Allergy Testing

Since Joshua's RAST test came back positive for a caseine allergy I decided to get a referral for an allergist to have further testing done and to see what specific steps that we need to take next. This morning I took Joshua to see Dr. Hollie, and I was so pleased with him. He has a great bedside manner, and he was very knowledgable and listened to me. The office was great too because although I had planned for limited toys by bringing a tote bag of toys along with snacks for Joshua they had a whole corner blocked off into a small playroom in the waiting room as well as a basketful of toys in the patient's rooms. I didn't have to pull out any of Joshua's toys the entire three hours we were there except for a small ball. (I had been told the visit could last 4-5 hours, so I had come prepared.)

After talking with Dr. Hollie about Joshua's chronic ear infections and noticing that he doesn't seem to have a problem in the summer the allergist recommended doing a complete rundown of all major allergens, including penicillin since Joshua has reacted to amoxicillin. All the tests came back negative, so they ran a second penicillin test on Joshua. They came prepared with an extra set of hands to help hold down Joshua while they put the drug under his skin, but he hardly flinched! I was so amazed and impressed at how well Joshua handled it all. He is a very laid back little guy, but being stuck by needles hasn't bothered him much lately.

This second test also came back negative, and then we went next door to the imaging center to have X-rays done on his sinuses. They are very clear, which evidently is not common among children who have chronic ear infections, so that in itself was wonderful. Our next step is to have a third penicillin test to see if possibly Joshua only has a problem with taking it orally. We will do this test next week since it would have kept us at the office another hour, and they don't keep liquid amoxicillin on hand due to its short lifespan.

As far as dairy is concerned we have some more freedom than originally thought. Since the allergy is not life threatening and doesn't cause any immediate problems Joshua will be able to eat things that contain milk or milk derivatives on the ingredients list, so I will not have to read labels like I have been, but we will continue to offer him soy milk, and we will keep him off of dairy products that are high in milk content. It will make it a little easier on us, although it will still be difficult to avoid cheese and such. It's been a little bit of a struggle to come up with meal ideas without milk or milk products. I never realized how much I use it in cooking until I began to cut it out.

In six months we will reintroduce some dairy to Joshua's diet to see if he can tolerate it, particularly this summer since he didn't seem to have any trouble with ear infections last summer. Until then, if anyone has any great recipes that you love and use in your home that are non-dairy please share! I'm looking particularly for things that are kid-friendly that the whole family will love.