On Christmas night DD came to me and told me she felt like she had something in her throat and was having trouble swallowing. She had not eaten anything suspect. I thought maybe one of the cookies I made was cross contaminated but a guest somehow....She asked me if we should see a doctor. Then she said he stomach hurt. She had no signs of a reaction, just felt these things. We went to the ER. She freaked out when I said maybe we need to Epi. ER took her right away. They treated her with Benadryl and Zantac. She slept. Her throat looked fine, her breathing/oxygen was fine. When she woke up she said the lump let better but just before we let she said it was back. Last night she started with the same thing and crying bc she didn't want allergies and wanted to be better. I let her sleep with me bc I knew she was fine. This is anxiety and I feel so bad bc I get anxious when she starts to tell me every little itch she has. I wonder if the feeling in her throat is related to her constant sniffling/Post-Nasal Drip. Anyway - we are going to the pediatrician today. Hopefully we can get into see her ENT soon and hopefully we can find someone for her to talk to about the anxiety. I find it very worrisome and it really came out of nowhere. This child is scared to death of the EPi bc of our first experience and how I reacted. I just do not know what to do. She had been doing so well.
No advice Mary, just (((hugs))) to you and DD. Anxiety is a bear.
I can relate to this all too well. See if you can find a psychologist. It helps. It doesn't make it all go away, but it can help bring the anxiety down to a level that is easier to manage. (Instead of being on high alert all the time, 24/7.) If you cannot find a psychologist, perhaps have her write down her concerns and bring them to the allergist to discuss.
I feel for your daughter and hope she can get some relief soon. Anxiety sucks. :grouphug:
Agreed, anxiety sucks. I also think therapy may help her, and also you and how you interact when she's showing signs of anxiety.
Yes - I tend towards anxious so that is bad and I almost feel like she feeds off of telling me about each little symptom real or not...
Had the ped whose adult daughter is dairy/egg allergic. He was fantastic with DD and he also agreed that this was not a reaction. We are upping her Nasonex for a few days and hopefully that will get rid of the lump feeling. He talked to her about the importance of the Epi and about how she should feel safest eating in my kitchen. I am so glad he was working today :) I am going to contact our allergist and see if their counseling center has any local recommendations for someone who deals with food allergy anxiety. If not, we will take her to NYC. I can tell that she is feeling much better after seeing the doctor.
I think someone specializing in anxiety, or, anxiety in children, would be good, as long as they can listen to and address the issues specific to FA.
I think it's a great idea to have her talk with someone...that being said, I have had some random winter congestion this week and have experienced a lump in my throat due to it. I have no food allergies, but definitely noticed the lump and I can see how it would be easy to confuse it as caused by FAs.
Hez - thats exactly what is going on - congestion/sniffles, etc. She convinced herself it was a reaction and was so scared and nervous. I will say she is fine today - the doctor really helped but I want to be proactive and not let this get out of hand...
can I ask why you took her to the ER?
I know it can be difficult sometimes to tell the difference between a panic attack and a reaction, but as you must of had auto injectors at home, why go to the ER rather than just wait to see if there was a clear sign of an allergic reaction?
I think it is worth getting advise to support the stress of living with food allergies.
In the meantime, what independent steps does your child take in controlling her allergies, is she confident at cooking the odd meal? reading her own labels? and eating outside home ?
We took her bc she started panicking. Its hard to tell the difference sometimes - happened to me once. Was having a panic attack and I thought it was an allergic reaction. We have lived with these allergies for years and usually do well. She got scared and remembered using the Epi that one time. She reads all labels, helps me cook, etc. She is afraid of the Epi... thats a real problem. Her doctor had a good discussion with her today.
Do you find that her anxiety increases during times of transition, stress, or when she is out of her routine?
The anxiety only rears its ugly head around food issues. Of course she was exhausted on Christmas and last night so that could be a factor. One of the moms of a counselor from Camp Tag (the allergy gang) that the kids have attended the last 2 years reached out to me today to say that her 15 yo DD would be happy to chat with her. Her DD is an amazing kid and a great speaker who does a lot of FA stuff. They live about 30 minutes from us, so we may meet up.
That's a great idea. Sometimes they take cues better from their peers.
:grouphug: No advice, just want to commiserate. I have similar issues, but with sometimes confusing anxiety with asthma. An anxiety attack makes my chest hurt, can make it hard to breathe, can make my hands start to tingle like they do when I can't get enough air during an asthma attack. It is so, so hard. Hoping that you can find something to help her out with it.
Thanks Janelle.
DD was great yesterday and is her perky, happy self today too! She is excited about our Disney trip and talking about where she wants to eat. That makes me relieved and happy.
The allergist wants her to se a GI to rule our reflux and eosinophilic esophagitis. I do not think its eosinophilic esophagitis - she doesn't have stomach aches often is really nauseous and hasn't thrown up in years. It could be reflux. It could be from our terribly unbalanced and rich diet during the holidays. I will call the pediatrician on Monday for a refereral. She also gave me the name of a therapist about 40 minutes from here which is much better than 2 hours and a trip into NYC.
Well after about 4 weeks on the reflux meds DD is still having the feeling of a lump in her throat just not everyday like she was. I spoke to the GI's nurse today and we have to schedule an Upper GI for her. That should be fun. I will call tomorrow to set that up. I really hope everything is negative. I cannot imagine what we will do if its EE and she loses wheat or soy....O know we could manage but it will be a huge learning curve.
:grouphug:
Hoping for good results. And an easy time of the test for your DD.
:crossed:
Do you have a date yet, Mary?
I have to call to schedule tomorrow. Not looking forward to this. We have an allergist appointment in April, so it will be good to have it done and hopefully have some idea of where we are before we that.
HI, MaryM ... Just saw this and wanted to add my experience, though not sure it will help, it might be something to consider. A little over two years ago (at Christmastime as well), I woke up with the same feeling ... a lump in my throat, and severe anxiety because of it. I finally got in to see a GP who did an EKG at my insistence (by this time I had chest heaviness as well, but I suspect that was the anxiety) and he told me he suspected acid reflux. I was in disbelief, as I never had anything remotely related to acid reflux, and was sure, again, due to my anxious nature, that it was something very serious (I had recently been exposed and had gotten sick from human parvovirus B19 and was sure it had wreaked havoc on my system).
Long story short, I went through 6 long months of doctor upon doctor, some well-meaning, and some just plain negligent (like the one who told me I had selective deficiency to parvovirus and I would eventually die from it). The symptoms that remained constant were the lump feeling in my throat, constant nausea (I could not eat anything and lost 15 pounds in a matter of weeks) and severe anxiety, which quickly led to sleeplessness and depression.
I had an endoscopy and they did not find anything, which caused me even more panic. In the end, I went back to the doctor I respected the most, who gave me this advice: stop seeing doctors, go on the OTC prilosec the original doctor had prescribed, and CHILL OUT! I did just that, and felt tremendously better within a couple of weeks, but not perfect. The doctor assured me that it may take a bit longer. Finally, after 6 weeks, I asked the doctor if I could come off of the meds ... I had no intention of being on prilosec for the rest of my life ... and he said yes. It has been 19 months now and I haven't taken a single antacid or had any symptom remotely resembling what I was experiencing. It was as if it were all a bad dream.
I write this here and now because I think there is just so much more that needs to be written and researched about the tremendous amount of anxiety we as parents and caregivers and our children must face when having to deal with LTFA on a daily basis. I had had a particularly tumultuous year, with both positive and negative events, and then we had to switch schools. We went from a completely loving and respectful community WRT food allergies, to a clueless and bullying atmosphere and it just pushed me over the edge. My doctor told me that I was so caught up in the constant fight or flight response, that it had made me completely unable to gain a healthy perspective on anything (i.e. why I refused to believe it was reflux vs. let's say, cancer).
Again, I am not sure if this will help, but if you find that you have not received answers from medical tests, perhaps you can continue to assess the role of anxiety in your daughter's life. Coincidentally, I came to the board tonight to see if I could find anything about anxiety, because my daughter came home last night from a night out at a gymnastics place and was in near hysterics because she was upset that kids were eating peanut snacks from the vending machine and returning to the equipment without washing their hands. She even found a wrapper in her cubbyhole. While I understand her concern, her reaction was a little extreme ... she was distraught, and it seemed to have come out of nowhere ... and I feel that she is dangling on that precipice of young adulthood, where she is realizing that she is going to have to take ultimate responsibility of her allergies, and she is not sure if she is ready or able to do so, hence the anxiety and emotion. That, and, of course, puberty!
Good luck to you. I hope you find the answers you are looking for. Our kids have so much on their plates, bless their hearts.
Hi Ct - I am so sorry you have been having such a hard time. I am glad that you seem to be feeling better. Our GI is really fantastic and he did say that what DD is feeling could be caused by anxiety. But we have to rule out EoE bc if it isn't anxiety and it is EoE we need to figure out what food is causing it. My allergist is at Mt. Sinai and they actually have a group of counselors who specialize in people with food allergies. DD went once. Since we live about 2 hours from NYC I did get the name of someone who is a bit closer who deals with food allergy anxiety. I am keeping that in my back pocket for now but am really glad my allergist knew of someone closer to home.
I am sorry your DD is feeling anxious too. I actually think part of the rise in my DD's anxiety about food is the fact that she is getting older (10) too. She seems to be doing ok lately and actually has not complained about the limo in her throat for about a week now which is awesome!
Edited to add that I got DD an appointment for Friday morning. The nurse is looking into the Barium ingredients to make sure its ok for her allergies. Ugh. I know she's going to be a nervous wreck about drinking it.
That's funny ... we have an allergist at Mt Sinai as well (Dr. Chokshi) who suggested that we see a counselor there, but since we are not local we did not have the additional time outside of our scheduled allergy appointment to do it. Did your daughter benefit from it? If my daughter's anxiety continues to worsen, I may go that route as well and try to find someone local (not sure when we will make it up to Mt. Sinai again). Coincidentally, this is something my daughter says she is interested in pursuing as a career ;)
Good luck to you both! I hope you find the answers you need!!
It did help. We only went once but my DD did much better for quite awhile. I'd ask your allergist if they can recommend someone closer to where you live. We see Dr. Nowak and she gave me the name of someone about 35 minutes from my home. There is no way we could go to NYC for therapy...
Upper GI results were normal. Good news. DD's symptoms seem better - it has gone from complaints everyday to maybe once a week. The GI nurse called to give me the results. She is checking with the doctor to see what our next step is. Hopefully it will be to just continue with the reflux meds.