Hope diminishing...

[YouKnowWho]

So right now I am kicking myself because I administered Benadryl last night and we have an allergist appt on Monday afternoon.  Can't remember if Benadryl was the quick or the long one to avoid.

But more concerning is that DS2 was covered in hives after being in the lunchroom while others were eating Chickfila.  My first thought was his enviromentals are out of control and I was being overly dramatic.  And then the little girl in his class touched him while eating her sandwhich and there was a nice group of hives where she touched him.

DS2 tests positive for peanut.  We don't know if he reacts.  We know he doesn't seem to react to tree nuts.  But we had an incident years ago where his arm turned bright red and hot after picking up peanuts in the shell. 

We eat peanut butter in the house - moreso DH and I though DS1 loves pb cups and Cracker Jacks.  DS1 is insanely washing up after he eats those though (his thought is that it sets a good tone for everyone else and he knows we have to do it before we got to certain people's houses regardless of what we ate due to their allergy sensitivity).  He is not at an allergy free table - just at the end of the table with the specific instructions for the staff to wash with clean towels before and after he comes in.  He does seem to react to a lot of legumes.

Our allergist appt is because DS2 is miserable, complete with recovering from a sinus infection.  I am at the point of considering allergy shots.  Debating about canceling due to the Benadryl now as he is a hard one to even test.  He tests negative to a lot of foods we know he is positive to and positive to foods he can eat.

Thoughts?  Firing squad?  Can this ever be easier??

[Macabre]

Burks has us wait two weeks after having benadryl. Of course, DS had it four days (I think) before his last one, and peanut was huge. As was the histamine control (but peanut was lots bigger).

And fwiw Burks says that Chik-Fil-A is fine.  Not like we're going to try to prove him wrong--or right though.  I don't believe that we'll be eating peanut oil soon.  DS hived up at CFA before his vegetarian days.

[momtoAidenDeclan]

I think you have to put off the appt

Our allergist has said that PB near by ususally isn't a problem (as you're finding in your home) - no fumes or dust, you're neat and you clean up properly from it - but pn oil and regular pn are mor of a problmes for non-ingested reactions.

Good luck

[CMdeux]

Ugh.. yes, testing it probably off the table now-- our allergist figures that even with little kids (who metabolize things fastest) that the (clearance) half life of diphenhydramine is still about 8-14 hours, and they want to be out to a point where only 1-2% of the drug remains.  <sigh>

So after 24 hours, perhaps only 2 half-lives... still 25% on board...  another day, perhaps still 6.25% on board....

well, you get the idea.  4 days is kind of right at that break point.

BTW, clearance times are at least double that with the second-gen, longer acting antihistamines like cetirizine (zyrtec).  SO you went with the right stuff, for sure-- just not sure that there's enough time that your allergist will clear him for testing.  You won't know until you ask. 

Sorry.   

[rebekahc]

Well, that sucks that you may not be able to do testing, but sometimes you just gotta use the Benadryl.  Maybe you could keep the appointment to discuss the recent issues and have a RAST done instead of the SPT?

[YouKnowWho]

Will call Monday morning.  Had to cancel this appt once already because I forgot that I had to do something, should have just let my neighbor do it for me.

As much as I love our allergist, and I know he is defintely up to date in research, his failing to me seems to be in environmental allergies.  Combined with DS2's issues with testing (he rarely tests positive to anything on skin testing, even the histamine fails to show up most of the time and this is definitely without antihistamines in his body), I'm not even sure this is the best route to go.  Our allergist doesn't believe environmental testing is very accurate at this young age.  And I haven't done enough research to say if he truly knows what he speaks of. 

The other downside is that if we were to consider allergy shots, I cannot do them with the current allergist as he is too far away.  But I wanted to do the testing with him and possibly get his thoughts because I really do value his opinion.   But we would have to do them with a practice locally that I will never trust for food allergies (per their advice, I think DS1 would be dead) but have high high results for enviros.

I worry about meds and DS2.  He has some mental issues with Zyrtec.  DH is loathe to go with Allegra for him because he reacted to it oddly.  Both of the boys seemed to have inherited DH's sensitivity issues to certain drugs, combined with my drug allergies.  But Claritin is not cutting it obviously.  I just need a better plan at this point.   The truly sedating antihistamine whose name escapes me right now, works but it makes him spacey and tired the next day.  But he coughs all night (sheets are washed twice a week, allergy covers, one stuffed animal that is washed with the sheets, bath before bed) and has already had one sinus infection.  And we have stinky breath again.  He is doing good in regards to daily nasal rinses.  He doesn't have asthma (though the constant cough makes me wonder but ped heard no wheezing twice) and he doesn't get croup (unlike DS1 and DD who I hear coughing now) and has only had one bout of strep.  He used to be my healthy child...

[GingerPye]

I thought Benadryl was the quick-acting one?  And so, doesn't last in the system very long.  I would not cancel -- but that's just me.   CM's explanation is probably exactly right.

And the coughing at night -- sinus drainage most likely?  We see that in DS a lot -- nightly.  But he also has asthma.  Nothing seems to touch that sinus drainage, however.  Cannot get rid of it.

[AllergyMum]

Ugh bad situation all round. That's terrible about the hives at school.

The night coughing may be asthma not environmental.

Another thought. Does he have carpet on his floor. My son used to cough at night and within 2 days of removing the carpet and replacing with hardwood all the night coughing stopped. Since them we have removed all the carpet upstairs. And the night coughing has never returned except when he has a cold.

[YouKnowWho]

He does have carpet.  DH has been angling to replace it because all of the carpet in the house is in sad shape.  And while he knows he does better with hard woods, his thought is carpet would be cheaper...

You know until he is gassed out of the house with the new carpet smell.  Need to bring him over to a friends house because I love her hardwood.  Would rather wait a few months to save up the money for even lower grade hardwood floors rather than taking the faster carpet option.

We are going today.  As DH pointed, SPT tests are mainly pointless (we looked through the last records).  RAST seems to be his better option.  Regardless of testing or not, we need to look into med options at this point.

[mom2AnH]

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!

[YouKnowWho]

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.

[GingerPye]

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.

[mom2AnH]

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.

[GingerPye]

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.

[mom2AnH]

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?