Need some advice re: negative skin test

ajgerber06

Hi, I'm a lurker but am in need of some advice regarding my 14 month old son's negative skin test for environmental allergies.  We have a follow up with our pediatrician next week and I'm trying to figure out what to do next.

 Our journey so far....congestion and ear infections started at 8 weeks old.  We had 10 rounds prior to him getting tubes at 6 months old.  After that the ear infections slowed down but we continued to battle allergy symptoms such as runny nose,  congestions, coughing, etc.  We just treat with over the counter products until it gets back to the running fever/ear trouble stage.  The summer months were easier on us but then ragweed season hit in September and he ended up with a ear infection and sinus infection so our pediatrician sent us to a pediatric allergist for allergy testing last week.

He was tested for 20 things and nothing was positive.  Not even the slightest.  The allergist diagonsed him as non-allergic rhinitis, told us to treat the symptoms and shoved us out the door.  He does not believe in testing for food allergies unless there are reactions to food and he didn't think our symptoms warranted this.

The only other thing he did for us was to give us Prevacid with the assumption that reflux may be backing into his ears and causing the ear infections.  My son is still not sleeping through the night and often wakes up acting like he is having gas/stomach pains but the Prevacid hasn't helped there so far.  His allergy symptoms have lessened lately but so has the pollen count.

 Sorry that is so long and random but does anyone have any suggestions for what to try next?  Our pediatrician can run the bloodwork for food allergy testing but not sure if that will help since he does not break into hives or anything like that when eating.  We are also experimenting with Lactose free milk to see if that helps us at night.

 Both of us are allergic to everything and pretty much take year round meds so we both feel allergies are to blame for a lot!

Any help you may have will be greatly appreciative!

magdusia

I'm so sorry you're dealing with that! Poor little guy! hope you find out what the reasoning is.

I don't think it's food allergies since his symptoms come during allergy season.. but better be safe than sorry and just rule food allergies out by a test.. I would totally have your pedi do a RAST test for the top 8 allergies. 

I would also do my own test regarding food allergies.  Some kids never show any visible skin issues but still have allergies/intolerances.  You can do an elimination diet.  Personally i feel like cows milk can cause so many issues, even if the person is not allergic.

Perhaps put him on an organic diet..  i hope you get some answers soon and some sleep!  have your pedi run a rast test for FA.. this way you can rule it out. But i would still recommend  doing your own elimination diet. Also -start a food journal and every time he eats, write down how he's feeling.. his symptoms.  and if every time he has scramble eggs for Breakfast, does his nose run (kinda thing).

 

ajgerber06

Good idea on the food diary.  He is in daycare so we need to be better about seeing what he gets there too.

 I will definitely ask for the RAST.  Mainly to help rule out stuff.

 I do think we are dealing mostly with environmental stuff.  He started getting sick right around September last year which ties to ragweed.  And he got better after spring allergy season died down.  His skin test didn't help prove that theory though.  We do have the option to repeat in a few months.

 Thanks for your help!

g_belle

Have you seen an ENT?  I'd get a different allergist opinion if you are going that route- with just the info you gave us here I"m not sure why an allergist would prescribe reflux meds (I would want a reflux diagnosis to come from a GI).  I think I'd see the ENT before testing for food allergies since you haven't seen hives or anythng. 

 Other ideas to help (my DH has tons of seasonal allergies): during high pollen counts- make sure that your LO doesn't wear his clothes to bed/nap that he wore playing outside.  Give a quick bath every night before bed to get pollen out of hair etc.  Stop wearing shoes in the house- they track in tons of dirt/pollen etc.  Vacuum and dust as often as possible and buy the highest quality air filters for your heating/cooling system that you can get.  Our dog also gets wiped down when coming in during really bad times (not always- we get lazy aobut that one and the shoe one)

ajgerber06

We first saw an ENT after several rounds of ear infections.  He was 6 months old when he got his tubes and we didn't even make it to his two week follow up appointment for the tubes before his ears were infected again.  We went to the ENT a couple of times after that to try and treat excess wax and fluid even with the tubes still in place.  The ENT is old school so he just wasn't a lot of help in trying to figure out the cause.  He also always blamed teething which annoyed us.

 We then improved a while so we didn't pursue another ENT at that point.

 The allergist quoted some high % of kids with recurring ear infections were due to reflux.  I looked online and found similar articles linking the two.  But our son has no other symptoms of reflux other than some stomach pain at night which is just confusing.  During the day he is fine and never spit up as an infant.  His throat appeared clear too but he thought it was worth a shot to try Prevacid.

 We definitely need to improve on cleaning and what not.  I've been pushing for a maid for a while.    One good thing is our house has all wood floors so no issue of carpeting.

shotzie

I wonder if his stomach bothers him because of mucus going down his throat and into his stomach...? I've had that happen before, where post nasal drip made my stomach hurt. I don't know if a humidifier would help or using saline nasal spray and a Nosefrida nose sucker - that thing is awesome.
DD is allergic to dairy and one of her symptoms was constant congestion. It cleared up once we cut dairy out of her diet. But if his flares up with certain seasons, it does sound environmental. I hope you can get some answers soon!

tbmadeamistake

Honestly, I would try cutting out dairy.  His reactions sound just like my own to dairy.  I went on an elimination diet some years ago and when I reintroduced milk to test for a reaction, I had a runny nose/achy neck/stuffy ears within an hour of ingesting it.  My allergy is to the protein (casein) in the milk, not a lactose intolerance.  Might not hurt to give it a shot.  Good luck and I hope he feels better soon!

ajgerber06

He was not a forceps delivery.  I wonder if a regular chiropractor or would I need to look for one specializing in pediatrics.  I'm in a fairly small town so not sure if the chiropractors we have would even try it on a toddler.

Would the RAST be able to tell if it is an allergy to protein (casein)?

We had tons of issues when he was a baby with formula.  They were relatively minor so we just tried to wait it out until he moved to solids and regular milk.

Thanks everyone!  A lot of good ideas that we can take to our pediatrician and hopefully figure out the next step!

 

magdusia

ajgerber06:

He was not a forceps delivery.  I wonder if a regular chiropractor or would I need to look for one specializing in pediatrics.  I'm in a fairly small town so not sure if the chiropractors we have would even try it on a toddler.

Would the RAST be able to tell if it is an allergy to protein (casein)?

We had tons of issues when he was a baby with formula.  They were relatively minor so we just tried to wait it out until he moved to solids and regular milk.

Thanks everyone!  A lot of good ideas that we can take to our pediatrician and hopefully figure out the next step!

 

Yes.. a RAST test will determine his allergy to casein.  My son's caseins allergy is couple of points higher than his milk.  And i know his RAST test results showed he was tested for both..

good luck with everything!