Tuesday, December 18, 2007

At a loss
I don't know what to do about Logan's hives anymore. After he goes on to the new insurance, maybe we should start looking for a second opinion. He's almost due for his 2 year check-up & I'll most certainly bring this up to his pediatrician because at this point, the allergist is a waste of time.

Logan's Skin Prick Test was negative for wheat, peanuts & gelatin. I give him a peanut butter & grape jelly sandwich on whole wheat bread for lunch today & this is what happens:


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Testing is negative for allergies, but yet, he has allergic reactions like this 15-30 minutes after he eats. I feel like if I go with my gut & cut out the foods that he reacts to, he will be left with raisins & water. At our last appointment with the allergist last week, he just kind of sat there & couldn't answer my questions as to why this happens. He's more concerned about Logan getting caught up on his vaccinations rather than finding the root cause of the hives. He actually said that 80% of the time, they never find the reason why kids break out in hives & then said that a prescription antihistamine will be available over-the-counter in January & we could start giving that to Logan. He also said that because the tests are negative & he keeps breaking out like this (which apparently shouldn't happen for this length of time - duh) we may have to look into autoimmune issues. As in his body may be allergic to itself. Good. Freakin'. Grief.

I don't think that's the case at all & it's obviously food allergies considering the patterns that are happening here. The hard part is this happens frequently (as in almost daily) so it's very difficult to narrow down which food it is without testing. So here we are, reactions to foods with negative tests. This would have been a hell of a lot easier if his reactions started when he began eating solids. Then it would have been a piece of cake discovering what foods bothered him the most.

10 comments:

Erica said...

What about the dyes in the food.I am allergic to certain reds and yellow dyes.My five year old is allergic to blue dye.Poor little guy hope he gets better.

Wendy said...

Those are exactly what Lani gets. We are going through the same things! Lani has been tested for every allergen and still she gets hives and a runny nose when she eats completely vegan food! (her allergies are egg, dairy, and beef)

Dawn @ Bent, not broken said...

Hmm..very interesting. And yeah, it definitely doesn't sound like some immune system problem..not that I'm a doctor or anything, but still.
Possible other culprits in addition to what everyone's added..
citrus?
I guess basically it's something that peanut butter, the jelly, and the bread share. I hope it gets as easy as narrowing down what's in those to find out

Kristin said...

Erica - I never thought it could be the dyes. I've heard of people being allergic to them before, but I never put 2 & 2 together. I'll be sure to add that to the list of possible allergies & questions! Thanks!!

Wendy - you've got a rambling email :)

Dawn - We have tested for citrus & that came back negative. This is the Grand List that we've been through:

Apple
Avocado
Banana
Carrot
Potato
Tomato
Orange
Oats
Rice
Wheat
Peanut
Soybean (2)
Garlic (3 4/18)
Casein
Milk
Egg (4/25)
Gelatin
Beef (2)
Chicken
Turkey
Strawberry
Blueberry
Raspberry

He's also been skin tested for all of the vaccinations too.

And your last comment: "I guess basically it's something that peanut butter, the jelly, and the bread share" just made a light bulb go off. I just need to compare the ingredients - even the preservatives - to find the common connection. I'm on it :)

Anonymous said...

Hi. I've never commented before but thought I would share this. Maybe you have already looked into this but my nephew has Celiac's. For years every time he ate he would have red ears and hives. They tried everything to figure it out. Tons of testing etc. Finally on their 3rd opinion the doctor said I think he has Celiac's. They cut out all gluten and he never had hives again. Like I said you might have tried this already. I haven't been reading that long. Good luck.

Heidi

Erin said...

Poor little guy! That has to be so frustrating for you. I agree, I'd check into the dyes and preservatives. When they do the allergy testing this extra added stuff isn't included, so that would be my best guess. Red dye really bothers my stomach...I can't drink much red Kool Aid or Crystal Light etc. w/out getting bad stomach pains and sometimes it'll make me break out in a rash on my face, hands and legs(itchy too). I hope you're able to get to the bottom of this soon!

Anonymous said...

I don't have an answer for you, but that just happened to my son today after eating peanut butter on some crackers. It has happened before and I never really gave it a second thought until I just read your post!

My son only gets it around his mouth, so I never thought it might be allergies. Wouldn't that mean his whole body would react?

Hmmm....this is definitely something I need to start tracking. thanks for making me more aware and I really hope you find an answer for Logan!!

Dawn @ Bent, not broken said...

I wish you guys so much..and that's quite a list you've got here! My oh my.
And someone just mentioned gluten.. do you know if he's been tested for that? Cause that sounds like they have a great idea! BEST OF LUCK!

Avorie said...

Wow, have you had him tested for Ciliac's disease?

Jaime said...

Hey ;)

I debated on commenting but figured what they hay.

Arwen had terrible hives, rashes and ezcema. We went to dermatologists, pediatricans, specialists, allergists, etc. We tried filtering foods, finding exact triggers and the like.

For us, she simply had to outgrow it. It really sucked. I can post some pictures for reference if you'd like but her face was ruddy and alot of photos showed her skin issues.

I hope that with time Logan's skin will begin clear up and it won't be a problem. I can attest to dyes though. We had to keep Arwen away from anything red for the longest time. If she so much as drank something red she'd break out all over.

(let me know if you want to see a few pictures)