Allergies...

I mentioned this the other day in a post, but didn't go into much detail. At one of Lawson's last doctor's visits I told the Doctor that we use the Albuterol (rescue inhaler) at least every month or two and I learned that if we're using it more than four times a year, then we have a problem. After I told Dr. Byrum about Lawson's frequency of use coupled with the fact that he's been in the hospital five different times due to breathing problems (of which I was pretty sure they were allergy induced) our Pediatrician said, lets go get him tested to see what's going on.

So that's what we did. I set up an appointment with Arkansas Allergy and Asthma Clinic and was shocked when in early November, the first available appointment wasn't until January. So we recently had our first appointment and I must just say that it was terrible. It started when he wouldn't answer the nurse or Doctor's questions and said "I don't want to talk to them" in a very stand offish voice which is totally rude and embarrassing, but even that behavior can be overlooked when they're a young, shy, child. It's when he started hollering, "I DON'T like this place", "NNNNOOOOO, I don't want to do that again" screaming at the top of his lungs, after being in the office for 3 plus hours, this Mama wanted to go jump out the window. You know what I mean?

After answering many many questions, Dr. Ingram (whom I must say is WONDERFUL) said he thought we definitely needed to do allergy testing. BOO!! So Lawson was told to take his shirt off and to lie down on his belly, that wasn't a problem until the nurse wheeled in a cart with all kinds of little vials and needles, etc. He FLIPPED out and pretty much never recovered!


Literally, Dr. Ingram, me and a nurse had to pin him down in order to do the 40+ little stick tests on his back. That part was misery, but trying to keep him on his belly, flat, so that all the oils they'd injected him with wouldn't run all down his back was pretty challenging too. After we waited the allotted 15 minutes, Dr. Ingram came in to see what his back looked like, honestly it didn't look to bad to me, there wasn't much redness or swollen spots, so I kind of thought he didn't have much of anything going on.


Boy was I wrong! Dr. Ingram came back in and said there were several things he was initially allergic to and that he wanted to do five more injections with more potent allergens in them to see how he reacted to those. That was no fun, because those were 5 separate shots, which he said "really hurt". It didn't take long with these to see redness and swelling occur.


Turns out our sweet little guy is allergic to a TON of environmental things, from dust mites to every kind of grass, tree and molds. That was a bit surprising to me, but not totally shocking. It pretty much explains why he has a constant runny nose and breathing issues, because those allergens are all around him all the time! The doctor recommended that we immediately start allergy shots (1 time per week) for about 3 months then we'll hopefully go to 1 shot a month for 3 to 5 years and be done with them. Oh how I hope its just 3 years and not all 5!! We've now gone twice for our weekly shots and both times its been HORRIBLE; he flips out, screams, kicks and flails around on the ground…Lord help me! And we're now on quite the daily regimen of meds: Flovent-2 puffs/twice daily, a nasal spray, Benadryl at night and Claritin in the morning with an allergy shot thrown in one time a week with an Epi-Pen too, just in case he has a reaction.

And since Emerson too, has had a fairly constant, yucky, runny, nose, Dr. Ingram suggested we go ahead and have him tested as well, so this Friday at 8:45am I'll be steeling my nerves yet again for another several hours of testing…I think I'll bring Adam with me for reinforcement!