Relieved and terrified all in one...

[Thandiwe]

So I had an "aha" moment (in Oprah's terms ). It's taken a little while for me to figure out that Duh! there are food families which we may be contaminating my little boy with. We have the results from the ELISA test as well as other blood work. I'm following it to a T, and I'm also following our holistic pedi's recommends. However, despite all my efforts, he's getting worse. So, I realized I'm in much need of a good education on food families. I was thrilled to realize that there are so many common foods within several families, but I'm even more concerned now. We've become veggie lately because I don't what to feed him anymore. Now I'm even more paranoid and feeling so overwhelmed. I feel like there's even less now that I can feed him. Then add the need for a rotational diet on top of that and : I'm about ready to plop in the center of my floor clutching my knees and rocking back and forth. Here's what I now know:

My son's top three food family offenders are (in order of severity): cereals, legumes, and nightshade. Besides that, there are (in equal severity): banana, cashews, palm, walnut, and composite (Aster). He also shows allergies and/or sensitivities to: gluten (Celiac typing), milk (bovine?), chicken (poultry?), eggs, canola (r. seed), and (redundant) tree nuts. Would the canola (r. seed) thus eliminate the entire mustard family? B/c we eat a lot of broccoli around here.

Would I do well to strictly eliminate ALL foods from these families? WTH do I feed him now? Most meats are off limits, and now a HUGE chunk of veggies would be off, too, with the whole composite family being taken off our diet.

Just venting as I pick myself up off the floor, dust myself off, and try to help my baby once more.

[kjbrown92]

For me, and it's only my experience, I took off the whole food family, and it did wonders. That limits our food alot however my dd now only wakes up once per night (instead of 12-14 times a night), doesn't have eczema and rashes, and is a generally happy kid. That means for us, banana is her only fruit, and she's limited to 6 or 7 veggies. Though when I took her to the GI doc, she said that my daughter's diet was very balanced. And her height/weight (percentile wise) has remained even. She's 3, and we've been dealing with this since 1 yo. Oh, corn is the only cereal she's reacted to, and we did NOT take her off all the other cereals. That's the only one that we did differently. However, dd can have chicken but not eggs, and beef, but not milk. Not sure exactly how those are related.

Another perspective. My ds. He's off milk, all legumes, but only white potatoes of the nightshades. He's fine with tomatoes.

I think for me, I tested dd on at least two of the foods in the family, to negate it from our list. Like I tried her on broccoli and cabbage, then negated the whole family. I tried her on apples and pears then negated that whole family. So I didn't just take her off the whole family when she reacted to only one of them. And yes, my family eats down to the lowest common denominator for dinner. Everybody eats mostly separate for other meals. For instance, breakfast might be bacon and egg sandwiches. My dd will have the roll and the bacon. My other two kids will have the whole thing. And DH will have gotten up 3 hours before that and eaten something totally different. So I don't make "totally" different meals for breakfast for everyone.

Does any of that help?

[Thandiwe]

Thanks, Kathy! That does help. I'm going to eliminate all of the families for now, until we get it cleared up. For example, for the cereal family, he had 6 of the 19 sensitivities there alone! That's enough for me to know he can't handle it. With nightshade, it was 2 or 3 of his 19 sensitivities.

My biggest fear now is protein. Since legumes and beef, chicken, and eggs are out, and he reacts to most seeds and nuts (according to the ELISA and our own experience), I don't know what to feed him for protein. I'd gladly do seafood everyday, but obviously that's not safe given the condition of our lakes and oceans.

I've decided I'm going to meal plan. I'm going to take lists of all the food families he can have and I'm going to meal plan right down to snacks. I think that will help alleviate some of the stress and also help me to rotate his foods.

I think the best part for me is knowing that we might actually see him rash free for the first time ever. It makes me cry just thinking he might actually be able to look healthy and healed. We're so close now.

[lastrid]

Maybe I missed something, but you didn't mention beef originally, only milk. Are you nixing beef because of the milk sensitivity? I didn't think the two had anything to do with one another allergywise.

[Sweetjane]

I think turkey is supposed to be an unlikely allergen. And also lamb I believe. I think I would be concerned about low protein too.

Good luck!!

[changingseasons]

Originally Posted by lastrid

Maybe I missed something, but you didn't mention beef originally, only milk. Are you nixing beef because of the milk sensitivity? I didn't think the two had anything to do with one another allergywise.

I don't think it's very common, but it is possible to react to beef if you are allergic to dairy. My DD has a reaction to milk AND beef.

And I agree with the PP- turkey and lamb are the least allergenic meats, so they would be a good place to start.

[kjbrown92]

quinoa is protein

[Thandiwe]

Originally Posted by changingseasons

I don't think it's very common, but it is possible to react to beef if you are allergic to dairy. My DD has a reaction to milk AND beef.

And I agree with the PP- turkey and lamb are the least allergenic meats, so they would be a good place to start.

My little guy reacts to both milk and beef. Actually, according to a friend's allergist, it's not so uncommon to react to beef and meat. After all, it's a food family. My son has a strong allergy to eggs, and according to the ELISA testing, he also *reacts* to chicken. Therefore, we're cutting the whole family.

He seems to do okay with pork, if it's natural without anything added. I've been able to find ground pork w/no additives, and he's madly in love with the patties I can make with it. I picked up some pork chops tonight, too.

We did do the turkey thing for a while, but it's really hard to find *safe* (I'm really fussy) turkey, and there isn't anything locally that's available year round. I keep looking, though... It's really hard buying meat when you're ethically opposed to it, but I know it's a necessity for him. I'm saddened by all the awesome vegetarian options we can't explore for him because of sensitivities. It's my hope that these will eventually fade.