Pseudo-food allergies (bit of a rant)

[Elana]

We've just come back from the doctor who gave us the results of P's
blood tests...according to that, he's had hits for milk, egg, wheat,
beef, pork, fish, tomato and potato. Milk and egg were the highest,
beef they think because of the relation to milk. Wheat the doc isn't
sure about...he thinks it might be a one-off thing. We go back for the
skin-prick test next week, for more confirmation.

I'm upset. I knew already that he had a reaction to milk, but
egg..wheat...fish. It's a bit of a punch to me. I've already been
looking at Beth's page to get more ideas for foods (they want us to keep
a food diary for the next week), but for now I just feel like there's so
much he *can't* have. I know I'm being negative, but I'm still coming
back from the blood results. And I know we're lucky...from what we can
tell, right now they aren't life-threatening (and I know they could
easily be). I guess I'm just mad at fate. And the fact that if I'm
going to keep bf'ing him, I need to give up a lot of those as well.

One small ray of hope...he didn't have a huge hit for nuts. I mentioned
to the doc that he wouldn't have nuts before he's 3, and the doc quickly
corrected me to 5. Well, at this point I'll do anything for him to not
have more allergies...

And my mom keeps saying that the hives he gets isn't an allergy, per se.
It's a sensitivity. I prefer to treat it as an allergy, since it makes
it more important (you tell a waiter you have a milk sensitivity, you'll
probably still get butter on the bread...you use the word allergy and
they'll keep it away from you).

I guess in a week we'll have a better idea of what we're dealing with.
Right now, I'm going to go bring the eggs up to our friend's house so
that we don't even have to think about them being in the house.

Is this how all you food-allergy moms felt?

E

[andrea]

"Elana" > wrote in message
...
> We've just come back from the doctor who gave us the results of P's
> blood tests...according to that, he's had hits for milk, egg, wheat,
> beef, pork, fish, tomato and potato. Milk and egg were the highest,
> beef they think because of the relation to milk. Wheat the doc isn't
> sure about...he thinks it might be a one-off thing. We go back for the
> skin-prick test next week, for more confirmation.
>
> I'm upset. I knew already that he had a reaction to milk, but
> egg..wheat...fish. It's a bit of a punch to me. I've already been
> looking at Beth's page to get more ideas for foods (they want us to keep
> a food diary for the next week), but for now I just feel like there's so
> much he *can't* have. I know I'm being negative, but I'm still coming
> back from the blood results. And I know we're lucky...from what we can
> tell, right now they aren't life-threatening (and I know they could
> easily be). I guess I'm just mad at fate. And the fact that if I'm
> going to keep bf'ing him, I need to give up a lot of those as well.
>
> One small ray of hope...he didn't have a huge hit for nuts. I mentioned
> to the doc that he wouldn't have nuts before he's 3, and the doc quickly
> corrected me to 5. Well, at this point I'll do anything for him to not
> have more allergies...
>
> And my mom keeps saying that the hives he gets isn't an allergy, per se.
> It's a sensitivity. I prefer to treat it as an allergy, since it makes
> it more important (you tell a waiter you have a milk sensitivity, you'll
> probably still get butter on the bread...you use the word allergy and
> they'll keep it away from you).
>
> I guess in a week we'll have a better idea of what we're dealing with.
> Right now, I'm going to go bring the eggs up to our friend's house so
> that we don't even have to think about them being in the house.
>
> Is this how all you food-allergy moms felt?
>
> E

How old is your little one?

I discovered my son Joseph had a milk allergy, while breastfeeding him.
When I consumed milk, he came out in serious ezcma which bled badly all over
his body.I had to cut out all dairy products from my diet.
When he was eating solids he ate some macaroni cheese at a friends house,
and he came up in hives all over and his face
swelled right up.
I have to say that there is light at the end of the tunnel for some
children, Joe grew out of it at 18 months, a lot sooner than our dr had
thought it would take. He can now eat anything dairy in moderation.
We just let him have milk on his cereal, but he eats yogurts just fine. We
introduced dairy back into his diet very gradually, one thing at a time.
I give him Danone Active water with added calcium, now he is no longer
breastfed.

Best of luck, I know what a pain it can be.
--
Andrea mom of -
Peter 7, Ellie 5, Alden 3, Joseph 21 mths & little munchie man Kamron 6
weeks weighing 13 lbs!
Married to David since 2000.

[JoelnCaryn]

>I'm upset.

(((Elana)))

If they're "sensitivities", isn't there hope that he'll outgrow the sensitivity
if he's not exposed to those foods enough to trigger full-blown allergies? Or
am I misremembering?

--
Caryn
mama to Oscar, 10/20/02

[Elana]

andrea > wrote:

> How old is your little one?

19 months (tomorrow)

> I discovered my son Joseph had a milk allergy, while breastfeeding him.
> When I consumed milk, he came out in serious ezcma which bled badly all over
> his body.I had to cut out all dairy products from my diet.

Patrick has eczema as well...not as bad as it once was, but this one
ankle... I was told by 2 docs that dairy had nothing to do with his
eczema. Of course, I think they were completely wrong, but an
elimination diet didn't work (I tried and tried and kept hitting the
milk wall)

> When he was eating solids he ate some macaroni cheese at a friends house,
> and he came up in hives all over and his face
> swelled right up.

Patrick just gets hives around his mouth. No swelling that we can see,
but I don't want it to turn into anything worse. Beth's put the fear of
God in me :-).

> I have to say that there is light at the end of the tunnel for some
> children, Joe grew out of it at 18 months, a lot sooner than our dr had
> thought it would take. He can now eat anything dairy in moderation.
> We just let him have milk on his cereal, but he eats yogurts just fine. We
> introduced dairy back into his diet very gradually, one thing at a time.
> I give him Danone Active water with added calcium, now he is no longer
> breastfed.

The Danone is a great idea, thanks. I guess we'll have to see if he
outgrows it. I really hope he does...nothing else goes so well with
Double Stuf Oreos :-)

> Best of luck, I know what a pain it can be.

Thanks :-). I need the support from people who have been there right
now :-).

E

[Elana]

JoelnCaryn > wrote:

> >I'm upset.
>
> (((Elana)))
>
> If they're "sensitivities", isn't there hope that he'll outgrow the
> sensitivity if he's not exposed to those foods enough to trigger
> full-blown allergies? Or am I misremembering?

Well, my problem is that I'm not well versed enough to understand all
the terminology. i want to work this out, but I just can't concentrate
enough on it to have it make sense to me.

I'm going to say there's a chance, but I have no idea. I'll ask the
doc..

Thanks for the hug...I started crying earlier. At least I'm not having
nuts! :-)

E

[Irish Marie]

"Elana" > wrote in message
...
> We've just come back from the doctor who gave us the results of P's
> blood tests...according to that, he's had hits for milk, egg, wheat,
> beef, pork, fish, tomato and potato. Milk and egg were the highest,
> beef they think because of the relation to milk. Wheat the doc isn't
> sure about...he thinks it might be a one-off thing. We go back for the
> skin-prick test next week, for more confirmation.
>
{{{{{{Elana}}}}}}}
Dear oh dear, I really hope that once avoided for long enough he grows out
of the "sensitivites" and doesn't develop full blown allergies.
Marie

[Elana]

Beth Kevles > wrote:

> I know it's upsetting, but try to think of the positive side of this.
> Because you were alert and did the testing early, your child has an
> excellent chance of outgrowing his allergies. Be sure to ruthlessly
> exclude all traces of his allergens from your diet (and his) for as long
> as you can stand it, and longer for the high hits. Stay alert for
> potential allergies that the doctor didn't test for, since your child
> clearly is prone to allergies. (Mine turns out to also be allergic to
> FD&C red dye #40.) And start making lists of the yummy things you CAN
> have instead of concentrating on the forbidden foods.

Thanks :-). We're trying to clear out the house now (no chocs for me!
WAH!), and have some recommendations on good tasting soy stuff. As
well, the dietician gave me some supplements for him (and me) for
calcium. Next time we're in the US, I know we'll be fine, cause there's
such great vegan products there. Here, there's nothing like that.

And I am trying to focus on the positive...thank heaven he likes fruit
:-). One neat thing the diet lady suggested was Bird's custard (instant
custard...kinda like vanilla pudding, but a little more watery) made not
with milk but with soy or rice milk. That, if it works will be
*awesome*. Now, if I could only find soy caramel... :-)

And thanks for the web page...I'm going through all the links when I
have a minute and it's really helping.

E

[Iuil]

"Elana" wrote
> Thanks :-). We're trying to clear out the house now (no chocs for me!
> WAH!), and have some recommendations on good tasting soy stuff. As
> well, the dietician gave me some supplements for him (and me) for
> calcium. Next time we're in the US, I know we'll be fine, cause there's
> such great vegan products there. Here, there's nothing like that.
>

Tell me about it. I've even tried the healthfood shops without success
(though I did find a vegan mushroom pate that makes yummy sandwiches). The
only soy cheese I can find is E4 for a small tub of cream cheese type stuff.
I must start investigating tofu ...

> And I am trying to focus on the positive...thank heaven he likes fruit
> :-). One neat thing the diet lady suggested was Bird's custard (instant
> custard...kinda like vanilla pudding, but a little more watery) made not
> with milk but with soy or rice milk. That, if it works will be
> *awesome*. Now, if I could only find soy caramel... :-)
>

I hate to tell you this but Bird's custard has milk powder in it. *But*
Provamel does a very good alternative ready-madeVanilla Dessert - I find it
next to the soy milk in Superquinn. In fact I prefer the soy version to the
dairy!


We don't do milk or eggs (at least S doesn't) and we avoided wheat
successfully for almost a year. The other stuff is relatively easy to
avoid - though I forsee lots of chicken and rice in various combinations in
your future :-). The trick is to avoid processed food and learn to cook
from scratch.

Jean

--
"And he said:
Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of
Life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, and
though they are with you, yet they belong not to you." Khalil Gibran

Return address is unread. Replies to <firstnamelastname> @eircom.net.

[K.B.]

When my son was weeks old he was having an allergy/sensitivity to something.
When I called the allergist they told me to avoid all wheat, eggs,nuts,
dairy, until he could get tested in a few weeks. I was very upset. It was so
hard to avoid these foods. With 4 kids I rarely make everything from scratch
and it's so much easier to have quick foods. I like to snack on nuts and all
kinds of things. All my favorite cereals have milk in the ingredients. I
couldn't find any info on bf and allergies. He was tested and he came back
negative for all that, thank God, but the Dr. said to stay away from dairy.
I didn't really believe it at first so I snuck some dairy. I figured some
cheese won't hurt or chocolate. I guess I was upsetting the baby because
every time I had dairy he would get a lot of mucus in his poop and it was
watery. Then I started finding blood in it. Plus he screamed alot. He has
been fine since I don't have dairy.
I can imagine how hard it is for you. You are a really good Mother to
sacrifice so much to give your baby the best. Your a dedicated Mom.
Good Luck,
Kris
"Elana" > wrote in message
...
> We've just come back from the doctor who gave us the results of P's
> blood tests...according to that, he's had hits for milk, egg, wheat,
> beef, pork, fish, tomato and potato. Milk and egg were the highest,
> beef they think because of the relation to milk. Wheat the doc isn't
> sure about...he thinks it might be a one-off thing. We go back for the
> skin-prick test next week, for more confirmation.
>
> I'm upset. I knew already that he had a reaction to milk, but
> egg..wheat...fish. It's a bit of a punch to me. I've already been
> looking at Beth's page to get more ideas for foods (they want us to keep
> a food diary for the next week), but for now I just feel like there's so
> much he *can't* have. I know I'm being negative, but I'm still coming
> back from the blood results. And I know we're lucky...from what we can
> tell, right now they aren't life-threatening (and I know they could
> easily be). I guess I'm just mad at fate. And the fact that if I'm
> going to keep bf'ing him, I need to give up a lot of those as well.
>
> One small ray of hope...he didn't have a huge hit for nuts. I mentioned
> to the doc that he wouldn't have nuts before he's 3, and the doc quickly
> corrected me to 5. Well, at this point I'll do anything for him to not
> have more allergies...
>
> And my mom keeps saying that the hives he gets isn't an allergy, per se.
> It's a sensitivity. I prefer to treat it as an allergy, since it makes
> it more important (you tell a waiter you have a milk sensitivity, you'll
> probably still get butter on the bread...you use the word allergy and
> they'll keep it away from you).
>
> I guess in a week we'll have a better idea of what we're dealing with.
> Right now, I'm going to go bring the eggs up to our friend's house so
> that we don't even have to think about them being in the house.
>
> Is this how all you food-allergy moms felt?
>
> E
>

[Elana]

Iuil > wrote:

> I hate to tell you this but Bird's custard has milk powder in it. *But*
> Provamel does a very good alternative ready-madeVanilla Dessert - I find it
> next to the soy milk in Superquinn. In fact I prefer the soy version to the
> dairy!

And it was the dietician who said it was okay!! Argh!!!!

We actually, I think, already have the vanilla dessert in question in
the fridge :-). Is it the Alpro stuff? Thank heaven Tesco had it...tho
with their track record, they won't have it next time...

> We don't do milk or eggs (at least S doesn't) and we avoided wheat
> successfully for almost a year. The other stuff is relatively easy to
> avoid - though I forsee lots of chicken and rice in various combinations in
> your future :-). The trick is to avoid processed food and learn to cook
> from scratch.

I think we're going to have to start a recipe exchange :-).

How about Jamie Oliver's Pork with Roasted Rhubarb? :-)

E

[Elana]

K.B. > wrote:

> When my son was weeks old he was having an allergy/sensitivity to something.
> When I called the allergist they told me to avoid all wheat, eggs,nuts,
> dairy, until he could get tested in a few weeks. I was very upset. It was so
> hard to avoid these foods. With 4 kids I rarely make everything from scratch
> and it's so much easier to have quick foods. I like to snack on nuts and all
> kinds of things. All my favorite cereals have milk in the ingredients. I
> couldn't find any info on bf and allergies. He was tested and he came back
> negative for all that, thank God, but the Dr. said to stay away from dairy.
> I didn't really believe it at first so I snuck some dairy. I figured some
> cheese won't hurt or chocolate. I guess I was upsetting the baby because
> every time I had dairy he would get a lot of mucus in his poop and it was
> watery. Then I started finding blood in it. Plus he screamed alot. He has
> been fine since I don't have dairy.

Yeah, elimination diets are hard when you know what you're missing.
Thankfully Patrick doesn't know (cause he's never really had any dairy),
but I'm going to go crazy with no milk for my tea! :-)

> I can imagine how hard it is for you. You are a really good Mother to
> sacrifice so much to give your baby the best. Your a dedicated Mom.

I think it's more like what can help him not get sick in any way. I
wouldn't say that I'm Super Mom or anything...there are other moms on
here who have given up more, or are doing Super Mom things (like the
magic pumping Lily and all the other pumping moms).

E

[Jenrose]

"Elana" > wrote in message
...
> K.B. > wrote:
>
> > When my son was weeks old he was having an allergy/sensitivity to
something.
> > When I called the allergist they told me to avoid all wheat, eggs,nuts,
> > dairy, until he could get tested in a few weeks. I was very upset. It
was so
> > hard to avoid these foods. With 4 kids I rarely make everything from
scratch
> > and it's so much easier to have quick foods. I like to snack on nuts and
all
> > kinds of things. All my favorite cereals have milk in the ingredients. I
> > couldn't find any info on bf and allergies. He was tested and he came
back
> > negative for all that, thank God, but the Dr. said to stay away from
dairy.
> > I didn't really believe it at first so I snuck some dairy. I figured
some
> > cheese won't hurt or chocolate. I guess I was upsetting the baby because
> > every time I had dairy he would get a lot of mucus in his poop and it
was
> > watery. Then I started finding blood in it. Plus he screamed alot. He
has
> > been fine since I don't have dairy.
>
> Yeah, elimination diets are hard when you know what you're missing.
> Thankfully Patrick doesn't know (cause he's never really had any dairy),
> but I'm going to go crazy with no milk for my tea! :-)

Try Silk creamer. It's really wonderful.

Jenrose

[Elana]

Jenrose > wrote:

> Try Silk creamer. It's really wonderful.

I would *kill* to have Silk soymilk here. They don't! The best stuff
is still a little hard for me to deal with. It's good, but it's not
Silk Chocolate milk :-). Thankfully, we'll be back in the States in a
month, and I can be a glutton :-).

E

[Elana]

Jenrose > wrote:

> "Elana" > wrote in message
> ...
> <snip> And my mom keeps saying that the hives he gets isn't an allergy, per
> se.
> > It's a sensitivity. I prefer to treat it as an allergy, since it makes
> > it more important (you tell a waiter you have a milk sensitivity, you'll
> > probably still get butter on the bread...you use the word allergy and
> > they'll keep it away from you).
>
> Your mother is mistaken.

*You* tell her that :-). She isn't listening to me.

> Hives indicate allergy. Not sensitivity. Allergy.

She also keep saying that my brother had the same thing, and he outgrew
it. I asked "When?". She said "When he stopped smearing food all over
his face." argh.

E

[Iuil]

"Elana" wrote
>
> We have a tin of the powder, and it doesn't list any milk product, but
> the ready make cartons do have skimmed milk.
>

That's probably what I'm thinking of so (I lived on ready-made custard and
tinned peaches for a couple of weeks while pg). Sorry for any confusion.

Jean


--
"And he said:
Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of
Life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, and
though they are with you, yet they belong not to you." Khalil Gibran

Return address is unread. Replies to <firstnamelastname> @eircom.net.

[H Schinske]

E ) wrote:

>She also keep saying that my brother had the same thing, and he outgrew
>it. I asked "When?". She said "When he stopped smearing food all over
>his face." argh.

She may mean the same sort of thing one of my daughters had -- when she got
tomato sauce or eggplant on her face, she got a slight rash (NOT hives -- Jen
[I think it was Jen?] is quite right about hives, they can signify a serious
reaction). It would go away within half an hour or so. She did grow out of it
and it was never severe enough for her to hold back from the foods in question.

--Helen

[Pamela Perkins]

FYI those scratch tests are only approx 50% accurate (on both false
positives and false negatives).


"Elana" > wrote in message
...
> We've just come back from the doctor who gave us the results of P's
> blood tests...according to that, he's had hits for milk, egg, wheat,
> beef, pork, fish, tomato and potato. Milk and egg were the highest,
> beef they think because of the relation to milk. Wheat the doc isn't
> sure about...he thinks it might be a one-off thing. We go back for the
> skin-prick test next week, for more confirmation.
>
> I'm upset. I knew already that he had a reaction to milk, but
> egg..wheat...fish. It's a bit of a punch to me. I've already been
> looking at Beth's page to get more ideas for foods (they want us to keep
> a food diary for the next week), but for now I just feel like there's so
> much he *can't* have. I know I'm being negative, but I'm still coming
> back from the blood results. And I know we're lucky...from what we can
> tell, right now they aren't life-threatening (and I know they could
> easily be). I guess I'm just mad at fate. And the fact that if I'm
> going to keep bf'ing him, I need to give up a lot of those as well.
>
> One small ray of hope...he didn't have a huge hit for nuts. I mentioned
> to the doc that he wouldn't have nuts before he's 3, and the doc quickly
> corrected me to 5. Well, at this point I'll do anything for him to not
> have more allergies...
>
> And my mom keeps saying that the hives he gets isn't an allergy, per se.
> It's a sensitivity. I prefer to treat it as an allergy, since it makes
> it more important (you tell a waiter you have a milk sensitivity, you'll
> probably still get butter on the bread...you use the word allergy and
> they'll keep it away from you).
>
> I guess in a week we'll have a better idea of what we're dealing with.
> Right now, I'm going to go bring the eggs up to our friend's house so
> that we don't even have to think about them being in the house.
>
> Is this how all you food-allergy moms felt?
>
> E
>

[Elana]

Since we'll be in the US in a month, we've made (and gotten!) and
appointment at the Lahey Clinic in Boston. We've heard excellent things
about them, so we're hoping that they will be a good second opinion.
While I don't want to put P through more blood draws, I *do* want to
help prevent any food problems. So fingers crossed on that one :-).

E

[Tine Andersen]

"Elana" > skrev i en meddelelse
...
> We've just come back from the doctor who gave us the results of P's
> blood tests...according to that, he's had hits for milk, egg, wheat,
> beef, pork, fish, tomato and potato. Milk and egg were the highest,
> beef they think because of the relation to milk. Wheat the doc isn't
> sure about...he thinks it might be a one-off thing. We go back for the
> skin-prick test next week, for more confirmation.
>
> I'm upset. I knew already that he had a reaction to milk, but
> egg..wheat...fish. It's a bit of a punch to me. I've already been
> looking at Beth's page to get more ideas for foods (they want us to keep
> a food diary for the next week), but for now I just feel like there's so
> much he *can't* have. I know I'm being negative, but I'm still coming
> back from the blood results. And I know we're lucky...from what we can
> tell, right now they aren't life-threatening (and I know they could
> easily be). I guess I'm just mad at fate. And the fact that if I'm
> going to keep bf'ing him, I need to give up a lot of those as well.
>
> One small ray of hope...he didn't have a huge hit for nuts. I mentioned
> to the doc that he wouldn't have nuts before he's 3, and the doc quickly
> corrected me to 5. Well, at this point I'll do anything for him to not
> have more allergies...
>
> And my mom keeps saying that the hives he gets isn't an allergy, per se.
> It's a sensitivity. I prefer to treat it as an allergy, since it makes
> it more important (you tell a waiter you have a milk sensitivity, you'll
> probably still get butter on the bread...you use the word allergy and
> they'll keep it away from you).
>
> I guess in a week we'll have a better idea of what we're dealing with.
> Right now, I'm going to go bring the eggs up to our friend's house so
> that we don't even have to think about them being in the house.
>
> Is this how all you food-allergy moms felt?
>

It can be something completely different. It's impossible to take such a
test on me BECAUSE I REACT TO THE SKIN-PRICK. In Denmark it's called
'dermografisme' dermo=skin - grafi=writing. You can virtually make drawing
on my skin. So I react more or less on all of them without being allergic.

Does he react to the neutral ones as well? Sal****er?

Tine

[Elana]

Tine Andersen > wrote:

> Does he react to the neutral ones as well? Sal****er?

Like if he goes in the ocean or if he ingests? He's been in the ocean
with no problems (helped his eczema, actually). I don't think he's ever
ingested.

Neutral...like what?

E

[Elizabeth Reid]

(Elana) wrote in message >...
> Tine Andersen > wrote:
>
> > Does he react to the neutral ones as well? Sal****er?
>
> Like if he goes in the ocean or if he ingests? He's been in the ocean
> with no problems (helped his eczema, actually). I don't think he's ever
> ingested.

I think she means, do they put a drop of neutral saline on
his skin and do the prick-test with that as a sort of control?
If he reacts to that, it might show that he just reacts to the prick.

I too have read that the prick tests can be inaccurate,
especially with young kids. I've had it done about eight
zillion times in my life (okay, an exaggeration, seven
zillion) and I know that I do react somewhat to just being
pricked/scratched. OTOH, the things I'm really allergic to
are very obvious - my arms will have lots of small bumps,
varying randomly, until you get to the mold and dust bumps,
which are giant swollen welts that take a week after the
test to heal.

Beth
Sam 8/16/2002

[Elana]

Thanks to both of you...I didn't know the stuff about the scratch test
(I mark easily, so I'll make mention of that to the doc...actually, so
does he...).

Thursday is drawing closer and closer...I'm dreading it, and praying
that he only has a milk, tomato and strawb problem...

E

[Tine Andersen]

"Elana" > skrev i en meddelelse
...
> Tine Andersen > wrote:
>
> > Does he react to the neutral ones as well? Sal****er?
>
> Like if he goes in the ocean or if he ingests? He's been in the ocean
> with no problems (helped his eczema, actually). I don't think he's ever
> ingested.
>
> Neutral...like what?
>
Sorry - went on vacation

When we do the test we do one which is neutral and shouldn't react (salt
water) and one that should react (histamine). Just to have something to
compare to.

Tine, Denmark

[Herself]

Tine Andersen > wrote:

> Sorry - went on vacation

No problem...hope it was fun :-).

> When we do the test we do one which is neutral and shouldn't react (salt
> water) and one that should react (histamine). Just to have something to
> compare to.

No, there wasn't a control (that's what I would call the saline), but he
didn't react to all the items that he was pricked with. But milk and
eggs was a definite, so those are now out of both our diets. Still
waiting to see if his eczema clears up as a side effect...
--
Meself
mom to P, 23/12/01