We can have peanuts! Praise God!
So a while back Levi broke out into a rash/swollen/itchy eyes rash after eating cashew butter. We then took him to be skin tested for nut allergies. Levi tested positive for peanut, cashew, hazelnut and pistachio. They gave us an epipen prescriptive and said avoid all tree nuts and peanuts. This did not sit well with me. Not only had Levi previously had peanut butter with no reaction but the thought of having to avoid all nuts and carry an epipen cripples one. Our quality of life decreased and sense of fear increased with one more thing to worry about.
I talked to a coworker friend at work and she suggested I go see Dr Tilles, an allergist, to get more questions answered and see if there was anything else I could do to test him. I had a good visit with Dr Tilles and he said we could get blood work done to see his IgG levels to peanuts and cashews. The blood work showed high reaction to cashew but low to peanuts. Dr Tilles said we could do an oral challenge to peanuts in his office but to continue to avoid tree nuts till Levi is 2 then revisit this... I was happy with possibility to oral challenge peanut. 1) because I didn't want to avoid something he could have and increase possibility of true allergy later 2) one less stressor as peanuts are harder to avoid than cashews
Today was the day for the peanut oral challenge. Levi and I settled into the doctor office room for 4 hours so he could receive increasing amounts of peanut butter every 20 -30 minutes for 2 hours then be observed.
He played, read, cuddled, flirted with all the staff, walked the halls, moved cones and finally napped after last dose of peanut butter. He was a champ!
I talked to a coworker friend at work and she suggested I go see Dr Tilles, an allergist, to get more questions answered and see if there was anything else I could do to test him. I had a good visit with Dr Tilles and he said we could get blood work done to see his IgG levels to peanuts and cashews. The blood work showed high reaction to cashew but low to peanuts. Dr Tilles said we could do an oral challenge to peanuts in his office but to continue to avoid tree nuts till Levi is 2 then revisit this... I was happy with possibility to oral challenge peanut. 1) because I didn't want to avoid something he could have and increase possibility of true allergy later 2) one less stressor as peanuts are harder to avoid than cashews
Today was the day for the peanut oral challenge. Levi and I settled into the doctor office room for 4 hours so he could receive increasing amounts of peanut butter every 20 -30 minutes for 2 hours then be observed.
No reaction was noted at all! We are cleared to have peanuts and actually encouraged to give it to him at least 3 times a week. He recommended for Levi and any age younger than him to eat Bamba. It is a baby snack with peanut butter since a lot of kids don't like taste or texture of straight peanut butter. Dr Tilles said moms in Israel give it their babies and they have the lowest rates of peanut allergies because of early, frequent exposure. So I ordered some off amazon today :)
Moral of the story... keep asking questions and pushing even the doctors for more options... there might be something they can try in a controlled environment! And praise God for answered prayers!!!
Comments
Post a Comment