Allergy Update

Last night when I was getting all our paperwork together for today's appointment I found these allergy related posts extremely helpful - I wrote more details on here than in my babybook or parenting journal. Apparently, typing makes it a lot easier to include all the details, so get ready...

I'm feeling mixed about the appointment - it was good, but the result is that she still has allergies and they are more serious than I thought, so that makes me bummed.

Dr. W was AMAZING! He comes with some rockin' credentials in the field of pediatric allergy and immunology and we've been waiting since early August to see him. It was worth the wait. The appointment took 2.5 hours and was very thorough. Dr. W was so nice to Isla. There was a playhouse and ride-on cars (it was the most sterile yet kid friendly place I've ever been) in the waiting area and Isla was having a blast playing when he came out. Instead of going in the back he suggested we discuss her history out there so she could keep playing. It was great. I've never been able to give her pediatrician more than 50% of my attention, so it was nice to give 80% for once. He asked tons of questions and was able to connect some dots that were only speculative beforehand. For example, her GERD was most certainly an early manifestation of her MSPI.

After the history we went to an exam room and he did a physical exam and a nurse did a skin prick test for a bunch of environmental and food allergies. Isla is officially fine with male doctors and terrified of female nurses. She screamed throughout the test and it was hard to keep her from scratching her back while we waited, but we brought lots of books and toys and she settled down. The nurse came back and read the results and rubbed her back with about 1/4 cup of hydrocortisone cream. Isla was totally freaking, but I kept telling her, "No shots today, no bandaids today" and she calmed down.

The great news is that she didn't have any reactions to the environmental allergies they tested for. Since we have carpets and mildew issues in our lovely rental, I was worried that she might have some. We are still doing a zyrtec trial because of some nose rubbing that our pediatrician was concerned about. I'm not too concerned - just happy that the mold is not an issue. He also said it is extremely rare for toddlers and babies to have environmental allergies unless they have other severe histamine reactions.

The food tests included avocado, milk, soy, eggs, peanuts, and possibly some that I can't remember. The office was out of kiwi scratch juice (that's the technical term), so they didn't test kiwi.

Here are the results -
Avocado - negative
Dairy- negative
Peanuts - mild reaction
Eggs - mild reaction
Soy - big reaction

Here's what all this means:
(I plan to learn more, because I feeling like I have to barest grasp on all this.)

Based on Isla's medical history and the challenges we did during the summer, she has a Non-IgE mediated food allergy to dairy and soy. She will continue to be off these until January when we will probably do another challenge. There is no test to confirm this type of allergy, but her symptoms are "classic."

Isla can continue to eat egg because she is not currently having a reaction, but it could explain the on again off again diarrhea.

Isla can't have peanuts until she is three. Isla has never had peanuts (She is a sunflower seed butter fan) and we're told to wait until she is three before introducing them because of her other reactions when she was 4 months old. Dr. W confirmed this. Apparently it could go either way, so I'm not going to think about it for the next year and a half.

Isla can't have avocados. Despite the negative test, the Dr. was not thrilled with her reaction, so for the time being she is still can't enjoy her daddy's guacamole - the yummiest guac ever made! (This is sad too, because Isla loves spicy food right now! Just typing this is making my mouth water!)

Isla can't have kiwis until she is tested -not a huge impact on our lifestyle.

In addition to the Non-IgE mediated soy allergy, Isla has a IgE (histamine) allergy to soy. She has had minimal exposure to soy since I removed it from my diet, although that explains the really strong reaction to that formula we tried. Because of her reaction during the skin prick test the Dr. gave her an EpiPen Jr 2 Pak. Hopefully we will never have to use it. The Dr. gave me lessons and a little rhyme ("More than skin, pen goes in" Isn't that poetic...) and we have a practice pen so I can train Andrew and any babysitters. I am totally bummed about this - it just seems so much more stressful that the Non-IgE allergies, but on the other hand, I'm really glad that we have the medication in case she ever needs it. It makes eating out, introducing new foods and having babysitters less stressful.

Dr. W said her current diet is great and that he was impressed with how healthy she is. That was nice to hear, since it is a lot of planning and label reading.

At the end of the appointment Isla went berserk running around the office and talking to the receptionist. It was really cute.

PS - We went to Costco afterward to get her medicine and I stress bought some pumpkin cheesecake fudge from the roadshow. Isla was playing with my phone pretending to call Grandma and her Godsister, Teal. She held my phone and said, "Call Teal" then she held it up to her ear and said, "Hellooooo Yuma!" It was hilarious.
PPS - Isla's back is almost totally better now.