Anyone with lots of experience with allergies, please help?

I took my 2-year old to an Allergist. She has a history of severe eczema and tubes in her ears. The tubes were inserted a year ago. Since she had tubes she's had only one ear infection, which occurred just a couple of weeks ago- so we've done pretty well. Her eczema is 95% resolved since switching her to Rice Milk and giving her Omega-3 fatty acids three months ago.

The skin test was the typical scratch test that looks for a histamine reaction. I looked at her back. The only scratch that looked like a mosquito bite was the positve control. No other scratch appeared to be raised. Now, several of them DID appear to be red, especially in the surrounding skin area, and some were more red and irritated looking than others. But, is that a positive reaction? Does the skin actually have to be raised for the reaction to be positive? The doctor said she was allergic to so many things I am skeptical- because she never starts to sneeze, she never has a runny nose or itchy eyes. She is allergic to certain pet danders, molds, grass, pollen, and several foods from the skin test. He wrote three marks by the ones that were reactive and two marks by the ones that are not reactive.

Then, he said she needs allergy shots for the airborne allergens and an elimination diet (she is already eliminating some things, so that was ok) for the food. But conventional medical advice says only use immunotherapy for children over the age of 5 who are at risk of developing asthma and whose allergies are not controlled by medicine.

I really need a very well informed opinion on this.

The first step in allergy treatment is "avoidance". Given that, your allergist may be used to most of his patients coming to him after they have decided that avoidance is impossible. Therefor, most patients that go to allergists are ready for immunotherapy intervention. It sounds as though you are able to avoid most of your little ones allergens with the exception of the airborne ones. Often, for many patients, antihistamines and nasal inhaled steroids can control the symptoms associated with airborne allergies. If the doctor suggests using a nasal spray, don't snub your nose, they really are the best at treating and controlling allergy symptoms. Some parents have a preconceived attitude about nasal sprays and project that making their children resist. I would suggest talking to your allergist about your desires to possibly wait to do shots until she is older and have him explain to you why you shouldn't wait if he disagrees. Best of luck to you both!

But how red does the skin test site have to be to be considered a positive reaction? All redness had disappeared within an hour, and I saw no pricks that were raised at all.

Hi Ginny, when my oldest daughter was three the allergist told me that if she was allergic to a few things and we started shots that maybe she wouldn't continue to get allergic to the other allergens. Maybe it had something to do with calming the overreactive immune system or something with the shots. Well she tested my daughter and she was already allergic to everything by 3 yrs so it threw that plan right out the window. I tried the avoidance and medicine route until we maxed that all out and she still had symptoms so we started her on allergy shots at 3 1/2 yrs old. They made a huge difference for her.