1st day after giving (corn) meds

here is 'lou today, after starting the meds last night and giving him this morning's dose, as well. hubby and i both agree that his previous sites already look a little better. his wrists, ankles and knees were red and irritated w/ pimple-like sores opening up on them. already today they look much drier and flakier, not so beefy and irritated.

however, he has been scratching everywhere else constantly and saying his clothes hurt him, so he keeps taking everything off to be naked. a new irritated rash is creeping up the backs of his legs, buttocks and forearms. this is classic corn exposure pattern for him. if i keep giving him the meds, it will go up his trunk to his neck and then start concentrating on the hands, ankles and knees again.

i want to take him in to the allergist so he can see and document for himself, but they're closed today. i thought i could go to the ped and have her verify and bear witness to the allergist if need be, but she's also off today. even my favorite nurse/assistant of hers is off today! so instead i'll take pics and post them here.

the physician's compounding pharmacy that was so helpful yesterday called and said the manufacturer where they get the actual drug (prednisolone) in the steroid med is overseas and they don't expect an answer on whether or not it is corn-free before it comes to them until monday. i have to say here how impressed i am that they were very eager to learn about the www.cornallergens.com website and find out for me, though! i wasn't sure what level of response i'd get, just being a concerned parent as opposed to a physician inquiry.

so it looks like a waiting game today, balancing the severity and discomfort of the new rash against the clearing up of the old one and a balancing act to see which one advances more quickly. if the beefy, fresh new rash gets much worse, i think i'm going to just quit everything, wrap his worst breakouts areas in raw shea butter and saran wrap w/ socks overnight and eat absolutely nothing but rice with him until we get the blood test results as to what the original offending food is this time.

i had an allergist tell me about one case he had where the corn allergy was so severe and - like 'lou - the supplemental neocate he'd prescribed wasn't tolerated at all by the baby and she ended up in the hospital from the severity of her eczema. her mother was so invested in breastfeeding her and she was so reactive to so many things and they hadn't yet narrowed down which foods were the worst offenders (though they knew corn was the worst), that this mother lived on nothing but the neocate herself for a couple weeks to see if the baby could tolerate it this way and to keep all other offending food proteins out of her milk and continue breastfeeding. if another mother can do all that, i can surely quit giving him more corn in meds that obviously aren't working and eat just rice for a few days!

i'm hoping we can hold out until tomorrow when i can show the allergist so he can see for himself (and of course, secretly also hoping against all my experiences and instincts that i just haven't given the meds long enough to work and there will be a miraculous turnaround and cure at some specific point and that this fresh and raw rash is just some coincidence... but aren't antihistamines and steroids supposed to suppress all rashes and itching? so shouldn't he really not even be able to break out w/ a new rash right now? argghh, i wish someone who's already been down this road would write a book i could refer to!)