Allergy Testing

You almost cant tell from the pics that she was just hysterically screaming while 3 of us held her down to get her skin allergy test. She actually looks pretty calm in these pics. The hard part only took about 5 minutes but she was not a happy camper to say the least. She did much better with the 15 minute wait time and not touching her back than the initial test. Today was our first appointment with Dr. Vitalpur. He will be Emily's allergist/pulmonolgist. We have tried to avoid going this route for 2 years but her primary doc thinks that her "mild asthma" situation is probably allergy induced. We have already been on year round allergy meds since her tubes were put in 2 years ago and now since having bronchitis in February we have been having some mild issues with a nightime barky asthmatic cough that was calling for albuteral atleast once a week or so.

They tested her for 29 "popular" things that most people might react to. Basically the "main" reactions she had were cockroaches and dust mites. Thankfully, we don't have to worry about cockroaches ...but the dust mites are always going to be a problem. I already figured that she probably had that allergy because it is my most reactive one and honestly she sneezes and has the coughing episodes inside. He said she may also have more outdoor reactions later as she has only seen a few seasons so far...most kids don't test positive for those early unless they are highly reactive. He also thinks she has more of a reaction to humidity change than the seasonal stuff outside. Like being inside in 72 degree air conditioning and then going directly out in the 90 degree humid weather.

He is taking her off her nasonex and singulair year round drugs for now and leaving her on zyrtec and her preventative asthma inhaler at night. I was glad that he thought she has been taking them too long also. He said she has been on the singulair so long that it may not even be working at all for her anymore. He said she has a mild case of asthma that he hopes she will outgrow as she becomes more used to her allergens and she will almost be old enough (closer to the age 5) in December to do the pulmonary tests at the next visit so he may try them then and maybe we can still ween her off the inhaler after winter....For now I still need to finish mite proofing her room as best as you can. Already did the purifier, bed & pillow casings, hepa filter vac, but still need to get the stuffed animals put away :( Unfortunately, you also have to be realistic and understand that there is only so much you can do about dustmites and I feel sure we do the best we can.

After our appt. and Daddy headed back to work we ran errands and went to Huddles Frozen Yogurt afterwards for the first time ...If your ever in Nora area next to Papa Murphey's, check it out! Tons of toppings and cool soft serve yogurt flavors & all for $0.45 an ounce. Jim Irsay's daughter owns it so they also have cool Colts apparel!