Really frustrated; doctor advice; questions

[sbgrace]

I'm really frustrated and would love some input or thoughts.

My four year old son has plenty of food and environmental allergies. His (skin prick and hive reaction) allergies are to lots of foods outside of the big ones. He outgrew dairy but has developed lots of allergies to fruits and spices and other foods. He's on zyrtec for hives.

Anyway, my problem is we clearly don't know everything he's allergic to; and even with watching carefully and rotating I don't know. I think he develops new ones. I've spoken with his allergist and three different pediatricians. All said the same thing--we can't test him for every allergy; you can't eliminate everything either as we've already lost so many foods; and he'll likely outgrow them over time even if we don't pull the foods.

Is this true--he'll outgrow them if he's going to anyway? That we can't likely figure out everything he's allergic to?

Why is he developing allergies to so many things? I'm really running out of meal options as it is. I have to feed him something and I want to feed us family meals (we're doing that but it's getting really hard and I think he may be reacting to onions now which eliminates basically all our meals). What do I do?

[kjbrown92]

1. Are you sure he "outgrew" his dairy allergy or is it possible that he still has an intolerance to it that just isn't picked up on a prick test? That's a big one that's in a lot of foods and if he's still getting it on a daily basis, it could explain his getting a lot of other allergies, with the whole leaky gut theory.

2. Do you rotate some foods every 4 days or is he completely off of everything?

3. I have a 2 year old who has about 20 foods she CAN have, and we manage to have family meals. I have taken out whole food families (all citrus, all berries, all nightshade, to name a few) and still the pediatric GI doc said she had a very balanced diet. Mine is also on Zyrtec (she developed a mold or dust allergy this fall - doc said timing indicated it was one of those; she hasn't been prick tested yet for that).

4. Food journal -- do a very detailed one so that even if the doctor doesn't give you a prick test, you can avoid foods that your DS reacts to. You don't have to have a prick test to prove an allergy, though it is handy if they work (my kids' are all intolerances so don't show up anywhere but an elimination diet).

5. I can't tell you it will all get better. I'd like to though.

Kathy

[CuckooMamma]

My girls have a very long list of allergies, and I cook family meals. We don't have a huge variety of foods, but I just can't feed them things that they're allergic to. Not only do I really believe that more exposure means them possibly not outgrowing them, but I can see the results of them eating foods their allergic to.

My first daughter appeared to do okay with small amounts of her allergens. Then we started having raging tantrums. It took us months to connect to her allergans. When they were removed there were no problems. Even today, if she eats just a little of something she shouldn't, we can see the results immediately. It's like night and day. It wasn't always like this. I'm not sure if she's become more sensitive with age or it's linked to weaning. The increase in sensitivity coincided with her weaning.

DD2 has a much stronger reaction to all allergens - at least visibly. She gets eczema and rashes right away. My own theory is that even if you can't see the damage, the damage is ocurring if the child is allergic/sensitive.

I couldn't in good conscience feed my children something that I know that they're allergic to. Unless of course it's one of those times that you're knowingly trying something. Although, I also was told by one naturopath that I couldn't possibly remove everything from our diets. Well, we have. And my hope is that it will pay off for them in the long run.

Good luck with your decision and docs.

[annran]

My DD gets eczema and rashes when she eats some food, and also if she is near something that would irritate her.


Also the reason he is getting more allergies is that his immune system is weakened, and every time his body is fighting another germ, it gets a little bit more weaker.

The only way- IMO-is that you go about strengthening the immune system, prodiotics, etc- I do a topical which is supposed to work that way, and she is less prone now to the rashes

Also people can be allergic to anything- so what they said is right. There is a link here that lists a allergen sites , and how to handle food allergies and more info on allergies

I know you really want to let him eat family meals, but wouldnt it be easier for everyone if he just had separate meals, and start with 1-2 foods and go on- atleast till you know what are the things he can eat as opposed to what he cant? - sorry if it sounds insensitive

[sbgrace]

I think I got off track. My problem is every doctor I consult with says they just can't test him for everything and it doesn't matter anyway--he'll either outgrow them or he won't. What do I do and are they right about that?

I don't feed him any of his known allergens; and I avoid anything that I think has strong potential too.

The only absolute safe foods I know for him are carrots and avocado and some oils. That's it. I actually tried once with that--too much carrot turns a kiddo very orange. And I can't get enough protein in him that way and it's too fat heavy/could put him into ketosis. I can't do dairy often as he could re-sensitize. He gets dairy no more than once a week now. I know for sure he's not getting hidden dairy; we were absolutely dairy free for two years. The only dairy he does get once a week is yogurt.

I can't get him to a base clear skin--maybe because of his environmental allergies and skin sensitivity in general. I don't know. I don't see any pattern at all to his skin.

We are doing a lot and have been all along for gut health--avoiding known food allergens and working on stuff like dust mites and nasal cleansing as well as zyrtec for environmentals, serving easy to digest foods, using digestive enzymes, large amounts of high quality probiotics, fish oil, zinc. We try very hard to keep him away from getting sick too because his twin has a metabolic condition and shouldn't get sick and he has asthma that is aggravated by colds. He gets hives with ecchinacea (spelled wrong) and due to spice allegies anyway we avoid most herbals with him but we do hand cleansing, vitamin c and zinc, nasal cleansing and avoiding kids when things are going around or in the winter.

We do everything I feel like it hasn't helped a bit but I keep doing it.

Is it weird to have doctors and allergists who feel it doesn't matter that we don't know everything he's allergic to? It seems strange to me and I don't hear anyone else talk about it. Their opinion seems to be that he's on zyrtec for hives and we can't test for every food out there so just keep plugging along.

[annran]

I am truly sorry to hear.
One of my friends had a non-invasive allergy test done by her chiropracter/naturopath - her child was under 1- and they get info on about 80 items - I can ask her if you need more info.

one of the links from the earlier page is http://www.foodallergy.org/ - I only know where they write possible allergens, but not safe foods- if I come across anything on those lines, will post here