[BirthKathy]

This was at the bottom of another thread, and I wanted to start a new thread here to get some advice. I haven't been in to see the doctor yet, and I want to clean out my cupboards. I'm not sure how strict I need to be at the moment.

We had our ALCAT results already, they are:

Severe:Beef, Eggplant
Moderate:Apples, Cucumber, Pineapple, Lamb, Snapper
Mild:Romaine Lettuce, Beet Sugar, Baker's yeast, Banana, Carrots, Cashews, Chicken, Codfish, Corn, Cranberry, Psyllium, Yellow Squash

This week, we got the IGE (Quest Immunocap) results. They were:

Environmental

Cockroach 1.44 class 2 moderate
Dog dander 0.76 class 2 moderate

All others OK

Foods

Walnut 39.4 class 4 very high
Milk 33 class 4
Sesame seed 32.8 class 4
Soybean 26.9 class 4
Peanut 21.1 class 4
Wheat 1.93 class 2 moderate
Corn 0.62 level 1 mild
Egg whites OK
Codfish OK
Shrimp ok
Clam ok
Scallop ok

I got the results over the phone, so I don't know how bad these are but they seem pretty bad to me. The only food I have eaten from this list in the past two months is Walnut. I ate them about two weeks ago, and did see a reaction at that time. So it is good to know about. I had Brazil Nuts last week and saw a reaction afterward, too. I won't be having other nuts without specific testing.

I'm going to make a list of specific items to test so we can have a little more info. I'm thinking oats, almonds, coconut, and all of the fruits and vegetables that we are currently eating. I would be interested in hearing anyone's suggestions for foods that we might want tested (common baby foods/allergens or desirable substitutes).

I would also like to hear other Moms' opinions on the severity of the above list. Should I ask my husband to stop eating peanut butter or dairy in the house?

Which ones of these are more likely to be an issue with contact or kitchen contamination? I always see you all discussing shared lines or trace ingredients, but I'd think that my own house or the grocery store are more likely sources of contamination.

Also, my doctor is a Naturopath (who works under a holistic MD). Should I also see an allergist? What might the allergist know or be able to do that my doctors cannot?

Thanks for the help.

 

[kjbrown92]

So no: beef, eggplant, apple, cucumber, pineapple, lamb snapper, walnut, cow's milk, sesame, soy, peanut, wheat

Are you going to rotate: romaine lettuce, beet sugar (though why would you use it at all if you have other sweeteners available?), baker's yeast, banana, carrots, cashew, chicken, cod, corn (rotate or take out completely since it's IgE and intolerant?), cranberry, psyllium, yellow squash since those are just mild, or have you seen a reaction to them, or are you just going to avoid them?

Do you have a dog?

I believe that tree nuts are big on cross contamination with other nuts. So I don't know that any nut is safe. And sbgrace will probably come on here about what is cross contaminated with sesame because that took a lot of things out of play for her (like any type of rice cracker).

Did they only test egg white and not yolks?

With that severe, I'd probably take peanuts/tree nuts out of the house completely. Not sure about dairy. I think it might depend on how careful you are. Peanuts/tree nuts scare me with the reactions and the "dust" and oils on them, which seem to cling. Dairy seems more manageable as far as cross contamination goes.

Have any of them been anaphylactic? And are any of them contact?

I would probably want to see an allergist. Don't know why. Probably just because it's their specialty. This is RAST testing? Was there a suggestion of SPT to confirm? I'm not sure how it normally goes but I thought the SPT was more accurate. Was an epipen warranted? Do you have an action plan?

Those are just what I'd be worrying/wondering about. I'm sure someone with more knowledge will give you more info.

 

[lnitti]

I would get an allergist appointment. You will want an epi-pen. You should also do a SPT.

With cashews mild on the ALCAT and Sesame Seed especially as high as it was on the RAST, I would allergy test cashews, mango, pistachio - either SPT or RAST. They have similar proteins. In fact, my dd is allergic to cashew, we didn't test mango, but the doctor said we should consider her as being allergic to mango also. We may test it at some point, but have not planned to test it now.

There are some items that were negative on dd's RAST, but positive on the SPT (almonds). You may want to SPT some that were negative on the RAST just to be sure.

With 1 positive tree nut, you really should avoid ALL tree nuts because of cross contamination.

Personally, I would try to keep nuts, peanuts, sesame seed, and maybe dairy out of the house. I would think the sesame seed would be the riskiest for cross contamination. My husband still has dairy and dd1 does. dd2 is allergic even by contact. Her RAST for dairy was 5. The only dairy we have in the house are items that are obviously dairy - milk, ice cream, cheese, and my husband like the cheese dips for chips. I don't have any crackers and such that could leave crumbs behind that contain dairy.

Our soy was 1 point something. I have never observed an ige reaction. no hives or anything. and never observed any contact issues with soy.

If you do not have the allergens in your house, you won't have cross contamination in your home.

In grocery stores, if you buy bulk or store made items, then you have cross contamination risk at the grocery store.

I think the sesame seed and tree nut allergies pose a big risk of cross contamination with respect to shared lines and facilities.

 

[BirthKathy]

Hi Kathy,

Thanks for your response!

For the most part, I don't need to rotate any of the milds at this time. We have enough other foods to eat, so I will avoid them for now. I have already been away from any of them for a month or more anyway. The only ones that I might have trouble avoiding for the baby are Baker's Yeast (is that just normal yeast used in baking?), and beet sugar. I have read that if sugar is listed on a label, it is either beet sugar or cane sugar. So I may need to make phone calls or just rotate items with sugar once every 4 days in general.

We don't have a dog or any other pets, and are never around any. So that is good. Most of our visitors do not have dogs, but some do.

I was figuring that about nuts. I still want to do some additional testing to see if we need to avoid nut ingredients in lotions, etc. and which ones to watch out for in the future.

I sent all my nuts home with my sister the other night, but I haven't gotten rid of my husband's peanut butter yet. I'm cleaning out the pantry today, so I'll probably go ahead and toss it. He can manage without. I was thinking about the dust. Walnuts have a lot of dust on them, and I used to eat them while I was nursing in bed and reading. So I have contamination all over the house, I'm sure.

Yeah, the sesame seems pretty tough. I figure I'll need to do some weekly baking once the baby is older. My closest sister worked at a bakery for a while, so I bet she can help me with allergy-free recipes.

The IGE test was only for whites, but the IGG test was for both whites and yolks. My doctor said that yolks are not very allergenic. I would really love to get some egg yolks back into my diet, so I may offer them to the baby soon to see if he does OK with them.

I have seen some face swelling in the past that I believe was related to eating carrots directly. It was very delayed, though (28 hrs), so it could have been something else. I also had pecans and cashews myself the same day, so it could have been contact with those or through my breastmilk. I don't want to test any of these!

Otherwise, the symptoms seem to be mainly spitting up, (bad) eczema, and poor sleep.

The test we did was a blood test. What is SPT? Is it scratch testing? I'm assuming we have not done that because of the eczema. Right now, his back is clear but it isn't always. So there isn't always somewhere to test, I think.

I hear my oven beeping, I'll go do some more kitchen clean up! I need to make a cabinet just for the baby. Maybe I'll put my husband's cheese and milk in the fridge in the garage...

 

[BirthKathy]

Thank you Initti, that all sounds like good advice. My husband has a lot of crackers/chips with dairy, and he's sort of a messy eater. ;-)

The baby's not crawling yet, but as soon as he does we'll be in trouble if we have any of that stuff around.

 

[BirthKathy]

Our soy was 1 point something. I have never observed an ige reaction. no hives or anything. and never observed any contact issues with soy.
QUOTE]

Is this the same scale as mine? With wheat, we're a 1.93.

Does your child eat the soy? Or just do OK around it?

 

[kjbrown92]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BirthKathy For the most part, I don't need to rotate any of the milds at this time. We have enough other foods to eat, so I will avoid them for now. I have already been away from any of them for a month or more anyway. The only ones that I might have trouble avoiding for the baby are Baker's Yeast (is that just normal yeast used in baking?), and beet sugar. I have read that if sugar is listed on a label, it is either beet sugar or cane sugar. So I may need to make phone calls or just rotate items with sugar once every 4 days in general.

I've found that most sugar used is still cane sugar. I do call because my DS can't have cane sugar and my DD2 can't have beet sugar, so someone is almost always out of luck. And yes, baker's yeast is the normal yeast used in baking (brewer's yeast is used in beer and other brewing processes, and then there's nutritional yeast that vegans use for B vitamins).

Quote:

I was figuring that about nuts. I still want to do some additional testing to see if we need to avoid nut ingredients in lotions, etc. and which ones to watch out for in the future.

Anything used on the skin is absorbed into the skin, and if he's got eczema you know his skin is sensitive, so.... Cetaphil has macadamia nut in it. Not sure what other ones have nuts in them.

Quote:

Yeah, the sesame seems pretty tough. I figure I'll need to do some weekly baking once the baby is older. My closest sister worked at a bakery for a while, so I bet she can help me with allergy-free recipes.

You may want to PM sbgrace. She knows which alternative flours are safe of the nut/sesame cross contamination. I bake without almonds, gluten, dairy, corn, and soy, so you may be able to use some of my recipes (www.kathysrecipebox.com). Are you supposed to be avoiding all these foods as well?

Quote:

The test we did was a blood test. What is SPT? Is it scratch testing? I'm assuming we have not done that because of the eczema. Right now, his back is clear but it isn't always. So there isn't always somewhere to test, I think.

spt = skin prick test, but yes it's really just a stratch, but if the eczema is really bad, then it's not always a great thing to do. It's just that there's more of a chance for false positives with the RAST, I believe.

 

[BirthKathy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kjbrown92 I've found that most sugar used is still cane sugar. I do call because my DS can't have cane sugar and my DD2 can't have beet sugar, so someone is almost always out of luck. And yes, baker's yeast is the normal yeast used in baking.

Fortunately, these two are just mild intolerances so we'll be able to rotate. Do you know which one Rice Chex has? I bought those last night, thinking they would make a good snack for the baby if the sugar isn't beet sugar.

I was able to use the ALCAT rotation diet to build a set of 4 days with one grain, two fruit, two vegetables and two protein choices each day. I was able to keep everything on the correct days except for I needed to move two vegetables and a protein item to day one to give me enough food on that day. I have seen you offer your rotation diet ideas to other posters. Would you mind sharing with me? Right now, I'm just doing everything plain without any seasonings or oils, but when I'm ready to add some flavor it will be nice to have ideas.

Quote:

Anything used on the skin is absorbed into the skin, and if he's got eczema you know his skin is sensitive, so.... Cetaphil has macadamia nut in it. Not sure what other ones have nuts in them.

A lot of products I have here have almonds, coconut and fruit oils or essences.

Quote:

You may want to PM sbgrace. She knows which alternative flours are safe of the nut/sesame cross contamination. I bake without almonds, gluten, dairy, corn, and soy, so you may be able to use some of my recipes (www.kathysrecipebox.com). Are you supposed to be avoiding all these foods as well?

Thank you, I'll do that! Yes, almost all of his nutrition is from breastfeeding so this is all more about my diet at this point. He is very slowly getting to eat these same foods.

Quote:

spt = skin prick test, but yes it's really just a stratch, but if the eczema is really bad, then it's not always a great thing to do. It's just that there's more of a chance for false positives with the RAST, I believe.

The doctor is supposed to be calling me with some more information about further testing and advice. I'll ask her what she thinks about this. At this point, I would love to find out that we got some false positives!

 

[BirthKathy]

I noticed that ALCAT didn't test for any legumes besides peanuts. Do peanut sensitive people have trouble with other legumes & dry beans? I'd like to add those after the baby is 12 months - maybe sooner for myself.

 

[lnitti]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BirthKathy Quote: Originally Posted by lnitti Our soy was 1 point something. I have never observed an ige reaction. no hives or anything. and never observed any contact issues with soy. Is this the same scale as mine? With wheat, we're a 1.93. Does your child eat the soy? Or just do OK around it?

I think it is the same scale. Are there different RAST scales?

She used to eat soy (which is a legume by the way) until we got those test results. Now we are also soy free. I still try to limit what we have in the house for dd1 and dh, but not to the extent of the nuts.

 

[BirthKathy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lnitti soy (which is a legume by the way)

Oh, duh. I guess we'll tread slowly introducing beans and legumes in the future.

 

[kjbrown92]

Which ALCAT test did you get - 50 foods? DS got 150 foods and DD2 got 200 foods and there were plenty of legumes on there. DD2 can't have soy. I think that's her only problem legume. DS can't have soy, green beans, and peanut, green peas and kidney beans are all rotated because they're mild (green peas was an orange but we got it back!). So I think it depends which foods you got. Also did you just test her? Or you too? Because she may be reacting to your reactions on some things... Just to throw another wrench in for you.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BirthKathy Fortunately, these two are just mild intolerances so we'll be able to rotate. Do you know which one Rice Chex has? I bought those last night, thinking they would make a good snack for the baby if the sugar isn't beet sugar.

I never called on that one, and she's never reacted to it (and eats it alot, so I'm assuming it's beet sugar). You might want to call and ask though since you're trying to get to a baseline with things.

Quote:

I was able to use the ALCAT rotation diet to build a set of 4 days with one grain, two fruit, two vegetables and two protein choices each day. I was able to keep everything on the correct days except for I needed to move two vegetables and a protein item to day one to give me enough food on that day. I have seen you offer your rotation diet ideas to other posters. Would you mind sharing with me? Right now, I'm just doing everything plain without any seasonings or oils, but when I'm ready to add some flavor it will be nice to have ideas.

PM me your email (since I can't do attachments here) and I'll send them to you. Do you have the link to the food families so that you don't change the wrong foods around?

 

[BirthKathy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kjbrown92 Which ALCAT test did you get - 50 foods? DS got 150 foods and DD2 got 200 foods and there were plenty of legumes on there. DD2 can't have soy. I think that's her only problem legume. DS can't have soy, green beans, and peanut, green peas and kidney beans are all rotated because they're mild (green peas was an orange but we got it back!). So I think it depends which foods you got. Also did you just test her? Or you too? Because she may be reacting to your reactions on some things... Just to throw another wrench in for you.

We did the first 100, plus 8 more a la carte. I just looked, and pinto bean is available on Day 3. We are both eating green beans and green peas.

I would love to get myself tested, but none of these tests are covered by insurance for us. So I'll probably get him some more testing before I have mine done.

I just had my neighbor come over to take home all the peanuts and peanut butter. I think there are some almonds in the baking cabinet, and then we'll be nut free for the most part. I started going through the boxed and canned goods too. I haven't eaten anything out of a box or can for a few months, anyway.

Thank you, I'll send you a PM.

 

[Nightswimming]

Quote:

The IGE test was only for whites, but the IGG test was for both whites and yolks. My doctor said that yolks are not very allergenic. I would really love to get some egg yolks back into my diet, so I may offer them to the baby soon to see if he does OK with them.

I just wanted to let you know I gave my son egg yolk at 8 months old thinking that it was not very allergenic and found out that he threw up about 10 times in 90 minutes about 2-3 hours after eating egg yolk. So even though egg yolk might not be allergenic to most babies there are some babies who are allergic to it!