Allergy Consult Results

Noah’s allergy situation has changed a little bit... okay, a lot.

After finding out his RAST test came back positive for a peanut allergy, I made an appointment with the PA-C at Alexis’ allergist’s office for a consultation. I just wanted to know what that meant and what we should avoid.

We got there at 11:30 on Tuesday and she took one look at him and asked if we could do a skin test. I was surprised because I had been told in the past that they wouldn’t do a skin test before a child is one. But she wasn’t convinced a peanut allergy was giving him such bad skin problems (he has a rash/eczema all over his chest, back, arms & face… very similar to what Alexis had at this age but the cradle cap isn’t as bad). I wasn’t expecting any testing, but was all for it. If we could get answers like this at 4 months old, I’m all for it!

They tested him for peanut, milk, soy & egg. They didn’t tell me which dot was what on his leg, but I watched one welt up nearly as bad as Alexis’ milk reacion. 14 minutes later they measured & revealed the peanut test was negative, as was milk and soy.

Noah is allergic to eggs.

My first thought: Thank goodness! I can’t tell you how relieved I was that he’s not allergic to peanuts. Mainly because from what I know of food allergies, that’s one that many don’t grow out of or it takes a really long time. I was also relieved it wasn’t milk. While I’m more educated on that one, I know what it’s done for Alexis’ growth. And after four months of fearing there was an allergy and we didn’t know about it, my fears were now put to rest!

So now I’m taking eggs out of my diet. That means not only no eggs, but nothing with egg in it. I’m collecting information, doing my best to avoid it and anticipating results.

Something else that was interesting though, was that the allergist had me change how we’re dealing with the eczema. When Alexis had problems, we saw a dermatologist (long before we saw the allergist). The dermatologist put her on a whole lot of medications and said to bathe her only twice a week & not use any soap because even the most mild or moisturizing will rob her of the moisture she needs. The allergist said to bathe Noah every day and use a gentle, moisturizing soap. That’s because his skin is basically allergic to the bacteria we all have on our skin and do just fine with. His body is attacking it, so it will help him if we wash it off every day and keep the bacteria levels low. I’m up for any option that avoids the numerous topical steroids we used on Alexis so we’ll see how it goes, but I have a feeling it’s going to take some time!

But after everything was done, our half-hour consult lasted an extra hour... well worth the time!