Friday, September 7, 2012

Huevos y Flu Shots



Mama Bear's Message to Dr. Allergist: Hello, Dr. Allergist's Office.  I'd like to leave a message for Dr. Allergist.  My son has recently patch tested positive - very positive - for an egg allergy and I am now unsure of whether or not to allow him to receive a flu shot.  Can Dr. Allergist please give me a call so we can discuss?

Dr. Allergist's Nurse's Response via voicemail: I spoke with Dr. Allergist and he feels that it's okay for Aidan to receive a flu shot as long as he does not have anaphylaxis to egg - meaning any reaction when he ingests it.  So he said it's fine to get the flu shot, and it doesn't have to be done at our office.

Mama Bear's message back to Dr. Allergist's nurse: I'm calling in response to a voicemail I just received.  The message I left stated that we recently learned via Patch Testing that my son IS allergic to eggs.  I do not know what happens when he eats them, as he has not had them or any other food in nearly a year.  I'm sure you can understand that with a positive test result for egg, I am certainly not going to be feeding him eggs to find out for sure what his reaction will be.  I just need to know how to proceed regarding this flu shot.  Can you please have Dr. Allergist give me a call to discuss this?

Dr. Allergist's Nurse's response via voicemail: Dr. Allergist would like you to come in for a flu shot.  We can test him for egg at that time.


My brain?  Fried.  Please enlighten me.  Do some doctors just not use Patch?  Is the Patch reaction not considered a "real" reaction?  We were told that we needed to carry an Epi for ALL things that he reacted to, via Patch or SPT.  Dr. Allergist has notoriously useless nurses - maybe he's just not getting the message I'm attempting to send?

2 comments:

  1. How frustrating! DD1 is allergic to eggs. We had her last flu shot done in the allergist's office. They started with a skin test to check her reaction to eggs and to the flu vaccine itself. She got a huge welt from the egg, but she didn't react to the vaccine. So they gave her the flu shot, had us wait around 30 min, (we got to watch The Little Mermaid in the room), then they released us.

    Maybe try calling back and asking about their "flu vaccine protocol" for kids with an egg allergy, to try and get more details.

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