Allergies: To Be or Not To Be?

For several months last year, Kanyon's pediatric neurologist ordered many tests to try and determine what is causing him to wake up at night, to discover why he bangs his head during the day, to explain his extreme sensitivities. All of the tests (blood tests, CT scan, Sleep Study) produced normal results and were inconclusive as to the reason for his discomfort and pain.

The next step was to go to a pediatric G.I. (Gastro-Intestinal) Doctor. Every time we need to see a specialist, we have to get a referral from Kanyon's regular Doctor. His Dr. informed us that the nearest Pediatric GI Dr. is in Salt Lake City. Because of the distance, it was decided that we would go to an allergist in Idaho Falls first to determine if he has any major allergies that could be causing his symptoms. So the appointment was made to see the allergist in February.

It was a long appointment (2 1/2 hours), because we visited with the Allergist Doctor, Kanyon had the allergy prick tests done, and then Doctor discussed the results with us. I was nervous how Kanyon would do with all of it, so I took him to a store first and bought him a prize (a new train, yay!) so he could play with it while we were at the doctor's office for so long.

He did so well during the testing! He was poked 7 times with 56 needles total. Each needle is dipped in chemicals from different foods, grasses, trees, molds, animals, etc. before being inserted into the back. He was uncomfortable and only cried just a little bit, and then he wanted to itch his back like crazy, which I had to keep him from doing. After 20 minutes, each area that was poked was examined to see if there was an irritable response from the skin on his back. Only one of the 56 showed signs of an allergy--the tobacco one (the swollen, irritated spot towards the base of his back).We believe that he's been allergic to milk from his infancy. But it's not a strong enough allergy in his body to show up on his back in the test. The Doctor said he could still be allergic to milk, but the only way to know for certain is to remove all milk products from his diet for 3 weeks to see if there are any differences.

I'm glad that he doesn't have several allergies, and I'm grateful that his only prominent allergy is to tobacco (the Doctor said it's a common allergy--and I promise nobody in our home smokes), but I'm also disappointed that we'll have to continue to medically pursue this endeavor to discover the cause of his ailments, because I'm not satisfied with the Pediatric Neurologist's diagnosis of PDD-NOS (Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified on the Autistic Spectrum).

So, back to the Doctor we'll go...