Allergies, Schmallergies

Thomas met with the allergist yesterday. Dr. Murphy is an allergist and a pediatrician. He's younger than I would have liked, but after 2.5 hours there, I felt like overall it was an informative and helpful visit.

I ended up agreeing to the prick test to test a limited spectrum of allergens (including milk, strawberries, nuts and avocado -- all foods that have caused a negative reaction). Turns out he does not have a traditional allergy to any of them (this being an IgE-mediated allergy...which essentially would be the worst case scenario as it's an immune system issue). He tested negative. However, Dr. M says there is much to be learned and understood about allergies and that doesn't mean he won't have a reaction.

According to Dr. M, there are three types of intolerances. The first is the IgE-mediated type. It's not that. The second is enzymatic...which would mean something like lactose intolerance...it's not that. It is the third type, but I didn't write it in my notes very well...something to do with "textured." I think that's what he said. Anyway, Dr. M is 100% sure he will grow out of this type of intolerance.

Basically this type of intolerance is a problem of metabolism. He is not metabolizing the foods properly and therefore his skin reacts in a sort of defense mechanism. I think this is right. The doctor was nice, but he kept talking WAY over my head.

Since Thomas's reactions primarily manifest themselves in skin irritations, and there is no way to prevent that AND eat the offending foods, he suggests that we continue to avoid all nuisance foods for now and every 3-6 months reintroduce and see how he does. The primary route of treating skin inflammations caused by these reactions is to use various steroid-based creams...which can have very bad side effects (and scarring). I do not wish to use them unless completely necessary. Dr. M agreed and said avoidance is best. He WILL grow out of it eventually.

As for the dairy, he suggested that I slowly reintroduce it to my diet (acknowledging that it can 3-4 days for a reaction) and see what happens. If Thomas does not show any reaction, then we can try dairy, slowly, directly with him. Hopefully all will go well on this front as we'd both love to have some dairy in our lives (well, I shouldn't speak for him, but I know I would!). So yesterday I had cheese on my sandwich for lunch and so far, no reaction. That gets a very guarded HOORAY from me. :-)

Well, I was going to add a few pictures to save this post from utter boredom, but I think Thomas is waking and I'm having a bit of a problem with this attempt. So I'll have to come back with that later.