Anyone have experience with an Allergist/Immunologist?

[chiropractic4kids]

We are taking DS to have some allergy testing done with an Allergist/Immunologist because he has eczema and it is getting pretty bad. We use a naturopath as our primary and he has never had any vaccinations or medications (other than one dose of tylenol at 15 months old). I had a ton of food allergies and asthma when I was younger though I don't seem to have any now (but DS did get very gassy when I ate those foods while nursing), and we have been very specific with DS' diet even avoiding gluten completely and nuts until about 6 months ago. He is almost 3. He was breastfed but weaned very early and was not EBF because he was a preemie, I had to induce my supply, and we had less than ideal support even from the lactation consultants that we saw.

Anyway, does anyone have any experience with taking a non-vaccinated child to an immunologist/allergist? I am going to be a few weeks postpartum at our first visit, so I would like some input on how to approach the non-vax, non-med status with this doc and what they typically address with regards to eczema. I have no problem standing my ground and the LAST thing I'm going to do is medicate my kid, all I want from this doc is some food allergy testing, but I need some advice if anyone has any to offer. Thanks!

ETA: Also, if anyone can tell me what specifically they do for allergy testing now that would be great, all I remember from my childhood is little pin pricks, and I don't want anything more invasive than that.

[MoonWillow]

Moved to Allergies

[Chinese Pistache]

Vax status wasn't an issue at all when we saw our allergist. And you don't have to take any meds you don't want to (plus, they'll just give you steroids to suppress the immune system to make the eczema go away, which isn't getting at the root of the problem). Realize, too, that testing isn't always accurate, and that eczema can be a result of non-IgE mediated allergies, which is what conventional allergists test for.

[WC_hapamama]

I've taken my kids to two different allergist, and the only time vaccinations came up in a conversation was a warning not to get my then egg allergic child a flu shot.

IMO, if you're absolutely anti-medication and you're taking a child with eczema into an allergist, you're going to run into trouble. Depending on how bad your child's eczema is, it may prevent the administration of a skin prick test, with leaves you with RAST (blood) testing as your only option.

An allergist, or any doctor, can't force you to use a medication they prescribe, and to be completely honest with you, I don't think that any doctor expects 100% medication taking compliance with any patient.

[an_aurora]

Our allergist didn't say a single word about DD's vax status. We put it on the intake paperwork, and she confirmed at the appointment, but that was it. For DD they did patch testing, which is what I assume they will do for your DS as well. Excema is a delayed reaction, and the patch test is specific to delayed reactions.

[WC_hapamama]

Originally Posted by an_aurora

Our allergist didn't say a single word about DD's vax status. We put it on the intake paperwork, and she confirmed at the appointment, but that was it. For DD they did patch testing, which is what I assume they will do for your DS as well. Excema is a delayed reaction, and the patch test is specific to delayed reactions.

My kids have seen two allergists, both have eczema, and they have never done patch tests on them. These are both allergists that stay very current with new developments.

[chiropractic4kids]

Thank you for the replies. I've read that the skin tests aren't accurate for food allergies, are the skin tests the "patch" tests? That's what I had done as a kid and was told that I was allergic to all kinds of things like corn, chocolate, green beans, lamb, etc. I never had any actual reaction to them, but when I ate those foods while I was nursing it gave DS really bad gas so apparently my body was reacting to them even though I didn't know it.

How else do they test for food allergies? I don't have a huge issue with occasional blood draws, but I am opposed to putting something into his body. We don't believe in medicating to suppress an issue, we would eliminate the triggers from his diet, but we need to know what exactly those triggers are.

FYI, we have tried AK but it didn't work.

[WC_hapamama]

The standard allergy testing for foods are either RAST (blood) or SPT (skin prick test). The SPT is NOT the same as patch testing. With the SPT, the prick the skin with a poky thing dipped in an allergen, and then measure the size of the wheal within 15-30. They compare it to the histamine prick to determine how allergic you are to that substance.

Both are uncomfortable for little kids, but I've found that the discomfort of a RAST test is much quicker than with the SPT.

Patch testing really isn't that common.

[kjbrown92]

And remember that eczema can be from food/environmental allergies or food intolerances. So even if the tests come back negative, food can still be a possible cause (my DD2 gets eczema from corn, and it showed up negative on intradermal testing).