Good News/Bad News

William had his long-awaited allergy testing today. They did both percutaneous (skin prick) and intradermal (injection) testing for cat, dog, dust mite, molds, various trees and weeds and of course milk. He reacted to nothing. Did ya catch that? Nothing. The allergist was surprised and a little puzzled because William looks like a typical allergy patient with allergic shiners and creases under his eyes, post nasal drip, throat clearing and dry, dry, eczema skin. Evidently we just haven't tested for the right thing. So, the bad news is we don't really have any solid answers on what flares his eczema.

Percutaneous testing. The red flare at the top left of his back is reaction to histamine. On the far upper right of his back is an "M" for milk with nary a red wheal in sight.

They gave Will a little hand-held pinball game to play while he waited the 15 minutes reaction time.

Intradermal testing. Since Will didn't react to the skin prick tests, they went further and did injected tests where the serum is placed just under the first layer of skin, forming a small bubble. He was super nervous about this but did fine. Again, on the left hand side of the photo, you can see the "H" for histamine and his predictable reaction. On the right side of the photo, he maybe had the slightest reaction to maple trees and ragweed but not enough to even be sure about.

The good news is, of course, that he appears to have outgrown the dairy allergy and we may all now resume a lifestyle of wanton cheese eating!!!! And also, I am thankful he didn't end up having multiple allergies. Dr. S. gave us some great tips for skin care (evidently I have eczema too, by the way. I have many of the same skin characteristics as Will) and we're excited to see if we get some improvement in the look/feel of our skin this winter.

All in all, I was really pleased with this allergist and his clinic staff. Really nice man, very thorough and easy to talk to. The nurses talked Will through the testing every step of the way. He was pretty nervous about all the pokes, but once he knew what it was all about, he did great. And after this visit, despite not really knowing fully what his sensitivities are, I am feeling much less worried about him having another reaction.

Updated to add: Will is evidently a delayed reactor! This morning (Wednesday, 12/03/08) he woke up with reddened areas around two of his injection sites. Problem is, there seems to be some discrepancies that I just noticed on his testing sheet, causing the allergist's nurse and I to question whether a mistake was made in what he was tested for. The question now is: Did he react to cat and dog, or dust mites? Dust mites make more sense in a way, because of ongoing eye and nose symptoms. We rarely hang out with cats and dogs. Follow-up appointment in 2 weeks with a re-test might give us some answers. Ugggh! Allergies!