Allergy Shot Success!!!

I always said that I would not put my children through allergy shots. Last summer after watching Joshua suffer miserably with runny nose, itchy and watery eyes, and sneezing, I decided it was time to see the allergist. Joshua has been blessed (cursed) with his father's allergies. While we were at the allergist last June, he had allergy testing done. More pokes on his back than I can count, holding him while he cried for each poke, then hearing him cry harder and wiggle trying to "make the itching stop." My normally very easy going kid was literally freaking out.

The allergist had returned to the room (because he heard all the commotion). Looked at Joshua's back after just 10 of the 20 minutes we were to wait and said, "OH my, time to put him out of his misery." His back was basically one enormous welt. We began allergy injections last July and he has gone 2 times a week since then. He had multiple reactions and had to back down on his dose more times than I care to count. He also maxed at 0.15 ml instead of the normal 0.5ml because of frequent reactions. But this season, his allergies have been so much better. When the allergist asked today how much improvement I think he's made, my reply was "At least 90%." He's only sneezed a few times, his eyes haven't watered once. He's done so much better.

The game plan is: Weekly shots until August, then one monthly. Come next spring (his worst season thanks to grasses), he will go back to every other week. Dr. Holbreich said today, "He had the worst reaction to grasses I have ever seen in a 7 year old!" Nice, not something we'd like to be known for!