanced)
In fact when I was filling out Dr Li's medical forms it was the first time in my life I saw a medical form list Meniere's with a check box, usually I have to write it in under other
I spoke with my allergist and he said it did not surprise him the results came back normal, he reminded me how he felt that these blood tests are not the right tests for me, not strong enough because when I saw him he said all my other results were just slightly above normal but the pictures of my whole body hives tell a different story ( I took pictures when it happened 3 years ago)
He says I am atypical (story of my life :( )and should go to Mt Sinai where I would get better answers of what is going on with me. He also feels pursuing FAHF-2 with Dr Li is good for me since I am so stressed about my allergen since it first happened.
I will send Dr Li all my previous blood work and pictures of the hives along with these latest results.
Quote from: forvictoria on September 26, 2014, 07:08:22 PM
He says I am atypical (story of my life :( )and should go to Mt Sinai where I would get better answers of what is going on with me. He also feels pursuing FAHF-2 with Dr Li is good for me since I am so stressed about my allergen since it first happened.
I will send Dr Li all my previous blood work and pictures of the hives along with these latest results.
Make sure to communicate with her that you would like her to become your main/only allergist (if that is, in fact, what you want). :yes:
I have heard many good things about her so I am hopeful that she will take good care of you. :heart:
Thank you very much. I will and I hope so too. I will keep you all updated, :heart:
Quote from: forvictoria on September 20, 2014, 10:12:59 AM
Oh almost forgot Dr Li is outside all insurance so all my visits to her and any herbal meds will be out of my pocket, Her office visit is not cheap :( but so worth it if this all works out.
Is it just the FAHF that wouldn't be covered by insurance or is Dr. Li herself out of your network? Is Mount Sinai in your network / covered by insurance?
Quote from: LinksEtc on September 26, 2014, 07:32:13 PM
Is it just the FAHF that wouldn't be covered by insurance or is Dr. Li herself out of your network? Is Mount Sinai in your network / covered by insurance?
I asked Dr Li's assistant what insurance she takes and her answer was Dr. Li is outside all health insurance. But Mt Sinai is in my health insurance's network.
also the FAHF-2 is not covered
Quote from: forvictoria on September 26, 2014, 07:40:53 PM
But Mt Sinai is in my health insurance's network.
:thumbsup:
My Appointment with Dr. Li is Nov 22nd :)
Hi, which Chinese doc did you see for food allergy in Ny? My great niece hAs severe food allergy . She always has Epi pen with her