I've posted here before about my son vomiting phlegm all the time. Its been happening once a week lately since allergies have kind of been in full wing. Mine have anyways and it seems like when I have problems he does the vomiting thing which flags me to say allergies. I really do believe he has allergies. Its really getting frustrating talking to doctors because they don't want to perform scratch tests on him because he won't sit through 47 scratches and they say its just a nuisance to me and he seems normal otherwise so why bother. I am at my wits end at this point. We've gone through our childrens hospital about this.
Are there allergists and other doctors out there who specialize with just special needs patients? If there are, how do I find them?
My son had terrible seasonal allergies and produced a lot of phlegm which caused vomiting. What made a world of difference was cutting off all dairy products since that is phlegm producing even in people without allergies. He now is on soy milk and hasn't had a phlegm problem in 2 years. I hope this helps.
okay, I went back thru your previous questions & I noticed the phlegm has been an issue for you for some time. I saw a question from 11/2010 mentioning it, & another about the allergist refusing testing at some point.
You have mentioned that your son is special needs. I could not find any clues as to his dx.....so I thought I would just ask. :) Is it possible that his dx is actually causing the phlegm issues? I know that with my cousin who has CP....we do see bouts of choking on phlegm. My older son has a friend with advanced MS & he, too, has issues with phlegm....simply because his body is shutting down as the disease progresses.
In no way do I want to scare or frighten you. I am simply trying to find ways to get answers for you for the phlegm issues which have been with you for some time.....& also with multiple allergists saying "no" to you. There has to be a reason, & sometimes it's not what we want to hear.
In addition to this being a result of his dx, have you ever considered removing dairy or gluten from his diet. I know a toddler who choked on phlegm daily....until he was put on soy milk. Perhaps something that simple would help! Try eliminating one food item at a time for 2-3 weeks (each go-round), & maybe you will be able to pinpoint a trigger.
I wish you Peace.
You can request a RAST test, which is a blood test and doesn't require the skin testing.
It seems the possibilities of allergies are seasonal. If it is seasonal, I have had great success with natural local bee honey. Are you able to try that with him? It took about 1 week for the honey to begin to build up my immune system and then I was fine. I continued to eat honey after that every so often, without any regulation.
Otherwise, can you find a doctor that will break the scratch test into sessions? Why does it have to all be done at one time. I don't think they are looking for a chain reaction. There has to be a doctor in your area who understands this situation. Does your PED understand? Are they able to recommend an understanding doctor?
I have a 12 year old son with special needs. Most of the time there aren't specialists that only see special needs kids but they're are definitely doctors that are better than others & cater to their needs. I always trust his primary to give me referrals for a specialist that will best fit for my child. I don't know about your area but I would think you have an organization that you could call, that provides answers for parents that have special needs kids. I feel for you & your frustration. It is much more difficult to get definite answers, when your child has special needs.
I go to a wonderful osteopathic doctor in Richfield. She has a lot of kids she helps. My son is on the autism spectrum and my daughter has immune deficiencies and all my kids have allergies. She uses non invasive techniques to help. We have had the blood tests too. The immunologist we saw never did the 47 scratches. She did the major ones. You may also want him seen by an immunologist/allergist. Allergies are a response by the immune system. I thought my kids had allergies and there was actually more going on. My daughter would have vomiting/reflux, headaches and stomach aches and it seems there was more going on. If you see a combination dr he will start with the allergy testing and if everything is normal he will look at the immune system. Good luck to you.
I'd find a wellness dr. office, they typically do not accept insurance as they do practices that insurance companies in the U.S. deem as "non-traditional" but if you go to Europe, these types of practices are completely the norm there (the U.S. is way behind in acceptance). My son sees one in my state, and for allergies, they did a stool test, hair analaysis, urine and a quick blood draw. I got an enormous amount of info back w/o having to do the scratches. The stool/urine and hair tests I was actually able to collect in my own home and then a courier company came out to my house to pick up all of our "samples". I know of a fantastic office in the Chicago area if you are willing to drive there.
This isn't an answer to your questions but I saw that the doctors won't do the scratch tests. Ask them about doing a blood test. They did the blood test for my daughter a couple months ago. They just take i think it was 5 vials of blood then test it for allergies so they don't have to do the scratch text on young kids. Good luck!
I dont have much experience with allerigists, but just the other day I could have sworn I read that they can test for allergies through bood tests. you will have to hold his arm for a blood to be drawn. We have done it with my 4 year old and its not pretty but its over quick.
why don't you look at your online database for doctors for allergists and mention your concerns and see if they can do a blood test/ or even the scratch test?
