Re: HELP - ALLERGY TESTING/endoscopy

[Guest guest]

Hi there ,

I would look up the RAST allergy testing and see what info there

is on it. We had this done for Olivia and it showed that she had NO

food allergies, when in fact she has a moderate dairy allergy and a

SEVERE soy allergy. She's been hospitalized twice for soy and she

vomits and has the runs until she bleeds from both ends. I know it's

not pleasant to post this but I researched the RAST test after the

fact and then went back to the Dr. and he said that it was to screen

out major alleries and anaphalactic (sp) allergies. Thankfully

she's not anaphalactic to anything but in my opinion we poked her

for nothing. This was almost 2 years ago so maybe there's a

different way of testing the blood now?

I'm not saying don't do the test, just research it so you know

more about it.

Leah, mom to 9 years and Olivia 4.75 years, 19lbs, 33 " , RSS,

OI, lots of meds

> See, no matter how old your RSS kid gets, there is always a point

> where you still need help.

>

> Had our GI checkup today. They want to run a whole battery of

blood

> tests, including the RAST food allergy tests.

>

> QUESTION. How long should she be off of the Periactin, which is

an

> antihistamine. For skin tests, they say 2 weeks. But I wasn't

sure

> if it mattered for blood tests and my pediatrician seemed slightly

> unsure. If no one knows, I will call an allergist.

>

> After the results all come in, then has to go to the

> hospital for two days for further tests.

>

> First, she has to have an IV and then take a breath hydrogen

test.

> HUH is right. Seems that with delayed gastric emptying as severe

as

> 's, it is very common for an overgrowth of bacteria to

build

> up, which can cause the bloating, etc..... And the only way to

> determine this is with this breath hydrogen test, which involves

NPO

> and an influx of sugar (hence, hospital, IV).

>

> Secondly, after sleeps that night at the hospital, they will do an

> endoscopy with biopsies the next morning, to ensure that the

ongoing

> reflux hasn't caused any damage. Depending on the blood test

> results (way too many for me to remember which is which), he will

do

> an upper or upper and lower endoscopy.

>

> Anyone with experience, I will take advice!!!! has soccer

> playoffs on the Saturday after these tests (Monday and Tuesday).

I

> am assuming she would be fine for playoffs -- is this correct???

>

> Salem

[Guest guest]

,

I have to agree with Leah. The peds allergist Matt saw in Chicago

last January explained to me that the RAST test is an indirect

measurement of allergies. Basically (if I remember right) the test

measures the amount of antigens - or antihistamines - or anti

something to a specific allergen. BUT, since it is indirect - she

felt it wasn't as reliable as the skin test. HOWEVER, Matt's old GI

doctor said that the gut reacts differently than skin. I have never

gotten a good explanation or test to determine allergies.

I am REALLY interested in the breath hydrogen test. Keep me posted

on that - are they looking for H. Pylori? Sounds like a similar

test Matt had for that.

Also, since she is in the hospital over night are they going to do a

pH probe to evaluate her reflux?

Just thoughts...

Beth

> See, no matter how old your RSS kid gets, there is always a point

> where you still need help.

>

> Had our GI checkup today. They want to run a whole battery of

blood

> tests, including the RAST food allergy tests.

>

> QUESTION. How long should she be off of the Periactin, which is

an

> antihistamine. For skin tests, they say 2 weeks. But I wasn't

sure

> if it mattered for blood tests and my pediatrician seemed slightly

> unsure. If no one knows, I will call an allergist.

>

> After the results all come in, then has to go to the

> hospital for two days for further tests.

>

> First, she has to have an IV and then take a breath hydrogen

test.

> HUH is right. Seems that with delayed gastric emptying as severe

as

> 's, it is very common for an overgrowth of bacteria to

build

> up, which can cause the bloating, etc..... And the only way to

> determine this is with this breath hydrogen test, which involves

NPO

> and an influx of sugar (hence, hospital, IV).

>

> Secondly, after sleeps that night at the hospital, they will do an

> endoscopy with biopsies the next morning, to ensure that the

ongoing

> reflux hasn't caused any damage. Depending on the blood test

> results (way too many for me to remember which is which), he will

do

> an upper or upper and lower endoscopy.

>

> Anyone with experience, I will take advice!!!! has soccer

> playoffs on the Saturday after these tests (Monday and Tuesday).

I

> am assuming she would be fine for playoffs -- is this correct???

>

> Salem

[Guest guest]

Great.... more for me to deal with. Does it ever end??? I will

contact this great peds allergist here and ask them for help. THANK

YOU for notifying me ahead of time, since the RAST test is so

expensive.

Re the breath hydrogen. No, this is not for h pylori. When I

mentioned the h pylori, he said that he didn't think she had that,

but then said something that I forgot to write down. What was it,

something about how lots of kids may have it, or 50% of kids are

asymptomatic with h pylori. Gosh, I don't remember.

I will find out more.

> > See, no matter how old your RSS kid gets, there is always a

point

> > where you still need help.

> >

> > Had our GI checkup today. They want to run a whole battery of

> blood

> > tests, including the RAST food allergy tests.

> >

> > QUESTION. How long should she be off of the Periactin, which is

> an

> > antihistamine. For skin tests, they say 2 weeks. But I wasn't

> sure

> > if it mattered for blood tests and my pediatrician seemed

slightly

> > unsure. If no one knows, I will call an allergist.

> >

> > After the results all come in, then has to go to the

> > hospital for two days for further tests.

> >

> > First, she has to have an IV and then take a breath hydrogen

> test.

> > HUH is right. Seems that with delayed gastric emptying as

severe

> as

> > 's, it is very common for an overgrowth of bacteria to

> build

> > up, which can cause the bloating, etc..... And the only way to

> > determine this is with this breath hydrogen test, which involves

> NPO

> > and an influx of sugar (hence, hospital, IV).

> >

> > Secondly, after sleeps that night at the hospital, they will do

an

> > endoscopy with biopsies the next morning, to ensure that the

> ongoing

> > reflux hasn't caused any damage. Depending on the blood test

> > results (way too many for me to remember which is which), he

will

> do

> > an upper or upper and lower endoscopy.

> >

> > Anyone with experience, I will take advice!!!! has

soccer

> > playoffs on the Saturday after these tests (Monday and

Tuesday).

> I

> > am assuming she would be fine for playoffs -- is this correct???

> >

> > Salem

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

I can help you with the endoscopy questions.

The upper endo. Some drs. use a spray or gargle to numb the throat. She

will be sedated and they will pass the scope(which is like a tube with a

camerea on it ) down her throat, They will must likely have her swollow at

this time. they will look at the esophagus down to the opening of the

stomach. they will biopsy on the way back out. They can check for H. pyloris

with the biopsies they obtain.

The colonoscopy, they sedate her and insert the tube in the rectum all the

way around to the end of the large colon. again they will bx. on the way

out. She may be gassy and a little uncomfortable from that.She should be

just fine by the next day or two. She should not have any problems on

Saturday.

I hope this helps and good luck toyou all through yet another hurdle.

Loretta

HELP - ALLERGY TESTING/endoscopy

>

> See, no matter how old your RSS kid gets, there is always a point

> where you still need help.

>

> Had our GI checkup today. They want to run a whole battery of blood

> tests, including the RAST food allergy tests.

>

> QUESTION. How long should she be off of the Periactin, which is an

> antihistamine. For skin tests, they say 2 weeks. But I wasn't sure

> if it mattered for blood tests and my pediatrician seemed slightly

> unsure. If no one knows, I will call an allergist.

>

> After the results all come in, then has to go to the

> hospital for two days for further tests.

>

> First, she has to have an IV and then take a breath hydrogen test.

> HUH is right. Seems that with delayed gastric emptying as severe as

> 's, it is very common for an overgrowth of bacteria to build

> up, which can cause the bloating, etc..... And the only way to

> determine this is with this breath hydrogen test, which involves NPO

> and an influx of sugar (hence, hospital, IV).

>

> Secondly, after sleeps that night at the hospital, they will do an

> endoscopy with biopsies the next morning, to ensure that the ongoing

> reflux hasn't caused any damage. Depending on the blood test

> results (way too many for me to remember which is which), he will do

> an upper or upper and lower endoscopy.

>

> Anyone with experience, I will take advice!!!! has soccer

> playoffs on the Saturday after these tests (Monday and Tuesday). I

> am assuming she would be fine for playoffs -- is this correct???

>

> Salem

>

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

,

Jake just went through some basic allergy testing yesterday. He just

had the skin test done and had to be off periactin for five days. He

was tested for some food (soy, chicken eggs, cow milk, peanut butter)

then grasses, mold, trees, pets, etc. We figured he had some seasonal

allergies , which he did. But, he also was highly allergic to peanut

butter and chicken eggs. Lucky for us he hates both foods.

The doctor gave us a prescription for zyrtec and wanted us to talk to

Dr. H next time. If the zyrtec doesn't help we will discuss shots.

Great doctor, did a medline search on RSS when we were there and asked

me to read the printout and tell him if it was a good overview.

Anyway, I know this is pretty much not going to help you since your

testing sounds more intense.

Alison

[Guest guest]

,

Jonah had an endoscopies and I have had two and I was fine the next day or

so. The only thing that bothered me was the anesthesia. The doctors think

that I had H pylorus, but you mentioned bacteria, could it also be yeast

which causes bloating and gas? Do you give Acidophilus? I try to

give it to Jonah everyday and I take it too. Good luck and I have not

forgotten to look for pictures of Jonah when he was younger, just have been

very busy. Oh, can I also get the form from Dr. H you talked about in an

earlier e-mail?

HELP - ALLERGY TESTING/endoscopy

>

>

> >

> > See, no matter how old your RSS kid gets, there is always a point

> > where you still need help.

> >

> > Had our GI checkup today. They want to run a whole battery of blood

> > tests, including the RAST food allergy tests.

> >

> > QUESTION. How long should she be off of the Periactin, which is an

> > antihistamine. For skin tests, they say 2 weeks. But I wasn't sure

> > if it mattered for blood tests and my pediatrician seemed slightly

> > unsure. If no one knows, I will call an allergist.

> >

> > After the results all come in, then has to go to the

> > hospital for two days for further tests.

> >

> > First, she has to have an IV and then take a breath hydrogen test.

> > HUH is right. Seems that with delayed gastric emptying as severe as

> > 's, it is very common for an overgrowth of bacteria to build

> > up, which can cause the bloating, etc..... And the only way to

> > determine this is with this breath hydrogen test, which involves NPO

> > and an influx of sugar (hence, hospital, IV).

> >

> > Secondly, after sleeps that night at the hospital, they will do an

> > endoscopy with biopsies the next morning, to ensure that the ongoing

> > reflux hasn't caused any damage. Depending on the blood test

> > results (way too many for me to remember which is which), he will do

> > an upper or upper and lower endoscopy.

> >

> > Anyone with experience, I will take advice!!!! has soccer

> > playoffs on the Saturday after these tests (Monday and Tuesday). I

> > am assuming she would be fine for playoffs -- is this correct???

> >

> > Salem

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

[Guest guest]

,

Max has had this breath test, but he did not have to be hospitalized

for it. He just had to fast for a little while, then drink some

sort of liquid, wait a bit and then breathe into some sort of

contraption. Then we went home. But if the doctor is doing the

endo., etc, then it makes sense for her to be in the hospital.

Now, I don't understand about the not looking for h pylori. I'm

confused. I know that many kids test positive for it and are

asymtomatic, my son being one of them, but at times he is

symtomatic, and I've been told that is why his stomach gets

distended and why he is so likely to get sick from it - well, that

and the fact that he, too, has severe delayed emptying. That also

causes his reflux and Dr. H. just added Prevacid along with his

Protonix because it seems to be getting a bit worse.

Anyway, as already mentioned, should feel fine after the

testing and be ready for Saturday. If they do the colonoscopy, she

will feel bloated and gassy for a day or two, but that won't

interfere with her weekend.

Jodi Z.

[Guest guest]

,

Hi. My son Jack had an upper GI endoscopy at 18 months, and we were

terrified about the anesthesia and general " scariness " of the

procedure at such a young age, but the whole procedure---from the

time he was put under until the time he woke up from the anesthesia--

-was literally 10-15 minutes!!! The only drawback was that his

throat was a bit sore. We were in and out of the hospital in a

couple of hours. I know that will be staying overnight, but

just wanted to put your mind at ease that the procedure is pretty

quick and painless and shouldn't interfere with any physical

activities like soccer. (Sorry don't know about lower GI, but I'm

sure someone out there can give you a time frame on it.)

Jack had a wheat allergy and a terrible soy allergy, both of which

he has outgrown (YEAH!). These were both GI-related allergies, which

basically meant he projectile-vomitted a great deal. There is no

test for a GI-related allergy (it's basically trial and error: what

foods make your child throw up or have diarrhea---soy is a

particularly cruel allergy, because it's in EVERY processed food and

baked good on the market and hard to isolate/figure out the way

wheat and milk are).

Anyway, the skin test is to test what I was told were " true "

allergies: Foods that may cause anaphalactic shock, hives,

respiratory problems, etc. So even though Jack threw up violently

eating soybean-related foods, the skin test registered negative for

soy, because his vomitting was GI-related and not a " true allergy " .

I know this is very confusing (and we didn't get it either at

first!), but I would get a clarification from an allergist on what

exactly they're testing in and what exactly they're trying

to pinpoint with the results.

I'm not quite sure what the RAST test is, but if it's a blood test

to measure food allergens, there's a great deal of controversy

surrounding it. Our first GI believed in it, but our current one

(and the allergist we saw for the skin test) said testing the IgE

(or IgG?) levels in the blood could not prove a GI-related food

allergen; it could only prove whether or not a person had been

exposed to a certain food, and the only way to determine GI-related

food allergies was trial and error. Well, it may have been a fluke,

but the blood test showed an outrageously high IgE level for soy and

moderately high level for wheat, so who knows?? (Heck, I like to

think that we saw that first idiot GI specialist for SOME reason,

because he was a waste of time in every other way! Hee!)

Well, sorry to ramble, but thought that you might be put at ease

somehow to know that the upper GI endoscopy and allergy tests were

pretty quick and non-invasive. Best of luck to you guys!

marcy k.

> See, no matter how old your RSS kid gets, there is always a point

> where you still need help.

>

> Had our GI checkup today. They want to run a whole battery of

blood

> tests, including the RAST food allergy tests.

>

> QUESTION. How long should she be off of the Periactin, which is

an

> antihistamine. For skin tests, they say 2 weeks. But I wasn't

sure

> if it mattered for blood tests and my pediatrician seemed slightly

> unsure. If no one knows, I will call an allergist.

>

> After the results all come in, then has to go to the

> hospital for two days for further tests.

>

> First, she has to have an IV and then take a breath hydrogen

test.

> HUH is right. Seems that with delayed gastric emptying as severe

as

> 's, it is very common for an overgrowth of bacteria to

build

> up, which can cause the bloating, etc..... And the only way to

> determine this is with this breath hydrogen test, which involves

NPO

> and an influx of sugar (hence, hospital, IV).

>

> Secondly, after sleeps that night at the hospital, they will do an

> endoscopy with biopsies the next morning, to ensure that the

ongoing

> reflux hasn't caused any damage. Depending on the blood test

> results (way too many for me to remember which is which), he will

do

> an upper or upper and lower endoscopy.

>

> Anyone with experience, I will take advice!!!! has soccer

> playoffs on the Saturday after these tests (Monday and Tuesday).

I

> am assuming she would be fine for playoffs -- is this correct???

>

> Salem

[Guest guest]

Hi Jenn,

Storm didn't have the allergy tests, but he did have the endoscopy,

and he was fine the next day!!! His favorite part was getting

pictures of the inside of his stomach. He even took them to school as

part of his show and tell when he was explaining about being small

and taking shots, etc. If Lindsey would like something like that (the

pictures I mean) you should ask if you will get copies.

As far as the endoscopy went, Storm " looked " fine. The biopsy however

told a different story. (Slight damage at the pylori area!) I think

on our next visit I will ask the doctor more about all the gas and

bloating Storm gets!

I hope this helps some! The endoscopy was actually quick and easy!

Blessings,

Carmen