AAACHHHOOO!

sniff, sniff, sniff...scratch, scratch, scratch...

I feel like we might be picking on poor Monkey, but rarely does he spend so much time in the spotlight. Two posts in a row!!!

He isn't like his sister whose personality screams drama. There is a very good reason why we have the rule "you break her you take her".  I have many photos of her pouting, kicking the ground, laying on the ground in anger...she is a gem until you make her mad!

Monkey is easy going and rarely throws a fit or gets upset for more than 30 seconds.

So, since Monkey doesn't have drama, he gets allergies. 

He is itchy. He has scars on his stomach, shoulders and back from scratching.

He has a scratchy throat and makes that annoying sound so few people can make when they are scratching the back of their throat and does it about 50% of the day.

His is always sniffing or needing a tissue. Even sleeps with one.

We tried several OTC allergy meds, but when you just don't know what he's allergic to, it's hard to manage and it was all a crap shoot. We thought it could be food because it is year round. There is no good season for him, so pinpointing it has been difficult. 

So I decided I'd had enough and took him to the allergist. 

Take a look at this:

10 minutes into a 15 min waiting period.

They could only do about 80% of the tests due to the size of his back so they went with the ones they thought would be culprits.  There are tests on the right and left of each line, numbered to cross reference with the cause of the allergen.  They take a small stick from a vile and just break the skin to see how it will react with the allergen. (in case you have never seen this done...)

The big red welts that look like mosquito bits are extreme reactions (he had at least 6 of those ranging in size) and the redness is another indicator that is measured in width and length. 

I am the one standing behind him blowing on his back (and taking a photo) trying not to pass out from lack of oxygen.  He got to bring a video game to help distract him and the moment I stopped blowing he would whimper. 

So, I blew on his back for 15 minutes straight whilst trying to talk to the Doctor in between puffs. 

All in all he had quite a few extreme ones that can be blamed, and many that were bad (not extreme) and a few annoying ones. Luckily dog was on the mid-lower end and not the extreme so Hank gets to continue living here :)

Unfortunately, the extreme ones each fell in different seasons. Of course they did. Heaven forbid we just have spring allergies.

What that means is that Monkey has something EVERY SEASON that he is VERY allergic to. Oh joy!

Trees, molds, grasses...all have a season and he decided to just get crazy and enjoy each season in misery.

We are trying a new medicine for 6-8 weeks to see what we can control with that.  The nose spray they want to try is $80 a month (*gasp*!). We have not tried our sample yet, need to research it some more.  

If we cannot control this a little better, he is suggesting 'shot therapy', which tones down his over reactive immune system.  I don't know. I don't like that either.

So, for now, we try 1 thing at a time and wait.

I have to say, he is significantly less itchy. HOWEVER, according to the little chart he gave me, we could be in a small lull for allergies. Small meaning less severe for him.  Still things out there he is reacting to, but less.  

I will probably wait about 3-4 months I guess, maybe longer to really see how he does. I am a good procrastinator like that...we will call it "keeping our eye on it" not "I really don't want to take 3 kids to the Dr. by myself again".

Sorry if that photo made you want to itch your back...

Cheers!