Moving to Florida

[kasedroz]

My family and I currently live in Kentucky, however our oldest daughter has developed serious allergies to almost everything in the state. She went last week to the allergist and was tested for 69 different things and out of all those she didn't react to 7 of them. The allergist had said moving to one extreme or the other (so either warmer or colder climate and I'm not moving where it's colder) would help or allergy shots. Sadly our insurance doesn't cover the shots and they're super expensive and we've been talking about moving to Florida for so long and just feel that God has been pulling us there as well.

Out issue now is finding a job for my husband, I stay at home due to her extreme allergies so that I can be close by. My husband has been frantically applying for jobs in the Orlando area even several at Disney itself which would be ideal for all of us. However, we haven't had much luck and was hoping for some guidance on where would a great place to start looking to expand our search for a job. We'd prefer to stay central as I have some family there but at this point we'd just like to be down there.

My husband has two bachelor degrees, one in computer science and the other in programming. He currently works at a company that develops an app for government agencies to use to track people using ankle monitors. He's consider a software engineer 2 and has been working with this company for a couple of years. Before that he work for the State government on software and hardware issues. He's extremely intelligent and a very hard and dedicated worker. Any help would be greatly appreciated to help jump start this move. Our daughter needs to be able to enjoy her childhood and she's really restricted here during allergy season.

 

[IndyRnRfan]

Sorry to hear about your daughters condition. As a person without allergies, I can only inagine what kind kid misery she must go through.

As for your husband, have him apply at all the hospitals in whatever area you are looking for. They have a lot of IT, programmers, etc... And many hospitals seem to be changing or updating their current computer software, at least in my area. Don't give up on disney either.

 

[perditax]

I left South Florida 11 years ago (and haven't missed it one bit, but that's another story). There were lots of IT jobs down there when I left, and presumably the economy is a bit better now than it was then. May need to branch a few hours' south in his searches.

As for Disney, they just outsourced a bunch of IT jobs so probably not a good/secure place to look.

 

[diznygirl]

As a mom with a child with allergies - a TON of allergies - you might want to look at what she is allergic to and what we have around here. I can tell you that Oak and Pine pollen is the WORST and affects everyone, not just people with allergies.

I'm not sure what Kentucky is like, but Florida is also lower on the salary range for IT jobs since the cost of living is low. So keep that in mind.

As the PP said, Disney just let go about 500 IT jobs and is outsourcing. So that's probably not a good place to look.

 

[Happy Snowman]

I'd take your daughter down to Florida for a few weeks before you make any job changes/moves. I'd be surprised if she did not have similar allergies in Florida. If you are trying to get away from various pollen allergies, you might be better off going to Arizona.

 

[CandleontheWater]

I don't know if I'd advise a move to Florida to get away from allergies. We've lived in many states (DH is prior military) and by far the worst place for his allergies was Florida. My DH has lots of outdoor allergies, with dust and mold thrown in for good measure, and he was pretty much constantly miserable during our time living in Florida, both when we lived on the Gulf and on the Atlantic. I'd take a long look at what her allergies entail, and move to a place that doesn't feature those elements. I also don't know if a move would be cheaper than allergy meds, but YMMV.

 

[Christine]

My friend lives in the Orlando area and her son has horrible allergies and asthma. They have tons of pollen there it just blooms earlier in the year.

You need to look in areas with short growing seasons and not a lot of vegetation. My allergies were best in Maine and northern Japan. Apparently lots of pine does not bother me too much.

 

[smadath]

I'd take your daughter down to Florida for a few weeks before you make any job changes/moves. I'd be surprised if she did not have similar allergies in Florida. If you are trying to get away from various pollen allergies, you might be better off going to Arizona.

I second this. I had terrible allergies as a child, getting 2 allergy shots a week in 1st grade, weaning to 2 per month by high school. We visited FL several times in summer and winter, and my allergies were awful in summer. No worse than home (PA) in winter, but no better, either. Also, the humidity isn't the best for people with asthma. My allergy doctor suggest southwest if possible (it wasn't), but didn't mention southeast.

 

[indimom]

I was also thinking that a trial run might be a good idea before your husband changes his job.
My sister's allergies got a lot worse in Florida (compared to Southern Indiana).
Since you're a stay at home parent, maybe you and your daughter could spend a few weeks with your family in Florida to give it a trial run before you commit to making the move. You might want to make a few visits during the different seasons, if you can manage it.

My son was also highly allergic to a lot of allergens. The allergy shots have done wonders for him.
I've seen the cost and know it's very expensive (we're lucky that our insurance considers them preventative so they're covered for us), but make sure you take the difference in income/cost of living into account. A couple thousand a year for injections may be less costly than the move.

 

[Southernmiss]

Add me to those who say be careful about moving to Florida to get away from allergies. I live on the Gulf of Mexico in Mississippi and many people here suffer from seasonal allergies. Our climate is very much like central Florida. In fact, our cars are currently covered with a light yellow dusting of tree pollen. Seems a little early to me this year. And Sudafed is only available by prescription.

 

[BlovesC]

I didn't develop allergies until I moved to FL!

 

[jahber]

Yes, definitely check that she isn't allergic to the plants we have here in Fl. I've had a migraine all day because the oaks around here just went crazy. You can also see the pine pollen on the cars in my neighborhood (although that's mostly just an inconvenience). It's terrible and nearly year-yound here, between the trees and the grasses.
If it turns out she's not allergic to our main allergens, good luck! I can imagine it would be a great relief to not have to deal with allergies.

 

[LisaR]

My son has the worst allergies I have ever seen. I am talking about completely out of control sneezing and blowing and NOTHING helps. Doctors are baffled. He has had anaphylactic reactions everytime they've tried allergy shots so those are out of the question now. SLIT allergy drops only have a 0.1% reaction rate. Turns out DS is that 0.1%. Medication doesn't work. Guess where we live? Florida. DS did experience an immediate drop in symptoms when we moved to FL which our doctors up north said would happen. He wasn't allergic to any of the grasses or trees down here because he wasn't around them enough. It took two years after the move before the allergies started to ramp up and about five more years until they got to the point where they are now (which is one hundred times worse than they ever were up north). I could see her getting a few years relief (the allergies won't disappear, but they should get better) but they will likely come back. Sorry! If you ever find the magic solution, please share!

 

[scoutie]

My daughter is allergic to everything and her allergies were the worst on our vacations to Florida. I echo the others to make sure that things won't be worse there. I know you mentioned you can't afford allergy shots but moving is quite expensive too.

 

[North of Mouse]

My family and I currently live in Kentucky, however our oldest daughter has developed serious allergies to almost everything in the state. She went last week to the allergist and was tested for 69 different things and out of all those she didn't react to 7 of them. The allergist had said moving to one extreme or the other (so either warmer or colder climate and I'm not moving where it's colder) would help or allergy shots. Sadly our insurance doesn't cover the shots and they're super expensive and we've been talking about moving to Florida for so long and just feel that God has been pulling us there as well.
Our daughter needs to be able to enjoy her childhood and she's really restricted here during allergy season.

Sorry about you dd's allergy problems. We lived in Lexington for 2 1/2 years (dh's job transfer) until we could leave!! I immediately, after moving there, was hit with a terrible allergy end of Aug. Had to have an emergency visit to allergist (couldn't breathe). Had testing, and he said he'd never seen someone with a ragweed allergy that bad - life threatening - immediately prescribed prednisone, then started taking the shots - was 'much' better by the next Fall, then we left a year after that.

Am mildly bothered now - but the Dr. said the Ohio River valley is the absolute worse place for ragweed sufferers. Just wonder if that's your dd's main problem - can make any other allergies much worse. As for pine trees here in the south - they get blamed for a lot of allergies, but the allergist (and articles) say this is not usually even a mild problem. The pollen is so dense (a big nuisance) that we don't usually inhale it! It's mostly a myth.

As others have said, shots would be a lot cheaper than a move - especially if you don't know if she'd face the same allergies elsewhere. Can't understand your ins. company not paying for the shots if she's that bad - usually a Dr.'s letter stating it's life threatening would help make the ins. pay. Worth a try. The best to you.

 

[lovegrumpy]

My hubby and kids have no issues with there allergies down in Fl so they are all okey with moving back there when dh is done with the militery.

 

[Saimaeve]

Florida is horrible for allergies.

California is better for allergy sufferers as is Salt Lake, and Provo.

Also, you'd lose your insurance if its through your husband's employer. That on top of a move to a place with a somewhat high cost of living seems like a very bad idea.

 

[kasedroz]

Most of her allergies are KY based and we visit Florida for a week and a half twice a year and have been there through each season and she has had no problems why we were there. Her Ragweed and her bluegrass allergies are her worse ones. Her allergist has already cross-referenced her allergies with what could be bothersome in Florida and she had little to no reaction to those except for of course her cat allergy. Which we don't have one so it'll only really be friends of hers that she'd be effected by that.

 

[Minnesota!]

Florida would be the last place I would be looking to move if trying to escape allergies. Look north or west.

 

[kasedroz]

We are not moving any more North than what we already are, it's too cold as it is here. My body literally aches when its cold outside, I can't do any colder than what we have here. This is another factor that we are taking into consideration for a move down south. And I want to stay within 13 hours of KY due to her biological father will not be moving and I'd like for him to have more than just summer visitations and anything farther away would not be feasible .