Allergies, Eczema, Asthma

Do the three go to together? I am really hoping not in our case. I am told that these three things often accompany each other in certain individuals. We have been diagnosed with two out of the three, and our praying we do not hit the third.

My little guy was having a hard time breathing today, and had an ugly cough. It is hard to describe what he sounds like, it is more what he looks like, that always concerns me. It looks like he has to hold his breath to cough. Almost like his cheeks puff out, and he has a hard time getting it out.

It seemed like everything lined up for us just right. I called our Primary Physician, to see if we could get in, due to the cough. It always starts like this, then by the second night, we are so bad we end up in the ER needing a steroid shot. I wanted to get a head start on it this time. So glad I did.

Went in, and sure enough, Zach started coughing when we were in there. Dr. said is lungs sounded okay, however, the cough didn't sound good, and he could see there was a little trouble on exhale.

They brought up, what I call the "A" word. The "A" word in our house is asthma. It is bad enough we have life threatening peanut and tree nut allergies, I just don't want my baby to have asthma too.

Our doctor said the office had a new Allergist/Immunologist on staff, so I would not have to be referred out anymore. He thought maybe he was available to see us today. He asked if I would like to go on over. Of course I said yes.

Very good visit. Of course, just going over everything again is a bit daunting. He reviewed his tests again and said because of the reaction we were seen for originally he called Zach a true peanut allergy patient.

It made sense after I thought about, first I was a bit taken back. What do you mean, there are false peanut allergy patients? I was a bit sensitive today, it is just a term they use.

I guess, if you just have a positive test, and never a reaction, they are not sure if you are really allergic. We had a reaction first, then a positive test. He also said, given the fact that all our rash/eczema issues have cleared, since giving up all tree nut and potential tree nut products, he was probably truly allergic there also. He was really speaking to the false positive and false negative aspect to the RAST test.

We reviewed the original RAST, and yep all four's and fives. The Dr. was more concerned with the other level (number) that is noted. He showed me data on the probability of reaction with each nut and peanut. It was great data, not sure where he got it.

I really had a nice conversation with the doctor. He said," some people just don't get it." That is so true. Once again, it was nice to be reminded that I can never be too paranoid about this. He has a two year old at home also, so he could relate to that aspect.

He was real big on discussing all the cross contamination issues, which again, was so helpful. I love hearing that I am not going overboard. I am doing everything I can to protect my child, and that is exactly what I am suppose to be doing.

I loved his statement, "people just don't get it." It sums it up so well. The reality for me is, they don't have too. My job is to protect my child, as I see fit, and you can't blame me for that. Trust me, if they were in our shoes, they would do the exact same thing.

Some days, it is so overwhelming to live with this allergy, and the fear it brings, and others, like today, I feel empowered. My God is bigger than this allergy, and I can do this with his help.

I will talk about the asthma issue, and what the new doctor said about that, in a later post. I want to see how Zach does tonight with the medication.