They made me a Liar :(
July 18th, 2012 by ariana
I posted briefly about Jasper’s recent visit to the ENT and the enlarged adenoids..well, part of the ENT’s recommendation was to see the allergist to rule out allergies as the cause of the excessive throat clearing. I asked what the first visit entailed (coming fresh off the horror of the nasoscope experience) and the receptionist told me that at the first visit, they just put oil drops on his arm. No pricks or scratches or anything.
In light of this, I decided I didn’t need to make Jeff come with us and I also PROMISED Jasper that it wasn’t going to hurt. Because, well, I didn’t think it was going to! He even asked me on the way there what it was going to feel like and I told him just like drops of water on his arm.
It wasn’t until we got into the room and the nurse instructed us to take his shirt off and Jasper was refusing that I started to tell him it was OK, it wasn’t going to hurt that that the nurse told me, well, it DOES prick the skin! CRAP!
Now not only was I feeling guilty for putting Jasper through the test but also because I LIED to him, however unintentionally, and the poor baby really freaked when they broke the skin (3 times with 6 pins each.) I know this is no major procedure, but it drew blood, it certainly wasn’t painless. As I sat there fanning his back with a magazine, watching all the bloody pricks and seeing none showing signs of obvious reaction I really regretted putting him through all this.
But, he tested positive for dust/mites apparently pretty strongly.
That means mattresses and pillows need to be covered, and ironically, stuffed animals kept to a minimum, and and any ones that he DOES want to keep have to go in the drier on high for 10 minutes per week! Could bear have been making him “sick” all this time? (And will a rather threadbare bear survive the weekly drying ritual?)
But that’s the strange thing, he doesn’t ACT sick from allergies in the traditional sense. His eyes aren’t puffy, he doesn’t sneeze, his nose isn’t stuffy.. all he has is this throat clearing which could be post nasal drip from an allergy to something..or not.
At the next appointment they have to repeat the damn prick tests, this time for food instead of environmental allergens as well as some deeper puncture tests (3) for which we need to apply ELEM cream to numb his arm first. It sounds awful and I’m really torn as to if I even want to go back. Half of me thinks we should go through with it and do our “due diligence” so we know. But the other part of me just says let him clear his damn throat, as long as it’s not reflux causing it.
The problem is that particularly after reading this New York Times article, I really want to wean him off the prevacid, but the way I used to know that he still needed it was that as soon as I stopped giving it to him he’d start clearing his throat all the time signaling the need to still be on it. Now that he clears his throat all the time ANYWAY the only way to know if taking him off prevacid was causing inflammation and redness would be to get him scoped again – not something I want to repeat anytime soon.
This parenting thing is TOUGH. You bring them into the world with more pain that you think is imaginable or endurable -until you witness THEM in pain and then you know the true meaning of suffering.
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I didn’t think that I was allergic to cats, but when we had a cat I had a horrible snufflely nose, got sinus headaches all the time, and was just sort of a mess. Our cat died a few months after our son was born, and my allergies pretty much went away. I attributed it for the longest time to “a change in hormones” since I had been pregnant and all, but I have since realized that it was because there was no more cat hair and dander and stuff everywhere :(
Good luck! The due diligence part will suck….but then you will know, and then you can work to fix it.
jbhat
Like Jennifer, I have horrible allergies. Two medicine’s a day and shots every month. The pricks do hurt. :( Poor little guy. I have never heard of throat cleaning from allergies, but I am not a doctor. My cousins little girl did this and had to have her tonsils and adenoids removed at 4, ironically almost the same age as Jasper. Could the throat clearing be out of habit now?
Hi Jennifer, thanks so much for your comment and for delurking! The thing that makes me think it’s NOT food allergies is that he seems to do it more when he’s eating but it doesn’t depend AT ALL on the food. It can be anything.. from milk to watermelon, to cheerios :( But I agree that it would make more sense if it was!
Hi Jennifer, if you do come to NYC, definitely shoot me an email – I’ll be happy to fill you in on the pros and cons of our little neck of the woods!
Hi Ariana,
Long time reader, first time commenter.
As a huge allergy sufferer myself, I can tell you that environmental allergens may not be the trigger of his throat clearing, but more likely, food. Of course, everyone is different, but personally, I’m allergic to it all and have different symptoms for different allergens. My dust/tree/pollen allergies give me sneezing and red eyes. However, some of my food allergies, including eating fruit with the skin on it, makes my throat feel itchy, swollen, and, in turn, makes me clear my throat alot. I’d bet $1 that a food allergy is a culprit here. Does Jasper eat apples? I love apples, but for me, they have to be cooked (oven or microwave) and the skins removed or I start having a reaction (and that’s with Zyrtec on board 24/7!)
Hope this helps. Sorry your little guy has to go through those scratch tests. They’re horrible at any age.
BTW, your new home is GORGEOUS. I *might* be relocating for a job in NYC soon so I may ask a little more about where your beautiful home is located. Looks like a wonderful place to raise a family.
-Jennifer