What To Expect at Allergist

We have (chuckling here) a considerable amount of experience with our three year old and doctors. Its pretty individually based, in our experience. Of the seven physicians and twelve nurses that she has had reasonable contact with (ie- actually had a chance to interact with), she is only utterly enragedby/terrified by one of those people. (To the point of irrationality. [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/rolleyes.gif[/img] ) Other than that, it seems to mystify us completely as to whether she will like or despise a particular physician. She likes our new allergist best of anyone, and he was present for her skin tests yesterday. (The nurse who stuck her is definitely on her S*3! list, though [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/wink.gif[/img] ) It might have something to do with the fact that he actually let her keep his stethescope for a bit, but she also likes our family doctor very well... and he's been responsible for a vaccination or two, so who knows?

For skin testing? Bring your child's comfort object and favorite parent (of the moment) if possible. Anything that your child finds particularly fascinating or distracting is a good idea, IMO. We brought a bunch of nested plastic easter eggs with tiny things (stickers, a small plastic animal) in the innermost egg. This was a big hit, as were the bee and turtle fingerpuppets (she buzzed daddy with the bee). Having done both, I would say that the blood draws are MUCH harder at this age. (But we didn't have anything with a severe response on our skin tests- that may change things.)

If you talk to your child about the visit ahead of time and tell the TRUTH about what will happen, generally things go better, in our experience. That is, if they will be taking blood, say so, but don't tell so far in advance of the event that it assumes monumental/phobic proportions. We try to explain in a very matter-of-fact way that doctors and nurses are "helpers" who are there to help us stay well or to help us feel better when we are sick. It also helps to use a bit of bribery.... our daughter gets to pick out an inexpensive toy after a blood draw, and we took her for Mexican food last night after the skin tests.

For your little one, I would also encourage you to get a copy of the Maisy mouse book,
"Doctor Maisy" by Lucy Cousins. Very very comforting, and a good investment at just over 3.00 US. A play stethescope has also helped our daughter work out some of her anxieties, too.

Good Luck [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]

Thank you, Corvallis Mom, for helping me through a very anxious period before my daughter's first allergist's visit.

We saw Dr. Michael Young, author of the Peanut Allergy Answer Book, and it turned out to be much easier than I had expected. Probably because he decided to only do a blood test and no skin tests. I was surprised by this but since we could think of no other foods that my daughter has shown a reaction to, he said there was no need to do a skin test. Has this been your experience too? I guess I have to trust him since he seems to be such an expert in the field. He seemed highly intelligent and was very gentle and nice with my daughter as well.

He was shocked that my daughter was given no epinephrine at the ER (only a shot of Benedryl) when she had highly swollen lips, and that they discharged her when her hives were only starting to appear about 2 hours later...covering most of her body (a "bi-phasic" reaction). He said in the future if I don't feel comfortable leaving the hosipital, to just wait in the waiting room until I feel comfortable that her reaction is subsiding. He said that unfortunately many ER physicians are not very experienced with PA reactions (in fact, the Dr. who saw my daugher in the ER started by saying "oh isn't that interesting [her lips], I've never seen anything like that before"). Since this was her first reaction, I really didn't understand the potential for the reaction to develop into something worse. I will in the future though!!!

Anyway, we took your advice and brought along all sorts of diversions, which helped out a lot.

Thanks again!