The Journey Continues...

Our journey with allergies began right around when J turned 2. She had already had some mild eczema on hands as well as breakouts all over very shortly after her MMR vaccine and her bout with pneumonia.  At that point we had HMO and I had to ask for referrals. The pediatrician we were seeing was a DO, but did not have a holistic approach. Gave her steroids for the croup, antibiotics for everything and pusher of vaccines to the extreme. He would not write me a referral for an allergist saying her eczema simply could not be related to allergies. That allergists don't test on 2 year olds and her allergies will be ever changing. I sat on that for a while, in the mean time I was seeing dermatologist after dermatologist and all the peds in his practice. They kept prescribing steroid after steroid, antibiotics, antihistamines and even anti depressants. I since then switched to PPO and went to an allergists. There is no manual for figuring out your kids ailments and hers was pretty obvious to the world and pretty brutal for her.

So while seeking these treatments I got the pleasure of fielding questions and concerns from well....EVERYONE. Even people in grocery stores. Very tactful comments such as "oh man did she get into some poison ivy???" This makes you seriously self conscious, desperate and very guilty for creating a child who is miserable in her own body! The first allergists did a couple of prick tests and said to eliminate what was positive. We got very little response from that and didn't know that it was not normal to not test further. I hit rock bottom when I took J to a dermatologist at Children's and was prescribed an anti depressant that made my 3 year old manic. It was supposed to knock her out in 30 min, 3 hrs later she was crazy hyper and a paranoid mess. If she heard the tiniest noise she would flip! It was heart breaking to watch. When I went back I was scolded for not keeping her on it. She was prescribed a different antidepressant. This one was in a different family from the first and was one that alters brain chemicals, not to mention not FDA approved for kids under 12. I opted to ignore the prescription and try alternative care. The eczema was an evil that we knew. Though painful and miserable for her and awful for us to watch, we were not willing to risk the side effects of the meds.  From there we went to a highly recommended chiropractor/applied kinesiologists. He gave us some very good strategies and some helpful supplements. We saw a little improvement, but he recommended eating lots of eggs and nuts, which turns out she is allergic to. She started to flare more and more. Then a very kind cousin recommended an 80 year old allergist who she swore by that cured her daughter of eczema. We went to him and were pleased! That is when we got all of her test results and started elimination. J has gone from constant itch to basically itching only at night and naps and if she encounters an allergen. She has improved greatly, but we are definitely not where we want to be. So we continued with the calcium and enzyme and elimination diet and were pleased with her continued improvement. We got air filters, changed lotions, soaps, cleaned ducts, wrapped her mattress and dress her in 100% cotton. Though she looks like a new person most days, we still see traces. We still have yet to figure out what is driving all of her sensitivities and her extreme reactions, but we continue to look. Our journey continued today in the office of a pediatrician whom is also certified in integrated health. He replaced the supplements she was taking with ones that are more hypoallergenic and added an omega 3, pro biotic and a couple other things. I am hoping that this will take us another step! He is addressing two things others have yet to focus on....her temperature change issues as well as inflammation in general. I am excited for the possibilities and nervous for the chance of more reactions. The journey continues and only time will tell!