How did you get your children diagnosed with allergies?

[lucypch]

Did your pediatrician do the diagnosing, an allergist or a dermatologist?

I have 2 children DS 2.5 years old and DD 5months old. They both seem to have allergies. With DS I have had a gut feeling for over a year now - chronic constipation, Fussy all the time as an infant, dealt with reflux for a while, now congested all the time and chronic ear infections, he has trouble breathing at night. When I would tell ped, hubby and family they never took it serious. I have been seeing a chiro and he gave me a blood test. I even have gone to an allergist and he doesn't think he has food allergies and wouldn't test him. Now DD has really bad Eczema. Because her allergy seems more obvious ped is sure that she has allergies. So what is my next step?

I am changing to a different ped hopefully someone that will take me more serous and will figure out what's wrong with DS. I feel like we have taken along time to get to this point.

Edited by lucypch - 12/7/10 at 5:31pm

[tanyalynn]

I've not done any testing, ours are food intolerances so the usual tests done by an allergist wouldn't show anything--and the reactions you're talking about could certainly be caused by intolerances rather than IgE allergies.  I cut out gluten and dairy and then slowly realized that DS had 3 other foods he was intolerant of--to various degrees, in different ways. 

If you are concerned about a life-threatening allergy, or you aren't sure, I'd read the old threads on IgE allergies, search for threads with the word anaphalaxis, and then decide if you think that may be an issue for your kids.  For us, it's not, and since our list is fairly short, just taking out some of the most common foods and then keeping a food journal was quicker and cheaper than any sort of testing.  For people with more intolerances, or mixes of intolerances and IgE allergies, actual testing can be helpful, but I'd try problem-solving on your own first.

I never expected our doc to listen to the concerns I had about my son.  His health was clearly not ok, well "clearly" to me, but nothing so blatant that they'd know what to do with--I guess I have low expectations. 

And if you vaccinate, I would suggest delaying for a while until you understand and have control of the eczema and other reactions.  Part of these reactions is an over-reactive immune system, and enough kids in the forum have had worsening after vaccinations, which _are_ meant to stimulate the immune system, that you may want to get to a steady place where you have a better grip on the situation, before you decide how/whether to continue.  Just something to consider if you haven't already. 

[FAmom]

Just quickly, a pediatrician can order a RAST (blood test), to test for allergies.  Ours has.  No problem.  An allergist will do skin tests.  Usually not a problem either unless the child is under 2, then it may not show even if there is an allergy.

I would offer first, that if you feel something is wrong, and you get blown off by a pediatrician or allergist, don't take that as you being wrong necessarily.  It shouldn't take all that much convincing to get a pediatrician, at the very least, to order a RAST.  

Plus, when our one son was having breathing/congestion problems, we got sent to an ENT.  

BTW, dairy and eggs ..... two things, allergy or intolerance, can exacerbate eczema.... of course along with a whole host of other things.  But, those, plus environmentals like pets, are what I'd think of first when I read your post.  

[deminc]

The allergist did a skin test for ds2. It only told us that he is definitely highly allergic to dust mites, and inconclusive for a couple other things which the allergist told us to rely on observations. The pd wanted to do a blood test, we're still hesitating over it as we are reluctant to draw blood but we feel we still do not have the complete answer. But if you're not too desperate, I think you can try taking out just a couple of suspect food and see if it makes a difference. For wheezing and breathing related stuff, definitely consider dustmites among other things (though that is not our son's primary sympton, wheezing and asthma was for many of his cousins).  But given his history of reflux, I would consider food factors as well. Good luck!  

[sbgrace]

No pediatrician I've dealt with was willing to run allergy labs. I don't know why...they all just referred.

At 18 months I pulled dairy from my allergic child (and gluten) because I needed to pull allergens from the other child to see if his reflux improved per the pediatrician (it didn't). It was so hard for him to watch his brother eat his favorite foods and he kept grabbing the "no" stuff so we decided to just do both for the trial period. Allergic child's chronic eczema cleared up almost immediately as did some other (stool related) issues.

At 2.5 he had a hives reaction to oranges. We went to the ped. who referred us to the allergist (hives were not going away). The allergist did skin prick and we were positive to a slew of things. Knowing what I know now I think a few of them were false positives and his skin was so reactive at that point that we're lucky he didn't react to all of it. Over time we added things (food trails). It seemed he was allergic to tons of environmentals (outdoor, dust, cat) and some foods (including the oranges). He failed a few things every time we introduced but over the years he outgrew a lot of the major allergens including dairy.

At somewhere around 5.5 he had an anaphylactic reaction to trace tree nut. We saw a different allergist who did skin prick. They then ordered RAST to get numbers on the tree nut and sesame allergies.

The gold standard for allergy testing is food trial. I think they very recently issued guidelines for pediatricians to follow to diagnose food allergies. Realize that any allergy test has a significant rate of false positives (false negatives rare though) for foods. The positives are more accurate for environmental. So the testing should be followed up with actual food trials to confirm when there is question and if you have a clear reaction to a food  (for my son he almost always gets hives) that's indicative of allergy. I believe the new guidelines actually specify that. 

[ASusan]

At 10 mos., our family doctor ran a RAST test, and DS was positive to half the foods tested. (egg, wheat, peanut) - I had already given up dairy. It was super-helpful to eliminate those 3 things from my diet, and his skin improved a LOT (but he still struggled with eczema and itching and having to nurse a lot in the night when his tummy was upset).

The dermatologist - whose office suite is SHARED with the allergists - was absolutely no help at all. I got a lecture -  by 2 doctors in the same room - about what eczema IS, and that he could be allergic to some things and not to other things. Some children react to some things, and some children react to other things. And basically you'll never sort it out, so here is a 'script for steroid cream. Oh, and don't use any oils that you would typically use for cooking, like olive or coconut, because you just don't know what is in those oils. Use Eucerin or Cetaphil.

The dermatologist's nurse who took our history DID ask if I'd given up wheat or anything like that. SHE thought a lot of eczema was linked to food allergies, but the dermatologists themselves would NOT entertain that discussion.

The allergist, who we saw around 12 mos. did a SPT and DS reacted positively to the same allergens as the RAST test.

At 28 mos, we we-did the RAST (ordered by the allergist this time) to get specific levels to compare with the first test, to see whether and in what direction things were changing. They did an in-office challenge of dairy, which he had never tested positive to. He passed the in-office challenge, but his skin reacted and he had difficulty sleeping. (probably an intolerance there)

The rest we figured out (or didn't figure out!) by observation and recording/remembering what he had eaten.

[lucypch]

Thank you for the replies. DS just went to an ENT yesterday- He is going to get his surgery to have tubes put in his ears, tonsils out and clear tissue behind his nose. We are waiting for the RAST test to come in. With DD I have eliminated Dairy, eggs and wheat. So far I can see right away when she reacts badly to something so far Pineapple and yesterday she just broke out horribly after I drank Gatorade. We were scared and didn't know what to do. She kept crying and itching her whole body broke out in hives. I gave her Benedryl and it calmed down after 30min.