At a loss

[Chinese Pistache]

DD has been doing SO good. Despite our failed dairy trial, her poop and skin and demeanor have never been better. Then yesterday, I noticed at bathtime that she was inflamed behind her knees. This hasn't happened in a YEAR, at least. Yes, dairy gave her bumpy skin and a rash, but this reaction is what she had before she was diagnosed with her corn allergy. I thought maybe it was because she ate a bunch of dried cranberries. Her skin was clear this morning, but tonight her knees were inflamed again.

Anyway, I'm so nervous that she's become allergic to wheat. I tell dh that we should rotate foods more, but he doesn't think it's a big deal. Then, without him on board, I lose my resolve and we go on giving her something with wheat for nearly every meal (well, at least breakfast and lunch).

When she developed her allergy to soy, it was just like this, suddenly and without warning. It freaks me out, too, because she seemed to be tolerating bananas just fine until a month ago. Now, we've been staying away from those. I just don't know what's going on! I guess we haven't been good about taking our supps over the holidays since we were in and out of town or receiving guests. But geez, for all of this to go wrong?

I'm not sure what to do. Obviously, I need to start being religious about giving her probiotics and fish oil. And I'm going to have to bite the bullet and make her take the enzymes. She can swallow them, but doesn't like to.

I'm so sad. It seemed like things were going so well. . .

[changingseasons]

I can't even imagine what I would do if DD lost any safe foods.... we have so few as it is.

Is there any chance of x-con in anything that she's eaten?

[Chinese Pistache]

I don't know. . . I'm trying to figure out if it could be cross-contam. The only constant between the two days were wheat and eggs. We got some new apples that I don't think are organic, but she only ate those yesterday.

[menomena]

mystery reactions are frustrating and morale-killing. My first thought was x-contam as well.

Are you sure you "lost" soy & bananas? Or was it more like they never were very good and you hit a threshold? I'm asking truly from ignorance and curiosity as this seems to happen to us quite frequently - i.e. we think something is safe and then after awhile we realize we've been having an escalating rxn. Eggs and chocolate are two for us. Though, those could be the amines talking. I think we've made the connection between all of our "no" foods and they are all incredibly high in amines...

[LauraLoo]

Does your dd have any environmental allergies? I'm only asking because I have many mild food allergies that I seem to be able to tolerate (and I realize that toleration is a relative term - I should avoid the foods, but I don't) but when my environmental allergies are heightened, my food allergies are very noticeable and give me problems.

Regardless, I agree with menomena. Sometimes "safe" foods really aren't safe, and over time the body can really show the rejection. Speaking from experience with my ds, we thought that soy was safe after 2 separate allergy tests over the span of 3 years ruled soy out. Two years after the last test, we did a 3rd test and it showed a significant allergy to soy. So, was it *never* safe, were the previous tests inaccurate, or did his body finally say "enough!" - I don't know. But now I'm on the look out for any additional intollerances or allergies.

Another thought, is it possible that the apples had a pesticide or chemical on them that brought on the reaction?

[kjbrown92]

I will say that during this 6 months on the rotation, we haven't lost any foods. And we are starting to gain some back (rice for DS, spinach and asparagus for DD2), so maybe there is something to be said for the rotation (especially for the big allergens (wheat, egg, etc.).

[Chinese Pistache]

Originally Posted by menomena

mystery reactions are frustrating and morale-killing. My first thought was x-contam as well.

Are you sure you "lost" soy & bananas? Or was it more like they never were very good and you hit a threshold? I'm asking truly from ignorance and curiosity as this seems to happen to us quite frequently - i.e. we think something is safe and then after awhile we realize we've been having an escalating rxn. Eggs and chocolate are two for us. Though, those could be the amines talking. I think we've made the connection between all of our "no" foods and they are all incredibly high in amines...

We've never reintroduced soy. She's still soy-free since that very first time. The threshold thing is possible with bananas. After all he skin and poop improvements she still had drier skin than everyone else. When we went off bananas (after her skin had gradually turned very bumpy), her skin turned completely smooth and normal, unlike she'd ever had.

Originally Posted by LauraLoo

Does your dd have any environmental allergies? I'm only asking because I have many mild food allergies that I seem to be able to tolerate (and I realize that toleration is a relative term - I should avoid the foods, but I don't) but when my environmental allergies are heightened, my food allergies are very noticeable and give me problems.

Regardless, I agree with menomena. Sometimes "safe" foods really aren't safe, and over time the body can really show the rejection. Speaking from experience with my ds, we thought that soy was safe after 2 separate allergy tests over the span of 3 years ruled soy out. Two years after the last test, we did a 3rd test and it showed a significant allergy to soy. So, was it *never* safe, were the previous tests inaccurate, or did his body finally say "enough!" - I don't know. But now I'm on the look out for any additional intollerances or allergies.

Another thought, is it possible that the apples had a pesticide or chemical on them that brought on the reaction?

No environmentals that I know of, though my dh had a thought about all the dust floating around her after cleaning up Christmas. But I do think you might be right about a build-up reaction, though this one took 2 years to develop!

Originally Posted by kjbrown92

I will say that during this 6 months on the rotation, we haven't lost any foods. And we are starting to gain some back (rice for DS, spinach and asparagus for DD2), so maybe there is something to be said for the rotation (especially for the big allergens (wheat, egg, etc.).

I think you're right. I'm going to start rotating her foods. I don't want her to lose any more. Kathy, do you have your rotation posted somewhere?

BTW, I made the millet muffins last night, with millet flour, sorghum and my rice flour mixture and they turned out great. I did use guar gum. I'm excited for dd to eat them