Good news, my integrative medicine doc has solved my dilemma. He suggests I get blood testing for antibodies to M. Pneumonia, one test for active infection, one test for past exposure. If positive, then we'd move ahead with an antibiotic. Regarding the risks of Zithromax, his nurse said they've discussed it and it's reallly only an issue for people with pre-exsiting heart disease or serious heart risk factors. Phew!
I'm still feeling good and I have a live-in sitter for the next 3 weeks, so I'm finally relaxing too.
My nightmare MONTH!!
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MBombardier
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My integrative medicine doc drew blood for MRT today!! I'm finally doing it. It wasn't my intention at first, but they were doing other bloodwork, so they ordered it too. I'll meet with their nutritionist in 3 weeks to discuss the results. They also tested for mycoplasma pneumonia (IGE and IGM?), chlamydia pneumonia, Epstein Barr, and HHV-6 (the EBV and HHV-6 were tests they ordered months ago and I didn't get them drawn). Can't wait to hear the results, hopefully all negative. The doc and I both agreed it was interesting that I had enlarged lymph nodes along the right side of my neck and not the left, and that my skin rash is primarily evident on my right hand and elbow. Hmmm...infectious cause after all? Of course on the shoulders and chest, it's on both sides, although vastly better this week, despite a little sun exposure this weekend.
I even had a norman this morning, but I know better than assume it means something. I'm quite sure D is right behind it. Hopefully the accupuncture treatment will encourage norman to stick around for a while.
BTW, I saw one of the partners in the practice, an MD, not my usual DO. They both have faculty teaching appointments in the department of Family Medicine at Georgetown, so I think they are treated the same, so long as they are Board Certified.
On the kid front, my daughter had her 5 year check-up today. All normal, even a nice weight jump. I only opted for one vaccine, DTaP. After the lawsuits against Merck from whistleblowers inside the company proving they cooked the books on the efficacy of the mumps component of the MMR (we're talking serious fraud, adding rabbit antibodies to prove the vaccine worked), the warning letter from the FDA to Sanofi Pasteur for their inadequate facilities and inproper procedures, and now word that the pertussis vaccine isn't fully effective against pertussis, I'm proceeding with even greater caution. She only needs MMR and Varicella now, and I'm going to take my sweet time deciding. Since she just got over pneumonia, I wasn't about to do a live virus vaccine either. The one good thing about living in a conservative state is that they still allow religious exemptions to vaccination!
I may ultimately opt for antibody testing to prove the initial doses of MMR and varicella worked, which would do away with the requirement for the booster doses.
Both kids went to the dentist yesterday...no cavities! She said they are statistically at very low risk of cavities now, since most kids who are prone to them would have had one by now. Yay!! Hubby and I have strong teeth with minimal cavities, so I imagine genetics play a role.
Now to work on the "Allergy Action Plan" required for my daughter's school. The doc warned me that most schools, if they see the kid has eaten something they are allergic to, will AUTOMATICALLY give them an Epi-Pen dose. That's rediculous, considering my daughter's legume allergies are mild and only result in diarrhea (so far). Imagine, an EpiPen for accidetally eating a bean?? YIKES! This will be my next battle, waged in part as the Chairperson of the PTA Wellness Committee. I'm planning a first ever allergy and anaphylaxis night at the school too.
The doc had very little answers about how to manage her legume allergies. I said she seems to have a threshold level, and I wondered if tiny amounts were OK, so long as they didn't cause symptoms. He said one allergy camp says Yes, that tiny doses may even improve the allergy over time. The other allergy camp says no, you must have absolutely zero exposure or the allergy may get worse or lead to other allergies. Any thoughts?? We're still confused and partly in denial. After all, D is so common in our house. Just because it's IgE mediated it's a big deal? I can only imagine how many people with periodic D have true food allergies that never get discovered, and most of them never lead to anaphylaxis. I guess we just wait and have yearly RAST bloodwork to see if she's reacting more or less to legumes.
I even had a norman this morning, but I know better than assume it means something. I'm quite sure D is right behind it. Hopefully the accupuncture treatment will encourage norman to stick around for a while.
BTW, I saw one of the partners in the practice, an MD, not my usual DO. They both have faculty teaching appointments in the department of Family Medicine at Georgetown, so I think they are treated the same, so long as they are Board Certified.
On the kid front, my daughter had her 5 year check-up today. All normal, even a nice weight jump. I only opted for one vaccine, DTaP. After the lawsuits against Merck from whistleblowers inside the company proving they cooked the books on the efficacy of the mumps component of the MMR (we're talking serious fraud, adding rabbit antibodies to prove the vaccine worked), the warning letter from the FDA to Sanofi Pasteur for their inadequate facilities and inproper procedures, and now word that the pertussis vaccine isn't fully effective against pertussis, I'm proceeding with even greater caution. She only needs MMR and Varicella now, and I'm going to take my sweet time deciding. Since she just got over pneumonia, I wasn't about to do a live virus vaccine either. The one good thing about living in a conservative state is that they still allow religious exemptions to vaccination!
I may ultimately opt for antibody testing to prove the initial doses of MMR and varicella worked, which would do away with the requirement for the booster doses.Both kids went to the dentist yesterday...no cavities! She said they are statistically at very low risk of cavities now, since most kids who are prone to them would have had one by now. Yay!! Hubby and I have strong teeth with minimal cavities, so I imagine genetics play a role.
Now to work on the "Allergy Action Plan" required for my daughter's school. The doc warned me that most schools, if they see the kid has eaten something they are allergic to, will AUTOMATICALLY give them an Epi-Pen dose. That's rediculous, considering my daughter's legume allergies are mild and only result in diarrhea (so far). Imagine, an EpiPen for accidetally eating a bean?? YIKES! This will be my next battle, waged in part as the Chairperson of the PTA Wellness Committee. I'm planning a first ever allergy and anaphylaxis night at the school too.
The doc had very little answers about how to manage her legume allergies. I said she seems to have a threshold level, and I wondered if tiny amounts were OK, so long as they didn't cause symptoms. He said one allergy camp says Yes, that tiny doses may even improve the allergy over time. The other allergy camp says no, you must have absolutely zero exposure or the allergy may get worse or lead to other allergies. Any thoughts?? We're still confused and partly in denial. After all, D is so common in our house. Just because it's IgE mediated it's a big deal? I can only imagine how many people with periodic D have true food allergies that never get discovered, and most of them never lead to anaphylaxis. I guess we just wait and have yearly RAST bloodwork to see if she's reacting more or less to legumes.
Immunotherapy treatments that use increasing doses to create tolerance can prevent clinical symptoms, but antibody production continues to increase if ingestion of the antigenic foods continues. If you need a reference I can cite one, but I don't have time to look it up right now.Zizzle wrote:He said one allergy camp says Yes, that tiny doses may even improve the allergy over time. The other allergy camp says no, you must have absolutely zero exposure or the allergy may get worse or lead to other allergies. Any thoughts??
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.