Hi Trista!

I know Suzanne and Amy have already given you some ideas, but I just
thought I would chime in here. What you are experiencing is,
unfortunately, a very familiar story to many of us on this list. I
have a few thoughts. First, you are on the right track getting him
into an allergist and a DAN! doctor. What part of the country do
you live in? Please know that, as Suzanne similarly stated,
allergists are pretty limited in what they can offer as far as
treatment. What you want out of your allergy appointment is
testing. You want the skin prick testing followed up by RAST
testing. You also want immunoglobulin levels. This will be helpful
to your DAN! doctor, who can also order those tests. Have you read
Ken Bock's new book: Healing the New Childhood Epidemics? Do you
have your child on any supplements? What is his diet like?

Thanks,
Jenny
--- In foodallergyautism@yahoogroups.com, "tn21284" <tn21284@...>
wrote:
>
> 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
>