living with kids with allergies group

[24/7]

It is really difficult, and it took me a very long time to always get it right, but also get my head around it all psychologically, but now its ok, and I accept it all as I feel like a different person. xx

 

[Arcanegirl]

We tried Alex with veg fingers today (for the peas) though he didnt eat much there was a reaction, he started getting itchy and some red spots on his face where he had been scratching.

A bit confusing because he didnt react with veg hot dogs that have peas in so i may try both again to be sure.

Were at Yorkhill childrens hospital tomorrow and im already stressing
I really dont find them that helpful so i dont like going

 

[sun]

happyface82 - If your LO can eat spelt and other types of ancient grains then things are much easier (and tastier) than if she can't eat gluten. I slowly introduced wheat/grains into Buns diet as OH has a family history of wheat intolerance, coeliac, and IBD (though OH doesn't have any of these). Anyway I started with rice everything - you can get rice substitutes for most pastas and breads - also rice flour (though it doesn't work as well as some of the others). We also ate lots of rice and buckwheat (which unlike the name would suggest - is not wheat at all), quinoa (very healthy!) and millet. Once he was a bit older we introduced gluten - barley, oats (though you can get GF oats), etc. Plus the ancient grains like kamut and spelt. Finally we gave him the regular wheat.

Like I said, if she can eat spelt things are so much easier as there are so many wheat free substitutes and ready made things made from spelt. Also you can sub white spelt flour 1:1 for any regular flour recipe and you can't even tell. The recipes I posted on this blog all use spelt flour. Many of my friends are intolerant to wheat so I rarely ever use it actually. I am posting recipes when I get a chance, and they are all dairy-free and wheat free (or have the substitutions written) so feel free to try them out! xx

Hope this helps!

 

[sun]

AG - It's so hard to know what they're reacting to!! Buns skin is really reactive generally so I don't know if it's something he ate or if it's something else (like cream or detergent, etc) I find that if I go to MILs house, he often comes home with a rash and we think it's from all the perfume-y creams she has on.

Frustrating that the hospital appointments don't get you anywhere. Hope tomorrow goes better than expected!

 

[Arcanegirl]

I think Alex is the same as quite often outside his skin will look much better then when inside he starts going red again

 

[sun]

Is Alex's skin better in the summer? Bun's is much much better but I don't know if it is the temperature, humidity, or that he is outside more.
Also this is weird - When I take Bun swimming, his skin really acts up on the entire top half of his body (strangely his legs seem to be immune) and by the time we shower, etc it's really angry and bumpy. But then we come home and he naps, and when he wakes up often his skin is so much better? The day after swimming is usually the best his skin looks all week - no idea why, as it seems to irritate his skin so much at the time.

 

[Arcanegirl]

Yep it is, and i cant wait for it to come so he will look better!

 

[24/7]

I'm the opposite to bun, my legs are my worst part. xx

 

[Mumof42009]

Had a very interesting appointment with the doctor today, Adi has had cold after cold and took him today to sort his inhaler's out. The doctor mention that he thinks it might not be colds he keeps getting but he is allergic to something in the atmosphere around him which he is reacting to and then this causes his chest to start playing up. It kind of makes sense
His appointment with dietian has been cancelled which has done my head in because he needed to go and get sorted out, they have given him one now for 31st march.
AG- What veg fingers was it? or did you make them yourself?
Only asking cause Adi had a reaction to the bird's eye one's

 

[happyface82]

Thank you so much Sun! This thread is really useful! I just wish they would test her so we don't cut things that don't need to be cut. Does this make sense?

Arcanegirl good luck with the appointment tomorrow! I really hope you get something out of it!

 

[Arcanegirl]

It was the birds eye ones, hmm are there any that Adi can have?

I might need to pick your brains for some shop bought foods

 

[Arcanegirl]

Thanks happyface

 

[sun]

Thank you so much Sun! This thread is really useful! I just wish they would test her so we don't cut things that don't need to be cut. Does this make sense?
!

Absolutely - I don't want to cut anything out of Buns diet that he can eat! I mentioned this before, but my doc and ped were both telling me that it's not so easy to test for allergies as they usually just do a skin test. But it is possible that you can be allergic to something in the gastrointestinal system and not have a skin reaction and vice versa. You can also have a reaction in both cases. So someone can be allergic to something ingested (ie: vomiting, etc) but not get a skin reaction. So it can be hard to pinpoint.

For us, we planned to cut out foods in succession (I was BF). Dairy was the first, then I planned on eggs, then wheat, then nuts. I didn't want to do a real elimination diet (where you cut everything out, then add things back one at a time) but I probably would have if dairy hadn't been the obvious problem.

Why don't they want to test her? They were hesitant about testing Bun too and it took me bringing Bun back a month after we quit dairy and them seeing all the improvements to listen.

xx

 

[Arcanegirl]

Weve had the opposite problem, Alex was tested no probs by blood and skin prick. All bloods were negative, skin prick showed dairy but nothing else!

 

[sun]

Can be so unreliable! I mentioned that my friend's LO got tested for dairy as it caused projectile vomiting, but the skin test showed nothing. So they said there was no problem??
Now it is all sorted, but so frustrating when you know there is something going on and the docs say everything's fine - grr!

 

[Arcanegirl]

The Dr sent us to the dietitian to go soya free anyways, the dietitian said change the milk and cut out soya yoghurts but dont worry about the rest.
What bloody good is that!? He either has soya or doesnt!

 

[sun]

The Dr sent us to the dietitian to go soya free anyways, the dietitian said change the milk and cut out soya yoghurts but dont worry about the rest.
What bloody good is that!? He either has soya or doesnt!

Totally agree! Seems crazy to cut out soy in one form but keep it in all the others. How would you even know if it's helping??
Soy is another hard one though - soy lecithin is in so much!! In fact, I have some in my fridge right now. Maybe the dietician thought trace amounts of soy wouldn't cause a problem?? UG - frustrating.

Sorry - I totally forgot if you mentioned - have you cut soy out completely for a certain amount of time? Really hope the appointment tomorrow helps! xx

 

[happyface82]

Well I mentioned to the consultant that the GP send us ofr a RAST test to check for milk allergy and he said what good is this going to make at this point? She is not having any dairy anyway so it won't make a difference now. I think he meant that it doesn't matter if its an allergy or intolerance, since she was suffering so we've cut it out anyway. But I would like to know.

For us symptoms were mainly gastrointestinal, she had terrible tummy cramps, would wake up screaming, and kept waking up in general after 30 min night after night. HVs kept telling me its colic but I knew something was wrong. She was a different baby the minute we changed the milk!

 

[happyface82]

I've just realised!!!! I am so stupid! Katerina used to have really dry patches on her legs. Red dry patches. They were not very very red, didn't look so bad just like very stubborn dry skin. Hubby kept saying that something is rubbing on her skin maybe the jumberoo. But now that I think of it it got better after we changed the milk. I thought of asking a doc back then but never did as I thought hubby's excuse made sense? I only realised now as doctor asked me today if she has any dry patches. Any skin problems.... it didn't even occurred to me!!

This could all be related. It makes sense now.

 

[buttonnose82]

AG hope your appointment goes well today

happyface it could be very much related

My poor boy woke up with a big old dry patch on his forehead that he has now been rubbing because it is itchy. At bedtime last night he screamed like I have NEVER heard him scream when we were applying his Aveeno, it was heartbreaking and I ended up crying too, I hate seeing him like this