Thank you for the welcome! My 5 yr. old son has mild autism and has
recently been having food allergies. We have tested for 15 foods so
far, and I'm sure we will test for more. He has been having hives
the last 6 weeks or so. About 3 weeks ago, we took him to the ER
because he woke up with a really swollen face and lips. One side of
his face drooped down and his face and lips were puffed way out.
They gave him a cortisone shot which made it go down. He has had
minor swelling around his eyes since then. He also has had joint
pain. About 5 days ago, his feet hurt so bad he couldn't walk. He
was on Zyrtec and Zantac but it didn't really help much, so we
switched to Allegra two days ago and have added Singulair, because
now he is coughing a lot and may have asthma. (I have the coughing
form of asthma and get allergy shots each week, plus my husband has
allergies, so it runs in the family). I'm still waiting for the
meds to kick in. We have found that he is allergic to Lays Sour
Cream and Onion Potato Chips and Frito-Lay French Onion Dip, because
he had strong reactions after eating them. I don't know if it is
MSG or something else in them that is causing it. I am trying to
avoid heavily-processed food that has a lot of additives in it. It
is frustrating, because he asked me today why he is still itching,
and I don't have the answer. The pediatrician said he rarely sends
kids to an allergist because it's hard to find what the culprit is,
but there has to be something causing it. I have an appt. for my
son with my allergist, but that isn't until February because he is
so booked. We do have an appt. with a DAN doctor in December, and I
am looking forward to that. We did get him to a nurse practitioner
at an allergy practice two weeks ago who did limited testing, but I
wasn't too thrilled with that practice. They wanted to put him on
21 days of antibiotics, with no signs of infection. (His labs later
came out fine). I'm sure you all have been through similar
frustration. I just feel that we are going from one doctor to
another. Any tips you all have would be greatly appreciated!

Trista