Itching and sneezing, and hives OH MY! The beginning of my journey as an allergy mom.

Full disclosure I am not a doctor. I am just a mom sharing her personal experience with allergies. I recommend speaking with a professional if you have any questions or concerns. 



allergy

NOUN

allergies (plural noun)

 

1.     a damaging immune response by the body to a substance, especially pollen, fur, a particular food, or dust, to which it has become hypersensitive.




The other day I shared on social media that I was taking my youngest to the allergist. I received tons of questions, so I figured I’d share it all in one spot. Before I start with this story, I have to say we are not new allergy parents. Our oldest daughter has a nut allergy. Specifically, a tree nut and peanut allergy. Both stories are sort of similar but the second go around it was a lot easier to point out what we thought the issue was. Both times the child ate something, had a reaction and we cut what we thought the source of the reaction was out until they were tested. Both times it turned out that they were allergic to what they had consumed. I have to say my oldest daughter’s experience was a little more dramatic. She stole a peanut butter cracker from her brother, which we didn’t even notice she had eaten at the time, so when we looked at her and she was covered in hives (out of what we thought was nowhere) I immediately tossed her into the tub to bath her, why I have no idea. Maybe I thought she had something on her that needed to be washed off. My husband and I both laugh about it when we talk about this story now. Whatever my thought process was the bath didn’t work. So, we rushed her to the emergency room but by the time we arrived her skin was completely clear, and she was doing just fine. Instead of spending hours in the emergency room we opted to return home and call her doctor. Now with our youngest daughter we were eating fish for dinner one night, she kept saying her ears were itching so we told her to stop eating. She tried fish for a second time and complained about the same thing, so we figured she was probably allergic to the fish. With fish being the common denominator, we cut it out her diet until she was able to see an allergist. 

One of the questions I received was how we were sure our child was having an allergic reaction. Well, if you read the quick story time above, we weren’t sure with our first child. Looking back, it’s a duh moment but in the moment, it wasn’t so obvious. I wasn’t familiar with the different symptoms of an allergic reaction. I have seasonal allergies and for me an allergic reaction looking like swollen eyes, runny eyes, runny nose, sneezing, and stuffiness. I have a younger cousin with a shellfish allergy and when I heard about her reaction it was a closing of the throat severe reaction. Now I know symptoms of allergic reactions can be mild or severe. I’ll share a few below.







Another question I received was what did we do when you first had concerns about allergies? I mean other than the original mad dash to the ER the first go around, we eliminated what we thought was causing the reaction, which was peanut butter and anything peanut related for our oldest daughter and fish for your youngest. We immediately contacted their pediatrician and made an appointment to see her. After a check up and voicing our concerns she referred us to an allergist. I recommend making notes of what you think may be causing the reaction, what they were doing at the time of the reaction, and even what the reaction was to share with the pediatrician and allergist.  


What was the process like when getting their diagnosis was another question? For us the process was smooth. After getting a referral to an allergist we had an appointment quickly, within a week. We answered a few questions and I opted for them to be tested for both food and environmental allergies. While I only had concerns for one thing specifically for both children, I wanted them to get a full test to eliminate any future guessing. My goal was to leave the appointment knowing everything that they were allergic to.  

 

A lot of people were also curious about the actual allergy test itself. The skin prick test. I was familiar with this process because I had it done when I was a child. So, the process went a little something like this. My girl (s) laid on their stomach with their backs exposed. A small drop of allergen is placed on the skin, in our case on their back, then pricked with a tiny needle so that the allergen can get into the skin. I mean I won’t say it doesn’t hurt because everyone’s pain tolerance is different, but my super dramatic six-year-old didn’t cry. Neither did my ultra-sensitive now 10-year-old. The youngest made some noise and voiced how much it didn’t feel like a pencil poking her like the nurse had told her it would, but she didn’t cry. So once all the pricks were done, they laid there for a while to see if they had any reactions to the allergens. If a swollen reddish bump forms with a ring around it, then that meant they were allergic to that allergen. Now I will say this process is an itchy one. I had to stand there and fan their back and try to distract them with YouTube as they laid there trying not to scratch. DO NOT LET THEM SCRATCH. The itchiness did go away by the time we left the appointment.


People were also curious about the kind of allergies my children have. My oldest daughter has food allergies and my youngest has a mixture of food and environmental allergies. There are tons of different allergies you can check out a few down below. 



I'll end this post with this last question. What advice do I have for moms who think their child may have allergies? My advice would be to simply get them tested, know exactly what allergens they are allergic to, so you can take the proper steps to keep them healthy, happy and safe. 






Comments

  1. Great read and info! My grown self need an allergy test done 🤦🏾‍♀️

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