Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Annual Allergy Testing for L

The boys have been to too many doctor appointments lately. But, we have made some great discoveries at the Allergy Appointments.
Below are the blood work results for L. They will be followed up by skin testing of the allergens listed with which fall below .34. To read the results you should know: Less than 0.10...no significant level detected .10-.34 borderline, significance is determined with doctor (our doctor will follow up with skin testing and possibly food challenge) .35-.70 Low .71-3.50 Moderate 3.51-17.50 High 17.51 or greater VERY HIGH L's Results Fall 2011: Peanut >100 (extremely high as expected) Pea 20.60 (This is no surprise really because Peas are legumes like Peanuts. This is a new and very serious allergy) Sesame Seed .62 (This is new and significant. No sesame seeds for L in any form) Almond 7.28 Pistachio 2.51 Hazelnut .94 Chestnut .73 Cashew .97 Brazilnut .77 Conclusion: No nuts, sesame seeds, or peas for my oldest! Numbers that have dropped/or are insignificant: Milk .18 Casein (milk protein) .14 Egg Yolk .30 Egg White .26 Latex .15 Red Dye <.10 Gelatin Bovine <.10 Gelatin Porcine .28 Yellow Dye .12 The next step, to be preformed next Wednesday, skin test to Latex, Milk, Egg. If the skin testing goes well the next step would be a food challenge (a little bit of the food is eaten in Doctor Office and patient would be watched for reaction)

Questions I still have from L's results

Questions I still have: Is L really not allergic to gelatin? The gelatin in Frosted Mini Wheats used to really make him cough, but he did love them? He dislikes most food with gelatin (jello and marshmallows) L always has hives it is a daily occurrence. The cleared up a lot once latex, food dyes and gelatin were removed from his day/diet. But, I learned today there are sooooo many reasons for hives. Non-food, non-latex reasons are very possibly the answer. The hives I thought L was getting to food dyes and latex could also be explained by Immunologic and Non-immunologic Urticaria...basically HIVES. There are several causes of hives and they do explain exactly when L has hives that I thought were food related. Reasons include being exposed to hot and cold temperatures in the pool and bathtub. L regularly gets hives at the pool and almost nightly in the bathtub, which could mean the temperature change causes hives, not the latex toys or the food/medicine he just consumed before bath time. L will get hives when upset and when he plays outside (exercise induced hives), when clothes are too tight (in his most recent growth spurt his clothes, specifically his elastic waist band of underwear, which contains Latex, itch and cause redness and hives), after playing the violin and having an object rest in the "cave" of his neck, the resting of the solid object could cause the hives as opposed to the latex(in the form of bandages to make it softer) on the violin). Hindsight is 20/20 it is easy to see where I could suspect a latex allergy in place of Urticaria. Some foods and medicines do cause Uticaria, such as eggs, nuts, fish, and penicillin and sulfa. But, I am definitely rethinking why L gets hives. I feel like we have some answers from today's results and we have a possibility of adding Eggs, Milk, Gelatin and Dyes back into L's regular diet. Wouldn't that be wonderful? We are still a NUT free home. We now will not let L near PEAS:) Lucky kid...well at least he thinks so. He was not at all allergic to green beans, so I will put those back in his diet:)Sorry L! All of this information is a lot for L, who is just 5 years old. My plan is to talk to him about Urticaria and call it just plain old HIVES and to try to teach him better how to understand his body and be able to alert us, his teacher or other adults when he recognizes signs of an allergic reaction. Also, L very rarely complains of itchiness or any discomfort when he has hives. Hives are not treated with medicine unless they become painful or disrupt life work, play and/or sleep (this is the advice from my doctor....not medical advise for you or your child). I will let you know what the skin results tell us and possibly the food challenge. I really never imagined we would work up to a food challenge for L. If we do great, I welcome it. But, if we don't L already lives without and we know God has a plan for L and we will find Joy in the Journey with or without egg and milk allergies:)

B's Results are so pretty

B's Results Fall 2011: Casein (milk protein) <.10 Milk <.10 Egg White .26 Egg Yolk <.10 Soybean <.10 PEANUT .44 (This is a class 1 allergy. When B was 1 y/o he was a class 4, when B was 2 y/o class 2, and now class 1....this is a very positive trend. The doctor predicts a possible food challenge next year if the number continues to go down. I am afraid to be too optimistic. Time will tell. But for now no NUTS!) Could B possibly be food allergy free in a year? Unimaginable, but really nice to imagine!

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Traveling with Food Allergies

I just read an interesting tip at the allergist office yesterday...When traveling bring along more Epipens than you would normally carry. I had never thought to do this. We always travel with L's and B's two pack of Epipen Jr's. We always keep them in a set. So we always travel with four epipens, two for L and two for B. I think this is a great tip for traveling because you may need your Epipen and be either farther from a hospital than usual or not sure of where a hospital is/get lost, etc. (just let your imagination imagine as a mom, mine usually will:) On our next trip we will take our "at home" epipens and "going out" epipens. Love this tip, hope you do too! Why so many Epipens, you maybe wondering? You can use an Epipen every 15 minutes as needed for anaphylaxis. Also, sometimes Epipens don't work or the person who needs the epipen shot fights it and you don't get it injected all the way, several reasons I have heard of and can imagine. I know my L, who is 5 years old, will fight me if the epipen is ever needed because he absolutely hates shots! Safe travels!

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

The forbidden fruit

I thought I had it all perfect. L knew that he could not eat anyone's food but his own at school--only his lunch, only snacks from his safe snack box. Well, for the Fall Curriculum his class learned about trees, specifically the APPLE tree. We went to Open House night as a family. The brother of one of L's friends, gave L and apple slice on a toothpick, and I was surprised to see L eat it without batting an eye! What my perfect plan ruined!
I talked to L about this on the way home from open house....WE only eat our food! We don't know if that apple had been in the hands of someone who had nuts on their hands or cross-contaminated when cut. L said "But mom I did not get sick. It was fine." Okay folks I have a smart guy on my hands. But I said "Yes you were fine, but lets not do that again. You only eat your safe food at school." End of discussion...Well, no not quite. The next day we are walking home from school. L says, "We learned the parts of an apple today and then our teacher let us all taste a bite of apple." "Did you L?" "I don't want to tell you, Mom." PUNISHMENT....he disobeyed. Then, time to reflect on my strict rules....L has a great teacher who can probably cut the apple up safely. I talked to teacher. L, teacher and I had a discussion about this matter. We decided if the teacher, L and I discuss the food (used as a learning tool) L can have it in the class. The next week his class rated Yellow, Green and Red apples and graphed the results. L was part of the apple tasting and rating contest. L knows I only want him to eat food from his teacher that she and I have discussed. So far it is working out. The teacher and I have discussed pumpkin seeds, popcorn and, of course, apples. By the way, the Yellow Apple was by far the most popular apple in L's class! L is a smart kid, who has a lot of food restrictions. L feels safe at school and trusts his teacher. I trust her too. She is really a great teacher for L. We have some new rules and they seem to be working. I feel that L and I have to be a team, working together to manage his food allergies, because one day he will be doing it all by himself. (DISCLAIMER: I am still the parent and the one who makes most decisions...L is just smart enough and aware of his food allergies enough to help me and be on the team to keeping him safe.)

Halloween

We survived it...that is always my first goal...It was fun...that's my second goal!
We trick-r-treated with neighbors. Our neighbor was just diagnosed with peanut and tree nut allergies. We were officially the nut-free gang! We had a little bit of an adventure. We got locked out of our house, without our epipen jr.s and benadryl. My mom and brother went and got a spare key for us from my mom's house (sorry I ruined there Halloween...but they saved the night!) And luckily we trick-r-treated with friends who have a epinpen jr and benadryl. I hope to not have that kind of adventure again, or at least if I do it again I want our epipens and benadryl with us for goodness sake! I let my boys accept all the candy and when they got home they traded their bags full of candy for a cupcake and half a rice-milk candy bar by Enjoy Life. Click here for a coupon. Very yummy! There was some kettle corn in their bag that they could have. L loved it. B left his bag for L to eat, not a popcorn fan I guess. Check out this great popcorn. This was a new brand for me. The packaging looked promising. I researched the company on line and felt it was completely safe for them to enjoy it! Check it out. In our area it sells at Remke Biggs and Costco.