Allergy immunotherapy and food allergy (soy) questions

[textbookcase]

C (12) has been having trouble with allergic rhinitis, rashes, and stomach problems for quite awhile. Her doc sent her to be tested for allergies yesterday and she ended up being allergic to...basically everything. Environmental, basically all grasses, pollen, dust, mold, trees, etc. And then she had a pretty big reaction to soy and peas. The allergy doc recommended that she start immunotherapy, allergy shots. Has anyone had experience with this? Did you see a change? Secondly, soy is in EVERY GODDAMN THING. She seems to be lactose intolerant also, so we've already eliminated dairy. She's super depressed about it. What in the hell can she eat??

[jlt19]

I'm really sorry, the food allergies really suck

As far as the shots, my nephew has had to have shots for years. For awhile he got to the point where he didn't have to stay inside anymore in spring and didn't have to take allegra daily or have shots every week. He's now not allergic to trees or one of the other big ones, but developed an allergy to something else, so he's back on weekly shots and daily pills. It's still better than the beginning though.

[textbookcase]

Aug 10, 2016 14:14:36 GMT -5 jlt19 said:

I'm really sorry, the food allergies really suck

As far as the shots, my nephew has had to have shots for years. For awhile he got to the point where he didn't have to stay inside anymore in spring and didn't have to take allegra daily or have shots every week. He's now not allergic to trees or one of the other big ones, but developed an allergy to something else, so he's back on weekly shots and daily pills. It's still better than the beginning though.

Thanks! My nephew also had the shots for a few years when he was younger. He's in high school now and seems to have grown out of all of his allergies, which is reassuring. Yes, the food thing SUCKS! She's having a hard time with it.

[Deleted]

Can you elaborate more? What kind of immunotherapy are they recommending? Any of her Ig levels off?

If your immune system cannot support the allergy shots, they're a waste of time/money. Which is why I can't do them - my immune system is shit. I take daily allergy maintenance meds and weekly immuno therapy, with the understanding sometimes I'm just going to get sick.

[textbookcase]

Aug 10, 2016 14:16:58 GMT -5 @bigtowlittletoe said:

Can you elaborate more? What kind of immunotherapy are they recommending? Any of her Ig levels off?

If your immune system cannot support the allergy shots, they're a waste of time/money. Which is why I can't do them - my immune system is shit. I take daily allergy maintenance meds and weekly immuno therapy, with the understanding sometimes I'm just going to get sick.

I don't know what the IG levels mean, I'll ask the allergist. He is recommending weekly allergy shots for the environmental allergies as far as I understand.

[lust2hart]

I have a friend who's allergic to wheat and soy. And, either she or one of her kids is lactose intolerant. She basically follows the clean diet - fruits, veggies, and meats. Homemade sauces.

[Deleted]

Aug 10, 2016 14:19:59 GMT -5 textbookcase said:

Aug 10, 2016 14:16:58 GMT -5 @bigtowlittletoe said:

Can you elaborate more? What kind of immunotherapy are they recommending? Any of her Ig levels off?

If your immune system cannot support the allergy shots, they're a waste of time/money. Which is why I can't do them - my immune system is shit. I take daily allergy maintenance meds and weekly immuno therapy, with the understanding sometimes I'm just going to get sick.

I don't know what the IG levels mean, I'll ask the allergist. He is recommending weekly allergy shots for the environmental allergies as far as I understand.

Ah, okay.  Hopefully the allergy shots work wonders for her!

[MrsPotatohead]

I think allergy shots are great - they don't always work for everyone, but if I had severe allergies I would definitely give it a try to help alleviate some of the symptoms. I know several people who had success (as adults) doing them, but it is a lot of 'work' to go consistently.

[auntie]

I am so sorry uou are dealing with this.

I might get a second opinion on the shots. I would definitely remove the offending foods and/or add lactase with milk products before starting shots and see if that helps. You could also see if the tummy troubles are due to post-nasal drip- even Dimetapp can help manage that symptom.

There are a lot of allergies in my family. My dad has done allergy shots because he goes into anaphylaxis from wasp, hornet and fire ant stings- after his second trip to the ER with the local EMS in 10 days, it became the only safe option for him. His series of shots were done 2 x daily, M-F, for several months. It was a major PITA because his summer place is pretty rural and the allergist was a 75 minute drive each way.

DS and I have environmental allergies. We're both good with Zyrtec and Flonase. I am even able to do yard work or be around pets if I preload on Flonase.

Food allergies and sensitivities are harder. I'm allergic to soy, certain fruits and shrimp; I don't find it all that hard to avoid. I read labels on prepared foods, but mostly I cook from scratch.

DS is lactose intolerant. It is really no biggie. It just means she lacks a digestive enzyme- lactase- which you can replace in pill form when she eats food that contains lactose. FWIW, most of the world's adult population can't digest lactose- it's normal. The other option is to switch out milk based foods with special Lactaid brand options- they make cheese, ice crease, milk, cottage cheese. She may be able to do some cheeses and even yogurts without any problems.

The other thing you can do is look at an overlap chart. Most people who have a pollen allergy will also have certain food sensitivies or allergies. Avoiding the overlap foods can be useful.

www.foodintolerances.org/non-food-allergies.aspx

www.aaaai.org/conditions-and-treatments/library/allergy-library/outdoor-allergies-and-food-allergies-can-be-relate

[gretchenindisguise]

I'm doing immunotherapy for peanuts right now if you want to chat.

[sagelily]

DD is 7 and she has pretty severe seasonal allergies so we started immunotherapy about 6 weeks ago. She is taking Flonase, Claritin and Zyrtec every day but still suffering with a lot of congestion and post-nasal drip. One of the earlier posts mentioned food sensitivities related to pollen allergies and she has that problem, particularly with raw carrots. She likes to eat them and I also used to add carrot juice from Costco in smoothies as an alternative to fruit juice but instead of being healthy it was causing her allergies to be more severe. Instead of shots, our allergist recommended drops. She gets 7 drops once a day under her tongue and she waits two minutes with them under her tongue before swallowing. It is too early for us to notice any improvement but they think she will suffer much less with allergies by next spring and ideally I would like her to take less allergy medicines daily. Our insurance covered less of the cost with the drops but for her particular environmental allergies the doctor thought this would be just as effective and we thought it may be less unpleasant than the shots for her and less logistics for us to get her to the doctor every week so we decided to use FSA account money and try this route. I can't remember for sure but I think we were going to pay a co-pay every week if we opted for the shots. I don't know if the drops are an option for your DD's allergies but wanted to mention it.

[devonpow]

Aug 10, 2016 21:29:09 GMT -5 sagelily said:

DD is 7 and she has pretty severe seasonal allergies so we started immunotherapy about 6 weeks ago. She is taking Flonase, Claritin and Zyrtec every day but still suffering with a lot of congestion and post-nasal drip. One of the earlier posts mentioned food sensitivities related to pollen allergies and she has that problem, particularly with raw carrots. She likes to eat them and I also used to add carrot juice from Costco in smoothies as an alternative to fruit juice but instead of being healthy it was causing her allergies to be more severe. Instead of shots, our allergist recommended drops. She gets 7 drops once a day under her tongue and she waits two minutes with them under her tongue before swallowing. It is too early for us to notice any improvement but they think she will suffer much less with allergies by next spring and ideally I would like her to take less allergy medicines daily. Our insurance covered less of the cost with the drops but for her particular environmental allergies the doctor thought this would be just as effective and we thought it may be less unpleasant than the shots for her and less logistics for us to get her to the doctor every week so we decided to use FSA account money and try this route. I can't remember for sure but I think we were going to pay a co-pay every week if we opted for the shots. I don't know if the drops are an option for your DD's allergies but wanted to mention it.

very similar to this - DS1 is about to start drops (SLIT) for his environmental allergies. The shots are apparently more likely to be fully effective (but the drops still have a high likelihood of success) and are not covered by insurance like shots are. But, they are significantly easier (can administer at home as opposed to weekly appointments to the allergist with a 20-30 minute mandatory wait after each shot) plus are a good option if you are needle phobic like DS1 is. I obviously don't know how it will work yet, but our allergist was hopeful that next summer will be a lot better for his allergies, which would be amazing. Poor kid is miserable 5 months of the year and medication doesn't help him at all.

[textbookcase]

Thank you guys! I'll ask her doc about the drops vs shots and see if that's an option at all.

[fuckyourcouch]

I am allergic to everything I've been tested for, and have a wheat sensitivity.
I have been doing allergy shots for about 2 years, and honestly, I hate it.
I took forever to build to maintenance because I kept having systemic reactions and getting sent to the ER.
I ended up having to get a special alum blend because of my reactions. My maintenance dose is so low that I feel basically no benefit, but it can't be bumped or I end up in the ER.
I am on a cocktail of 4 antihistamines a day and have to carry and epipen and I'm still always suffocating on my own snot.
The shots are always very painful for me (they insist it's because of how much I'm allergic to), and a time suck.
But at this point I've invested so much time and money into it I feel obligated to continue.

A lot of people have great success though. It's hard to say.

[y4m]

Oh man - that sounds so familiar. Here's my story: had always had pretty bad seasonal allergies, and then in 2010 I got chronic hives. I saw an allergist for skin testing and basically tested allergic to every environmental and food thing. I started allergy shots (which I did for 5 years and which have been miraculous for me on the nasal allergies - highly recommend!). I also gave up all the foods I tested allergic to for several months (which was awfully socially isolating). Did not really see much difference. Super frustrating.

Went through a few more allergists and eventually learned that I have a condition called Chronic Idiopathic Urticaria that causes the hives. Mine are generally caused by pressure (I get them under bra straps, around waist bands, etc.) and by changes in body temperature (exercise, hot showers, etc.) I never knew those were things you could be allergic to. That same allergist told me that for people with physical urticarias like mine, skin prick tests really don't make sense, because your body reacts to the prick itself and not what it is testing. Hence my gigantic overreaction to everything.

So I guess my advice if any of this resonates is to get a second opinion before making major life changes food-wise. But totally get allergy shots. They are awesome. Oh, and avoid any NSAIDs - those drugs amplify histamine, so if you are a person with lots of allergic tendencies, you can have a major reaction because of it. Tylenol only unfortunately.

Best of luck to you and her.

[sapenguin]

I'm a lurker but have you heard of eosinophilic esophagitis?  I was just diagnosed this year after having similar symptoms for years.  curedfoundation.org/

[textbookcase]

Aug 10, 2016 23:54:24 GMT -5 y4m said:

Oh man - that sounds so familiar. Here's my story: had always had pretty bad seasonal allergies, and then in 2010 I got chronic hives. I saw an allergist for skin testing and basically tested allergic to every environmental and food thing. I started allergy shots (which I did for 5 years and which have been miraculous for me on the nasal allergies - highly recommend!). I also gave up all the foods I tested allergic to for several months (which was awfully socially isolating). Did not really see much difference. Super frustrating.

Went through a few more allergists and eventually learned that I have a condition called Chronic Idiopathic Urticaria that causes the hives. Mine are generally caused by pressure (I get them under bra straps, around waist bands, etc.) and by changes in body temperature (exercise, hot showers, etc.) I never knew those were things you could be allergic to. That same allergist told me that for people with physical urticarias like mine, skin prick tests really don't make sense, because your body reacts to the prick itself and not what it is testing. Hence my gigantic overreaction to everything.

So I guess my advice if any of this resonates is to get a second opinion before making major life changes food-wise. But totally get allergy shots. They are awesome. Oh, and avoid any NSAIDs - those drugs amplify histamine, so if you are a person with lots of allergic tendencies, you can have a major reaction because of it. Tylenol only unfortunately.

Best of luck to you and her.

Wow, thanks, I'll look into this. She gets a really weird rash that almost looks like pimples but isn't, it's always in the same place on her neck and around her hairline where she sweats a lot. She also gets hives/rashes in her armpits and bra area. We live in the desert where it's over 100 from May to October or November so it's always hot. Here's what her arms looked like during the skin test and that was before they got super red and raised.

[y4m]

Yeah - it is super uncommon to ACTUALLY react to that many different foods and environmental allergens. My take would be there's something else going on and she should get a second opinion before assuming that those food allergy results actually reflect real world food allergies (especially if she's never noticed a real world food reaction). Armpits/bra area would make perfect sense for some kind of physical reaction. Some of those can be food-mediated (I actually do think avoiding Soy helps some with mine).

Usually the treatment is finding a good combination of antihistamines - you can take much higher doses than the standard one allegra a day. Sometimes an H2 antihistamine like Zantac is also part of the deal. She might try taking OTC Zantac and Zyrtec twice a day and see if that helps. There are stronger prescription things after that, including injectables like Xolair.

[nursewife]

Nothing to add, other than I'm sorry. Allergies are the suck, and testing should qualify as a form of torture. When I had it done last fall I was almost in tears because I couldn't scratch.

[audry80]

My nephew is basically allergic to Earth. Every pollen, grass, tree, and weed came back positive. He had pretty bad allergy induced asthma and Allergy shots have helped him so much, he no longer has to use his inhaler when playing outside.

[killercupcake]

Aug 11, 2016 0:52:23 GMT -5 sapenguin said:

I'm a lurker but have you heard of eosinophilic esophagitis?  I was just diagnosed this year after having similar symptoms for years.  curedfoundation.org/

This is interesting. H was diagnosed with this a few years ago. We're still not sure what his trigger is though. The doctors didn't look very hard, really.