That makes me feel so much better…knowing that this will end eventually (or at least get a lot better). He’s miserable most days NOT BECAUSE OF T1D…because of his eye issues. I wish I could just take it all from him, as all parents would. Can’t wait to get these shots started. We have to go back in 2 weeks to get them started and then every week for a year of agressive shots (2 hour wait after each shot(s) series given). He wants this to end so badly - it ruins his entire days and his summer has been miserable because the eye issues have dominated his days.
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I’m so sorry!
Forgive me if you’ve already discussed this…but have they recommended allergy eyedrops to help locally? My eye doctor has recommended them to me several times…but I am so sensitive to medicine it does make me feel a little hyper. She said that Shouldn’t Happen To Normal People…but I never fall in that category symptomatically. You can get them OTC.
ETA: The eye doctor did say that if you put your finger on the tear duct to plug it after you administer the eyedrops, that prevents most of it from absorbing into your system and it shouldn’t make you feel as jumpy.
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He’s getting eye drops twice per day and has been for the past 4 months but they don’t help. That’s a great question we need to get the answer to…are the drops he’s on now the correct drops given the new information we have about his allergies and, if not, get on the correct “allergy” drops. Thanks for those insights!!
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My older son was fully allergy tested (like 50 toothpick pricks in the skin) when he was a year old, and he only tested positive to two molds (one of which was all over his day care…another story entirely) and dust.
Then we fully retested him at nine years old and everything lit up in his skin. That was the same Christmas break that we had our then six year old tested who also fully lit up.
So I don’t know all of the medical stuff behind it…but kids can grow into it…and they are not guaranteed to grow out of it without treatment.
My dad just moved to the Ohio River Valley and now he has allergy issues for the first time in his life. He’s 70. So that’s been interesting to watch.
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The eye drops he’s been on, according to Erin ARE allergy eye drops. They have “special” eye drops that were offered as a 3rd alternative to the shots every week, but according to the allergist, they are not nearly as good as the other 2 options. So while we are using “allergy” eye drops, they aren’t the specially formulated ones we could opt for and we won’t get started on those because we can’t do both - it has to be the special eye drops OR the shots.
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@TomH I also had heard it’s cats licking themselves that was the issue. But they seem to have decided it’s a protein I guess that causes most of the issue? Maybe the protein is also found in saliva too? The protein I guess is sloughed off in the dander. The food Purina puts out cuts down on that protein production. I really don’t know a lot about it. I know I didn’t test allergic to dogs or cats, but a natural doctor tested me for a wider range of things and of all things I was allergic to dog urine…not the dog but the urine. How does that happen? So you can always be allergic to different “parts” of something.
But I’m allergic to some weird things. Like @T1Allison apparently is, I’m super sensitive to medications, give me a new medication and guaranteed at least 50% of the time I will react badly. So I try to not have to take anything new.
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That looks like my old list! Almost everything was on it, but in particular I set a record for grass- they needed a ruler for the skin test because it was so big the card couldn’t measure it.
I dealt with these allergies before I became a T1D, so I can’t provide any advice on how they interact, but the allergy shots pretty much cured me and here’s a brief summary of my experience.
In terms of what used to set me off my symptoms I was similarly odd. It was more the combination and what I was exposed to and the specifics of what it was. Ragweed season very bad. One cat no problem, another cat and I’m sneezing my face off. I’m not surprised that a different weed type at once location could set it off. Once a stopover in Texas on an airplane (where they picked up a load of ragweed-laden air) turned my nose into a leaky faucet for the rest of the trip.
At the beginning I needed so much antigen for the shots they started me off with 4 separate shots- 2 in each arm. As my immunity improved that dropped down to 2. Only had a reaction once and not that bad.
But all of his was in grad school where I had spectacular health insurance that covered all off this for free. ~2-3 years of shots (I forget the details). No symptoms at after 2 years though.
When I got an actual job they gave me a jug of antigen to take with me (again, for free), but with normal health insurance costing $20 per shot (so $40/visit 2x/week) I couldn’t justify continuing with no symptoms. But roughly the shots pretty much cured me of the worst of it. I take one ceterizine/day (generic Zyrtec) and haven’t had any major problems ever since.
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@ClaudnDaye, i have two sons and they wetre allergic to many things, An allergist gave them skin tests and found they had allergies to some of the same things as Liam. My older son had asthma when his allergies were worse in the summer. The doctor made an injectible serum (?) that I was permitted to give them at home. He allowed that because I had given myself injections so many years for my diabetes.
Both boys had great success with those injections and they had very little trouble after a year or so.
My younger son was also allergic to shell fish. He ate shrimp and the inside of his throat swelled so much that he could not swallow. He had much difficulty breathing. An ER visit was necessary.
Both boys grew up and had great futures with only mild ajjergies.
I think your allergist can also prepare a similar serum for Liam that will help him very much.
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