Nimbly Gnoshing our way through November Chat!

[lil_miss_understood]

It's that time again, ladies (and gents). Time for a new chat thread.
Everyone's still fighting their personal battles, but I have to throw a big heads-up and hands-down for Kathy. We'll all be thinking of you as you head into surgery.
Halloween's over and this month we'll be facing Thanksgiving in the US and preparations for the big Holiday season.
Last month's chat can be found here.

[kjbrown92]

I think Jessica's trials with her floor and her DD are bigger than my problems. I know, I know, Pollyanna. That's me. Hopefully that'll help in my favor. Gotta see the bright side. And hoping my pathology report is clear. The surgeon said she'd call me 4 days after surgery with the results. I'm going to have DD1 update my FB page for me for how I'm doing in case people want to check there. I don't want to tell her how to get in here and do things. She'll see that I talk about them all the time!

[changingseasons]

Oh Kathy... stop it. My floors sure are a pita, but they aren't jeopardizing my physical health (mental health we won't talk about... )

I think you said in the last thread, but I'm too lazy to go back and look. How long to you have to stay in the hospital after surgery?

[kjbrown92]

I'm serious Jessica. You're pregnant, dealing with all those IgE allergies, and working on a floor that's being a PITA at every turn. I feel like that you've got a bigger pain than me. Just a matter of perspective. If I feel like someone else has a harder time than me, then I can't have a pity party for myself. Insurance has me cleared to stay in until Thursday, but the plastic surgeon said that I could probably leave on Wednesday if I wanted to (he said some people just heal/feel better at home). So we'll see.

[oaksie68]

Good luck Kathy.



Here's to a speedy (not-too-painful) recovery.

[lil_miss_understood]

I'd honestly say you're both pretty even on this one. But I knew that Jessica would protest too much and felt that Kathy needed all the good vibes we could send right now.
Glad to hear that there's a plan to update people. I, for one, will be watching and waiting for good news.

[tanyalynn]

Kathy You're going to do great. I'm so impressed with all the planning and prep you've put in, you've totally set yourself up for success. Do you have any stock made? A really simple soup I mean, something like chicken stock and garlic and maybe some ginger and a few green onions floating around, your DH could bring you some warm in a thermos. At least to me, it seems very comforting and soothing on your digestive tract.

For pain relief, when you use the arnica, you may want to dissolve it into water and sip small amounts really frequently. I mean--hey, take all the drugs you want, I'm not dissing them (and maybe they'll be fun ), but if you want to use the arnica as well, I think really, really frequent dosing is critical.

[Poodge]

Hello! I am new to this board and the chat.

DS has eczema. We know for sure he has an egg allergy, however eliminating that from our diets has not solved the eczema. So for the past 4 weeks we have been top 8, beef, tomato, potato, citrus, coconut, seaseme, banana, chocolate, caffeine, and corn free. (In addition two weeks into the ED we cut out chicken and pork and have eaten only turkey as our protein). We have made a few mistakes (citrus acid in diaya cheese, and milk/soy traces in his probiotic), but have been pretty good on the diet. We have not seen the dramatic improvement we were hoping for. We have however possibly discovered that he is sensitive to avocado, which I read is related to banana and latex. This summer when his eczema really got bad he was eating a ton of bananas, so we are hopeful we may have found a cause.

We are starting to reintroduce foods now, starting with beef last night. We have an appoitnment with the allergist Wednesday for follow-up and to see if they will test him for avocado, banana, and latex.

If we do not find the cause this time around we will be trying a low sals diet most likely starting in January. (I think that gives us enough time to challenge each food item.)

[lil_miss_understood]

Poodge hopefully you'll find answers soon

Kathy, are you using any FEs for anxiety?

[kjbrown92]

I don't have any FEs right now. I've got teasel and nettle as droppers. Do those do me any good? I'm looking at my stash to see what I have...

Originally Posted by tanyalynn

Kathy You're going to do great. I'm so impressed with all the planning and prep you've put in, you've totally set yourself up for success. Do you have any stock made? A really simple soup I mean, something like chicken stock and garlic and maybe some ginger and a few green onions floating around, your DH could bring you some warm in a thermos. At least to me, it seems very comforting and soothing on your digestive tract.

I have lots of chicken broth made (I can have him throw some rice in). Great idea. The green onions make me think of wonton soup. Mmmm. wontons...

For pain relief, when you use the arnica, you may want to dissolve it into water and sip small amounts really frequently. I mean--hey, take all the drugs you want, I'm not dissing them (and maybe they'll be fun ), but if you want to use the arnica as well, I think really, really frequent dosing is critical.

As in just stick it in my water cup? Mine says Boiron Arnica Montana 1M. It says take 10 drops in 1 oz. water 3x/day. It's inactive ingredients says "alcohol USP" should I be worrying that's corn alcohol? I have half a bottle left.

Originally Posted by Poodge

Hello! I am new to this board and the chat.

DS has eczema. We know for sure he has an egg allergy, however eliminating that from our diets has not solved the eczema. So for the past 4 weeks we have been top 8, beef, tomato, potato, citrus, coconut, seaseme, banana, chocolate, caffeine, and corn free. (In addition two weeks into the ED we cut out chicken and pork and have eaten only turkey as our protein). We have made a few mistakes (citrus acid in diaya cheese, and milk/soy traces in his probiotic), but have been pretty good on the diet. We have not seen the dramatic improvement we were hoping for. We have however possibly discovered that he is sensitive to avocado, which I read is related to banana and latex. This summer when his eczema really got bad he was eating a ton of bananas, so we are hopeful we may have found a cause.

We are starting to reintroduce foods now, starting with beef last night. We have an appoitnment with the allergist Wednesday for follow-up and to see if they will test him for avocado, banana, and latex.

If we do not find the cause this time around we will be trying a low sals diet most likely starting in January. (I think that gives us enough time to challenge each food item.)

Eczema can be caused by environmental allergies, food allergies or food intolerances, so even if he doesn't test positive to avocado, banana, and latex, they could still be causing eczema (just in case you get a negative). Keep the food journal going if you're doing that. Did the eczema go all the way away? If not, are you adding foods back in anyway? Or still trying to get to baseline?

[lil_miss_understood]

Originally Posted by kjbrown92

I don't have any FEs right now. I've got teasel and nettle as droppers. Do those do me any good? I'm looking at my stash to see what I have...

I don't suppose you have lavender or chamomile on hand? Both make a nice tea which has been shown to have relaxing/anxiety calming properties. I'm just thinking of a study someone recently posted on FB that showed anxiety and other forms of mental anguish/pain decreased ones ability to tolerate/cope with physical pain, so decreasing your anxiety now might be helpful in the coming days.
If you can think of anything any of us can do, as limited as that might be from so far away, please don't hesitate.

[kjbrown92]

Originally Posted by JacquelineR

I don't suppose you have lavender or chamomile on hand? Both make a nice tea which has been shown to have relaxing/anxiety calming properties. I'm just thinking of a study someone recently posted on FB that showed anxiety and other forms of mental anguish/pain decreased ones ability to tolerate/cope with physical pain, so decreasing your anxiety now might be helpful in the coming days.
If you can think of anything any of us can do, as limited as that might be from so far away, please don't hesitate.

Drat, I should have made potatoes with herbs de provance tonight for dinner, that's got lavender in it. I have chamomile tea... maybe I should have some of that.

[changingseasons]

Originally Posted by JacquelineR

If you can think of anything any of us can do, as limited as that might be from so far away, please don't hesitate.

[lil_miss_understood]

Originally Posted by kjbrown92

Drat, I should have made potatoes with herbs de provance tonight for dinner, that's got lavender in it. I have chamomile tea... maybe I should have some of that.

Mints (peppermint, spearmint) are also good. I've also heard catnip is good, but I doubt you have any.

[kjbrown92]

Originally Posted by JacquelineR

Mints (peppermint, spearmint) are also good. I've also heard catnip is good, but I doubt you have any.

I thought peppermint/spearmint was supposed to wake you up. And settle your stomach. I have a wicked headache and the tylenol I'm allowed to take isn't doing anything. I have water heating for my chamomile tea though. Anybody know of any cell salts that would be good tonight?

[tanyalynn]

Seems like mag phos would help with anxiety. Probably one you should be popping as many times a day as you remember throughout your stay. I'll look in my booklet tonight and see if anything else seems reasonable--though asking on the main thread would probably get you better answers.

[tanyalynn]

Originally Posted by tsfairy

Sals have been an interesting experiment so far. We're not avoiding them completely, especially with the candy influx this weekend and we keep "accidentally" giving him sals, or he insists on eating something I've told him not to. But I *think* I see improvements just cutting them way down. He drank some apple juice last night and an apple this morning and had a very negative emotional reaction.

I talked to him about how the apple this morning and the juice last night made him feel and he decided that he's "allergic" to apples... not quite right, but if it keeps him somewhat compliant I'm happy.

You've been working on a lot of changes really quickly, which is hard when you have kids to feed. that if you can either cut out dairy entirely, or do a week or so (?) of really low sals, you'll see which is more important, or that both are really helpful, and then that takes a lot of uncertainty away. Or maybe I'm projecting my bias--I don't do well with uncertainty, I like to know what I have to do and then I can make more solid plans to implement.

Originally Posted by tsfairy

Doesn't dairy take 2-3 weeks to get completely out of your system?

I'd expect to see something happen, even if it's not all the improvement, I'd hope to see a trend, or at least some indication.

Does your family have any history of night-wetting? There's a hormone responsible for concentrating urine while you sleep, and apparently some kids just don't make enough. Of course you probably already know this and there's really a nutritional basis.

Anyway, both of my sisters and a few of my nieces and nephews were night-wetters until very late childhood.

DD quit wetting the bed within 3-4 days of cutting out gluten and dairy. Other kids on the forum have had the same experience (with different foods) and I was wondering if the little traces we've always had have been the problem. Acupuncture is going to be my next stop and right now DS is really, REALLY not interested. I'm going to put off doing anything til spring, we'll see where we are then--kid will be 5 in the spring, I'm sure he'd like to be done with nighttime diapers.


Yay! I get excited about glasses. I'm a dork like that.

Nap went late, it'll be tomorrow (I assume they arrived and we just didn't get a call).

DH is giving the kids a bath. They are always much louder for him than for me--or rather, maybe I nag more effectively? Because they seem to think that if you're in a small, echo-y room like a bathroom, your voice needs to be louder. Drives me insane.

[changingseasons]

Originally Posted by tsfairy

Ooh I've got to try this if I can get DS to agree to a bath when he's in his mood. How much bs do you use?

I have no clue... I just pour. I would say a couple cups maybe in a small bath? The vitamin K protocol says to use 8 cups per bath, but that's for dealing with oxalates specifically. It's supposed to make you more alkaline, and I have no idea how that relates to allergies... but I'm sure that it helps somehow. Either way, a Costco membership is a must if you're going to do the soda baths!

[lil_miss_understood]

Originally Posted by kjbrown92

I thought peppermint/spearmint was supposed to wake you up. And settle your stomach. I have a wicked headache and the tylenol I'm allowed to take isn't doing anything. I have water heating for my chamomile tea though. Anybody know of any cell salts that would be good tonight?

It's used in many sleepy teas, actually, for it's relaxing properties. I stick with chamomile and lavender right now though, sometimes jasmine or rose, because it also impacts milk supply (for me anyway- that's hardly a concern for you).
Just managed to get the crayon off of my computer screen using an (unscented used) dryer sheet and got a call from my compounding pharmacy saying my meds will be in the mail tomorrow. Back to full dose. Looking forward to having something resembling energy and not feeling like puking- not to mention decreased allergic reactions. My sinuses are killing me. And my ears itch SO MUCH. Having a full milk supply again will be nice too.
On the grocery budget topic, the town we go to for counselling on Fridays now has a local grocery store which has meat packages. There are three 50 lb packages ranging from $120 to $130, and a couple of 25 lb packages. I'm sure it's conventional meat, but... I need to look at them a bit better and do some calculations.

[lil_miss_understood]

Bedwetting: DS1 was a bed-wetter pre-allergen removal.

Originally Posted by changingseasons

I have no clue... I just pour. I would say a couple cups maybe in a small bath? The vitamin K protocol says to use 8 cups per bath, but that's for dealing with oxalates specifically. It's supposed to make you more alkaline, and I have no idea how that relates to allergies... but I'm sure that it helps somehow. Either way, a Costco membership is a must if you're going to do the soda baths!

8 cups?! That's like... 1/4 of one of the baking soda bags I get! eta: maybe even 1/2