Thursday, October 16, 2008

The Allergy Dr

I've waited such a long time to have someone give me answers about Landon's chronic runny nose. "He's teething", "He's a respiratory baby, always will be", "He'll grow out of it". These things were not cutting it, but I was getting nothing else. The day finally came that the doctor at the allergy and asthma clinic finally told me what I needed to hear: "You're not crazy or wrong at all, he has SEVERE allergies to weeds, grass and mites". If you've ever attended or undertaken a skin allergy test you know what it's like...they poke your back with a bunch of different allergens and then see if you welt up and get itchy. My poor baby cried when they pricked him, and then seconds (yes, literally seconds) later, he started crying again because he had already started itching. The welts on his back were so large on the outdoor prong of pricks (that's a description!) that the nurse had a hard time measuring them. The statement was made by both the nurse and the dr that he was pretty young to have already conjured up such bad allergies...and to make it worse, they will probably get worse before they get better! So armed with lots of information to absorb, drugs, and rules about where and when and what for Landon I left the Dr feeling better about myself; but feeling TERRIBLE for my little man. We'll put covers on his pillows and mattress to get rid of the dust mites, I'll start vacuuming every day, at least in his room, if not everywhere, and that's just for the one allergy. If he goes outside for long periods of time or is in the grass, he needs to come in, rinse off and change clothes to keep from having prolonged exposure to the outdoor allergens. If the drugs are still not working (we've added several more) then he'll have to start getting shots (yes plural). Two at time for days at a time until his immune system is built up, and then once a week. Overwhelming, for sure, but in a way, a huge relief!

2 comments:

Serena Shurtz said...

poor poor landon!!it must have been so hard to watch them do that to your sweet boy.
i understand that you have answers now and that is a relief. i wish we had answers on jackson's digestive problems. they have slowly started to reoccur after almost a year!!
at least now you know, you're not crazy, and hopefully the things recommened will help out your baby boy!
good luck!

I'm just sayin' said...

I'm so glad you finally got some answers, but am so sorry for Landon! I will pray that precautions and meds will ease his discomfort & magicaly disappear!

There was a time we thought Caden was allergic to peanuts- we were 2 days away from the testing, luckily we found out he was not before he endured the testing.

Goes not show...mamas are the best doctors when it comes to their babies.

Have a great weekend!