Rush Immunotherapy, Environmental Allergens, and Double the Allergy Shots

My daughter has been getting allergy shots for the last two years to help with her environmental allergies. They were working well until she developed a whole batch of new allergies. 

Recently we discovered that my daughter developed new allergies and now she gets 4 shots rather than the two shots that she was previously getting. Her allergy shots have helped her so much that under her allergists care, we were able to lower her antihistamine intake and asthma medications. She felt wonderful for months! Even her oral allergy syndrome was improving, but then all of the sudden, she went from having mostly clear headed and wheeze free days, to struggling again daily with hay-fever, and asthma flare ups. We had moved into a new part of the country, and she had developed allergies to the local environmental allergens. Oddly enough, she is not allergic to ragweed which is one of the most common allergens.

Because of the variety of allergens that she is allergic to (48 out of the 55 tested), the allergist was not able to combine them into fewer than 4 shots. We were told that some allergens degrade the other allergens if combined. Fortunately my daughter is able to tolerate getting four shots at one time. Our allergist told us that it is very unusual to have to get 4 allergy shots at a time and that he only had a handful of patients out of all of his patients that need four allergy shots. He told us that my daughter is supremely allergic, and is a rare case, in his experience.

To go from her 2 shots a month to now 4 shots, she went through a day of rush immunotherapy. Rush immunotherapy is where you get a few months of shots in one or two days. To prepare for this, you have to take a lot of medication. My daughter's allergist had her on a week of pre-medication leading up to the day of, and then more medication for a couple of days after. My amazingly brave daughter had 12 shots in each arm (4 every 25 min) in one morning for a total of 24 shots! She did very well and had just a tiny bit of localized mild swelling. Her arms were sore that day, and the next, but she was grateful to be weeks ahead of where she would have been if we had not done the rush immunotherapy.

To get through her allergy shots, my daughter swears by the "Shot Blocker" which works by distracting your skin with many little hard plastic points. If we forget to bring it, she asks the nurse to give her a good pinch so that she does not feel the needle going in. She also relaxes her arms and a lollipop always helps. Here is the link to the shot blocker on Amazon: SHOT BLOCKER

Food Allergy Aware Letter to Parents

Food Allergy Aware Letter to Parents:

A letter to the parents is always important if certain foods need to be kept out of the classroom due to severe food allergies

Here are a few examples:

To Print from smart iPad/smart phone/iPhone: Touch image to bring it up full size / choose "save image" and then print, or choose "print" right from there.

To print from PC: Right click on image / choose "open link in new window" / right click again on image / choose "save image as" / name image and save to your desktop or file / open from there and print.

To use the blank template in Word, save image to your computer, open Word, click on Insert, add image, choose layout option of image behind text, and "fix position on page". Then you are ready to add text.

Allergies, Asthma, and Getting Ready for School, or: We are Always Late

Rush, rush, rush!  

If you are disorganized like me, then you too probably run a bit late in the morning. Add on a must take list of medications for allergies and asthma, and it is a recipe for chronic scurrying, and tardiness.

Many a time while trying to feed my kids, get them dressed, and out the door on time, I forget my daughter's medications until we are walking out the door. I know that inhalers can not be rushed, the breathing needs to be done right, a good rinsing needs to happen afterword, and if needed, a nebulizer breathing treatment takes a good 20 minutes. This is not something that should be left until the last minute as we are scrambling to be on time for school. Plus this is not something that can be overlooked, even for one day. The worst call is one from the nurse's office asking you to please bring in the daily antihistamine, or inhaler that was forgotten before school as your child is itching and sneezing like crazy, or coughing non stop.

Just the other day, both kids were fed, dressed, hats and coats ready to go on, and my son decided that he was not happy with his outfit for the day, and "re-dressed" himself.  As I was rushing through my daughter's medications, pill, pill, inhaler, inhaler, nasal spray, etc. I turned to see his hamper running across the floor, with his two bare legs going as fast as they could go. "Mommy! I get dressed all by myself!" he squealed with glee as he ran in circles around the living room. I swear I have a sense of humor, but at the time, it was NOT funny.

I scrambled to finish my daughter's medications, caught the little stinker, and threw some clothes on him, just in time, to be 5 minutes late. On the way home I thought about how if I had not left my daughter's medications to the last minute (again), I could have laughed and enjoyed the moment, but as we were pushing the tardy cut off as it was, with yet another inhaler to give, I was not amused. Not even one bit.

So, I am going to make a change. New Years resolution: Medications first thing in the morning, and no more rushing around like a headless turkey right before we walk out the door for school.