Questions about allergies

[TonyaW]

My son has allergies: food allergies, animals and I think some outdoor allergies.

He has obvious symptoms such as the allergy shiners, puffy, itchy and watery from dogs in his face, sneezing, coughing, and currently he is having some difficulty swallowing which I am not sure if that is related to allergies or not. The doctor said his throat looked fine and he didn't see any post nasal drip or functional issues.

I need to eliminate some foods, I guess all possible allergens until I figure out which foods. I do know he is allergic to wheat/gluten to the point that he had hives and stridor at one time. After this incident allergy skin testing revealed and allergy to wheat, shellfish, dogs and cats and possibly milk and eggs. I was unable to have blood drawn to verify anything.

What else can I do? I don't give him allergy medicine, but maybe I should? I don't know what is best. I would like to take a natural approach, but I don't know what would help and be healthiest for his body. Obviously it isn't healthy to be in a constant inflamed hyper immune state.

[kjbrown92]

Was it a scratch test originally? Why don't you start by pulling the things that you know are a problem (if milk and eggs were mild, I'd take them out too for now). If you reduce his allergy load by eliminating the foods, you may find that his environmental allergies are handled better by his body. I know that when we pulled all the trigger foods (intolerances) of my kids, they didn't have the allergy seasons that they'd had previously. Then if there are still issues, you can look for more culprits. But I'd start with what you already know.

[subtlycrunchy]

You might want to read some of the info at Healthy Futures, including these articles for parents:
http://www.healthyfutures.com/allerg...ction-children
http://www.healthyfutures.com/allerg...dfoodallergies
http://www.healthyfutures.com/natura...ritionalbasics

Hope this helps!