Allergist appointment tomorrow

[becca]

I have a cramp in my left hand after filling out all the forms for the visit!  It has been several years, but dd has had chronic environmental allergies for the past 9 months or so.  I need help figuring out what we need to clean up, besides dust.  We plan to request hamster/rodent related tests(bedding and dander).

I suspect the visit will lead to us having to pull out all the wall to wall in our bedrooms, or at least, dd's soon, and putting down hardwood.  Goodbye kitchen reno, lol.  Basement is finished and has wall to wall as well.  I think a laminate would be better.  Maybe a high quality one that looks like wood. 

Anyway, it says it will be a 1.5 hour visit.  Wish us luck.  I do not expect any new news wrt food allergy.  This visit is because dd has this newer EA issue. 

[PurpleCat]

Good Luck!  Hope you get good and clear answers!

[MaryM]

Good luck!  Let us know how it goes.

[Macabre]

I hope it's a helpful appointment!

[GoingNuts]

Good luck!

[CMdeux]

Wow, that is a long appointment.  Good luck!! 

[hezzier]

Good luck tomorrow, let us know how it goes.

[becca]

So, when I had dd go through the detailed list of ranking her symptoms in different environments, she is basically the worst at home, inside our home, and best at school, and by the beach(vacation). 

So, I clearly need to step up my cleaning, but am worried we have a mold issue I may not know about and how will we deal with that?  I also think it has a lot to do with old wall to wall and area rugs we have around.  She does seem better when I have freshly vacuumed and dusted.  However, at 15, I feel like she can pitch in, and especially in her own bedroom, where she insists on keeping a huge hamper full of stiffed animals. 

Anyway, I anticipate being scolded and admonished for having any rugs at all, and allowing her a pet and stuffed animals, etc...  But until 9 months ago, things were good.  I think her allergy cup got full with the awful spring season we had and she has never shaken it. 

She seems better after this course of amoxicillin she just finished, so maybe she was harboring a chronic infection in her sinuses and maybe she needs more treatment for that?  She has not had antihistamines for a week, and seems no worse, slightly better due to the abx treatment. 

[hezzier]

It's one thing to get yelled at because you did not follow doctor's instructions, but you shouldn't get yelled at for having carpet.  We don't have central air and the doc didn't tell us to put it in, she just said don't open his window...they know there is only so much a family can do...sometimes you have to work with what you have...so maybe her room needs cleaning more often.  I know my whole house needs cleaning more often.  We certainly didn't get rid of the carpet in the last house...we happened to luck out with this house and DS got the room without carpet and a window barely opens anyway. 

Will getting the carpet steam cleaned help?

Maybe the doc can convince her to get rid of some stuffed animals.

[becca]

Well, really, after 17 years, the carpeting should go.  Or changed, but if we do that we would get pre-finished HW since it goes in quickly without the fumes.  But, really, we have so much stuff, I am overwhelmed by the idea of clearing out the bedrooms to do this.  In the master bedroom, it would also require emptying the walk in closet.  But, just makes sense to try to do it all, if we do one room.  A friend suggested that some floor people will move things room to room for us, as they do each room, for extra $$.  Anyway, I am getting ahead of myself.  We will see how the appt goes. 

[becca]

Allergist is still a bit of a curmudgeon, lol.  But, he now lauds my feeding dd cooked egg.  He discussed challenging her for scrambled, but we are not motivated to do that.  i doubt we could get her to actually eat a scrambled egg and it would require an appointment in the city prior to the actual challenge.  So, we quickly ended that discussion.  Her skin test was slightly + for that, barely 3mm. 

Dust mite was inconclusive!  But, red, so will do some second level testing for that, and a few others in 2 months. 

What was + was Alder for trees(early trees), grass, sage weed(not the cooking herb), Alternaria mold(found typically in damp leaves in outdoor air),  Cat, and drumroll....HAMSTER.  It was not overwhelmingly + but she had a hive, about 3-4 mm.  That is a positive result. 

Honestly, I am relieved, because I think getting him out of her bedroom will be a big help.  And now I have the doctors orders to make her do so. 

He was really pushing for her to give the flonase another go.  He feels it is the best treatment for her issues, since it is pretty much all sinus/post nasal drip/sore throat.  She hates it. 

Anyone use another steroid nasal spray without that strong fragrance that the flonase has? 

[YouKnowWho]

The OTC nasal spray (Nasalcrom?) doesn't have a strong scent.  I always find it weird that nasal sprays aimed at the allergic folk stink to high heaven.

[becca]

Is that a steroid one?  OTC?  I would give it a go. 

Anyone use air purifiers?  I worry I have an issue with the fireplace, and dampness, that could be connected to the alternaria mold allergy.  I see room sized ones that can be moved around.  Tempted to try one at $199, and move it room to room to control some allergens that might get in.  I could clean up the bricks and place it by the fireplace.  See if things change.  Would probably be good in the basement too. 

[CMdeux]

Nasalcrom is NOT steroidal.  It is a mast cell stabilizer-- but you can use it alongside other meds, too.

Flonase and Nasonex are medically more or less interchangeable, and often people find one better than the other in terms of that nasty smell/taste.

[PurpleCat]

DD uses Naxonex.  I asked her if it has a smell and she said she never noticed one.  She's been using this since she was 4 or 5.

I don't think an air purifier will help with dampness.  We use a dehumidifier in our basement year round.  It makes a huge difference to the dampness in the basement and I am surprised just how much water it can extract.  The basement is warmer (weird huh?) and we no longer have any mold issues in our house.  Another thing we had to do was rework our bathroom exhaust fans.  The contractor did not vent them out of the house properly.  When we did that I upped the size as well and our bathrooms are so much better and no longer have mold issues.

My SIL swears by air purifiers for her allergies however, they do not help her daughter's at all.  She also said even with that, she has to keep their windows closed during many pollen seasons.

Adler is an early one, sometimes if we have a warm winter it pops up in very early March.

As for the fireplace, consider what you burn.  DD can not be in a house with a real wood burning fireplace for more than an hour.  We don't use ours. 

One of my brothers had a pellet stove and his DD's (same child as above) allergies were awful in the winter.  When my DD was there she was miserable.  I finally talked to him and they shut if off for 2 weeks.  Next thing I knew it was pulled out of their house and replaced with a gas fireplace.  He said there was no way of knowing what kind of wood was in the pellets so he did not know what he was burning.