Since Maggie was four months old, we've battled issues of allergies. She gets sinus infections frequently, landing her on antibiotics on a fairly regular basis. She has had reactions to both shellfish and fire ants (that was a BAD night!!). So, yesterday we went to her allergist to have a skin test. They poked her forty five times on her back for the test. It was AWFUL! My baby was screaming and yelling, "that hurt me!" It took three of us to restrain her. I held her and cried as they continued to poke her. Fifteen minutes of waiting and we were getting results. The results? Not what we were expecting. NOTHING. She didn't show a single reaction to a thing. Not fire ants. Not shellfish. Not even to seasonal allergy issues. We're stumped.
The nurse practicioner looked up her nose and was confused. It's totally junked up. Her eyes are swollen and red, a constant for Maggie. Everything points to having allergy issues. And yet, we found nothing on the skin test. So, the NP ordered up more fun for us yesterday. First, it was an ultrasound of her sinuses. Maggie didn't mind that too much when she realized it was really just a photo of her. She smiled to the xray machine and gave a big CHEESE! My girl never misses a photo op. But the fun got worse when we had to get bloodwork. Not the bloodwork we've had in the past for Maggie at her pediatrician's office (to help quell mom and dad's fear of leukemia--we've done it quite a few times over the last three years). This was a full on blood workup. When I handed the tech the paperwork, she said, "oh wow, they ordered all this for that little girl. Wow." Yeah, two Wows are making me feel good. They needed many vials of her blood. So, we strapped her down in my lap, and had a first attempt. It didn't go well on several levels. I have never heard her scream like that. I began crying quietly as I was trying to give her some semblance of comfort. Then, her vein blew. So, the entire vial of blood almost finished? Not usable. Then we had to start over. Four BIG vials of blood later (not counting the fifth unusable), we were getting a bandaid on her arm and wiping away the tears.
My baby had a rough day yesterday, that's for sure. She's into the bandaids, so she likes to tell us all about them. Though yesterday was her last of the steroids, it is still giving her trouble. Just now she came in the room crying hysterically. The world had ended. Bee Bee licked her. What a tragedy. We're trying our hardest to be understanding and sweet when she has these moments of meltdowns because we know the medicine is helping her act like this. But I am definitely ready for the steroids to get out of her body and get my little girl back to normal. Definitely. Ready.
And hopefully, the X-ray of her sinuses and the bloodwork will give us some answers.
14 comments:
I went through the same thing with my 5 year old. I was trying to prepare myself for how many she was going to respond with, just sure our life would be so limited. But like you, when they did the skin test...nothing. We didn't pursue anything further. We are just continuing on with her allergy medicine. Good luck to you though...I hope the blood results shed some lights for your you. I can only imagine the pit in your stomach every time they check her for something!
I have never commented here before but I have been reading your blog for ages now.
My son had chronic sinus infections and we too had to do the allergy testing...and it came back negative for everything. We were SHOCKED!
It ended up being his adnoids and tonsils. When ever he got a cold the yucky stuff would not drain and infect his sinus. Maggie could just have very large adnoids which is very easily fixed with surgery.
He went to an ENT and had an x-ray of his head...they were HUGE. He had them out a year ago last month and has not had an infection since! It has made all the difference in the world
I hope you find an answer and that you don't have to go through another day like you just did.
Maggie is just as beautiful as her angel sister.
mmtva--thanks for commenting about that. The Nurse Practioner was asking about if Maggie had her adnoids still. She mentioned that is why she wanted to Xray her. Glad to know that your son has been better since then. We're still VERY surprised the test showed nothing.
Awww, poor Maggie!
Poor Maggie... I hope she's recovered physically and emotionally. :-)
I'm interested to hear the results of all this. My 3 year old son has the exact same symptoms you're describing. And, he had his tonsils/adenoids out in March. He now gets sinus infections.(instead of tonsillitis)
Everything has come up negative... So, I'm anxious with you to get the results.
Hi Jenny,
My youngest, Molly, has also had issues with sinus infections and she also has asthma. We have been on prednisone many, many times. My pediatrician splits the normal dose and tells us to give it to her twice a day instead of once a day. It makes such a huge difference in the effect it has on her. I don't know if you're already doing that with Maggie or not but wanted to mention it, just in case.
I can so relate to the skin testing - ours was awful as well! Molly wound up being very allergic to dust mites and she also has a peanut allergy so we are on high alert as well. I hope you get some answers soon!
Best,
Kelly
Poor Maggie!
I know how you feel. My son has had allergy(food and seasonal) most of his life. We are headed for our third challenge in Frisco on tuesday.
I hope they figure out whay os going on and get her all fixed up. that is no fun at all!
Hi Jenny haven't talked to you in awhile. I had to respond to this. My little girl who will be 5 in Dec was also constantly sick with allergy like symtoms. Not suprising because I'm the same way. Even though it was clear to the allergist she had many allergies they weren't wanted to test her until 4 or 5 because they said the get to many false neg. Instead they also did x-rays and CT scans and such at about 6 mos old. The ENT said she needed sinus surgery (lol I've had it 3 times does miracles) and her adnoids taken out along with tonsils and ear tubes placed. She was peanut of a baby so they had to wait until right after her 1st b-day or 20 lbs whichever came first and then do it. So right after her 1st birthday we had it done. That was dec 04 and since then she is so much better!!! Its clear she does have some allergies but they seam to just be seasonal now and we treat them with zyrtec. Now that shes almost 5 they want to do the skin testing but I'm not planning on it because my child is IMPOSSIBLE to hold down for such tests. Good luck I hope they can get to the bottom of maggies issues soon!
Oh I'm so sorry you are all going thru this, I know it's so hard on you to put your sweet maggie thru painful tests and it pains me ((hug)) I really hope you all can find some answers to what is happening. Prednisone is a monster isn't it! Has it increased her appetite? B eats like crazy on the roids! :)
Thinking of you! :)
My 9 yo had many sinus/ear infections and even a bout with pneumonia from about 2-4. The pediatrician and an ENT were not worried. She was getting sick almost monthly, needing breathing treatments, just overall miserable, etc. It also affected her speech. I finally took her to my allergist. This was a few months before she turned 4. They did allergy testing, and nothing came up, so they did the blood workup (this is RAST testing for the most part) and nothing came up. Kids under 4 often do not show up with skin testing but will with RAST. My allergist said that the next time she got that way, to bring her in. That time he opted to send her in for sinus and adenoid x-rays. Lo and behold, her adenoids were HUGE. So, about a week after she turned 4, she had the adenoids removed. She has had one ear infection and strep throat once since then. The strep was when she was 7 and the ear infection was this year, so in 5 years, ONE ear infection and it didn't even require antibiotics, just the numbing drops and motrin. (older kids tolerate it better and can do without the antibiotics). She's been on antibiotics once since then, for the strep. It has made a HUGE world of difference. Also, until the adenoids were removed, she was still a bed wetter and stopped that after the surgery as well.
Good luck to you!
Hope Maggie feels better soon!!
On another note, I was browsing christmas ornaments on Amazon and ran across this. Even though you've probably already got it, I thought I'd send it just in case.
http://www.amazon.com/Glitter-Giraffe-Christmas-Ornament-Dangling/dp/B001731CUG/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1223794321&sr=8-3
sweet girl- i hope you get it figured out soon.
Hello. I have been a reader for a very long time but this is something that I am familiar with so I decided it is time to comment. This is gonna be a little lengthy so please bear with me. My oldest daughter is 12. As long as I can remember she had stuffy noses, drainage, troubles breathing, troubles smelling and the red eyes with huge black bags. The whole works...We had her get allergy tests about 7 years ago. Nothing. Nothing at all. 2 years ago they took out her T&A's. Between all this she was constantly on antibiotics. She cleared up for a bit. About 6 months later it all happened again. Twice as bad. We went back to the dr and they started asking me questions all over again.....The question they never asked me was "Did she ever have reflux?" Why yes yes she has. They did a barium swallow and found that she still had it. Bad. They put her on meds for that and within 3 weeks all was clear. That was her problem the whole time. Now they told me it was a long shot and the odds of that being the issue were slim but that was it. Just wanted to share a little bit of info in case nothing comes with your current testing. I hope she feels better soon. Take care, Tabatha
Poor baby girl! I hope the doctors can give you some answers soon! I know you don't know me, but please give her an extra big hug from me and my Maggie. And please make sure to update us!
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