{"id":539,"date":"2011-06-01T22:22:00","date_gmt":"2011-06-02T02:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.michellebeachy.com\/blog\/wednesday-june-1-2011\/"},"modified":"2011-06-01T22:22:00","modified_gmt":"2011-06-02T02:22:00","slug":"wednesday-june-1-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.michellebeachy.com\/blog\/wednesday-june-1-2011\/","title":{"rendered":"Wednesday June 1, 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are two questions I’ve been asked repeatedly in the past two years. One is about allergies; the other about publishing a book. I love, love being able to share what I’ve learned, but it’s become a rather time-consuming job to start from scratch every time someone asks. Hopefully sometime this month (is it truly already June) I’ll be able to address both so that I have a place to refer people and answer specific questions after that. So, unless you’re dealing with food allergies, you will probably be just as happy to head somewhere else in blogger land right now. If you know of someone who is searching for help with this right now, feel free to share. <\/span>

Disclaimer: I am not an allergy expert. Please, please get help from your doctor. I will share what I have learned and what works for Liam in hopes that it will help someone through the muddle. But know already that this is a very personalized journey and not a catch all basin! Please do not take anything I say as scientific fact or make claims based on what you read. I only know what has worked for us so far and it’s very much a trial and error lab in our kitchen!<\/span>

How did you know Liam had food allergies?<\/span>
We didn’t know. Not for a long time, at least. I suspected a milk intolerance back when he was three or four months old. His chin and upper chest was a constant mess of eczema and I remembered <\/span>Lisa’s<\/a> post on milk-related eczema that made her son look like he belonged in the burn unit at the hospital. I am not exaggerating. Around three months, Liam stopped napping. Instead of sleeping for forty-five minutes, he was sleeping for fifteen. Or five. But he was a generally happy baby (meaning I wasn’t walking the floor with a screaming child) and so I just ignored it. Had I not been breast-feeding, I may have pursued other options; but taking myself off dairy looked way too big for not better than I was feeling physically.<\/span>

Fast forward to about ten months. I don’t remember exactly when it started. I just know that the more Liam moved toward a diet of solids, the more the fussiness and sleeping issues escalated. But this is prime teething time, too, so I assumed I had a hard teether. By the time he was a year old, he was really fussy. And still not napping. The “experts” now often say you can give a baby cows milk at nine months. Somewhere around eleven, I started Liam. He was “teething” even harder. Liam was sick all. the. time. From six months on he was a repeat case of bronchiolitis and ear infections. He immediately reacted to antibiotics and was on them so much that one ear infection had to be fought out on it’s own because he’d just had anything he could tolerate. At his annual wellness check I mentioned all the night waking in a previously sleeping all night baby. His pediatrician frowned and said, “He may not be tolerating dairy.”<\/span>

And just like that the lights started flashing in my head. The very bad thing about an undiagnosed child is what it does to you as a parent. I was completely exhausted. Mentally. Emotionally. Physically. Liam was so, so, so needy and fussy. He hardly slept and it felt like I never got a break. He did not want to eat. He was hardly gaining weight. He was always hungry, but when I fed him something, he pushed it away. Or gagged. Oh, the gagging. And finally about the time I’d get five tiny bites into his mouth, he’d gag and throw up. <\/span>

A week later he broke out in hives when I fed him eggs. Then it was peanuts. I don’t know what was wrong with me except that I was truly mentally fogged with weariness, but I gave him a few bites of eggs a week or two later thinking it may have been a fluke. Minutes later, he vomited. Our lives turned into a blur of diarrhea, eczema, gagging, crying, screaming, cat naps, and gagging again. I would literally walk the floor with him until midnight while he cried and cried and cried and writhed and squirmed. At six the next morning he’d be up having what I thought were melt downs. And barely napping all day long. It was my mom who finally cut through my haze. “You have got to call the doctor.” <\/span>

I already knew that Liam could not tolerate dairy, egg, peanut, soy milk, coconut milk, or rice milk and I was very suspicious about gluten. His bloodwork came back negative on dairy and soy (go figure) even though he is still super sensitive to both. Besides the egg and peanut, he also showed positive on wheat and tomato. I took him completely off gluten as well.<\/span>

When did you see a difference?<\/span>
The turnaround was almost instant. Suddenly the Liam I knew at two months was back in the house. He slept! In less than a week, we had way fewer night wakings. He was taking naps. I could actually read through an entire board book with him. He started saying words. He stopped screaming incessantly in his car seat (I’m talking screaming, not fussing.) I had no idea that he ran constantly to cope with the pain. Or that his delayed speech and what seemed to be an attention deficit issues was all related to pain and not feeling well. The meltdowns nearly stopped. And finally, finally, finally, he started eating by himself a little bit instead of us force feeding a few bites while distracting him. The night wakings and diarrhea completely stopped when I switched his probiotic to a completely vegan version that does not say, “May contain trace amounts of residual milk protein.” Best of all, he stopped getting sick all the time! He has not had an ear infection since being off milk! And he is rarely sick. When he does catch something, it’s after Adam has had it for a few days and he rarely gets as sick or stays sick as long as Adam. <\/span>

Did he start tolerating things as he healed?<\/span>
No. This is a sad question to answer. Instead, things got worse. He also got very sick on oranges, pineapples, and cocoa. He can tolerate a little chocolate in his milk or safe chocolate chips, but not cocoa powder. He also reacts to almost all preservatives, nitrites, nitrates, and sometimes food coloring.<\/span>

Unfortunately, I don’t think his story is getting better. I’m starting to track the same symptoms. Shorter attention span. Way more meltdowns. Less sleeping. And most worrisome of all, back pain. Since December he’s been complaining of back pain and knee pain. In January, his pediatrician checked him for juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and a UTI. Negative. He sent him home and said to watch him. Things aren’t getting better and in May, Liam started waking at night with back pain. I, a bit nervously, took him to a chiropractor even though it’s not recommended at his age. He stopped waking at night, but is still complaining during the day. His pediatrician is concerned and recommended we see an orthopedist next week and an allergist soon. I am feeling the fog of summer ’09 returning. We need to get to the bottom of this. I feel a little afraid. Afraid they’ll say there is nothing and I’ll still be trying to figure it out on my own. But even more afraid that they will take away even more food items from his already limited diet.<\/span>

What do you feed him?<\/span>
The absolute basics. <\/span>
Breakfast choices:<\/span>
Honey cake<\/a> with goat milk or goat milk yogurt. <\/span>
Gluten \/ soy \/ egg \/ dairy free cheerios (Nature’s Path Organic Whole O’s)<\/span>
Puffins or Gorilla Munch by Enjoy Life<\/span>
Sometimes a fruit smoothie made with goat milk yogurt<\/span>

Lunch: <\/span>
Leftovers from dinner the night before<\/span>

Dinner:<\/span>
See my <\/span>food allergy tabs<\/a> for a few recipes. In some ways, Liam’s diet has been good for us. I thought I cooked from scratch because I cook dinner pretty much every night. I thought we ate healthily because we ate a fairly well-balanced diet. But let me tell you, I had NO idea what cooking from scratch meant. There are pretty much no shortcuts when you eliminate soy and preservatives. Liam’s diet isn’t always well-balanced, but I love that we are eating much, much more wholesome food as a whole. It has taken me over a year to get to this point, but I rarely crave lasagna anymore. Definitely still love it when I get the chance to eat it, but I don’t give our food the sad eyeballing I did at first. A few things we especially love:<\/span>

Grilled salmon with an apricot jam and maple syrup glaze and a rice pilaf<\/span>

Bacon Potato Bundles<\/a><\/font>

Steak kabobs, Rice, & Hummus<\/span>

Bean burritos (Liam can have a corn tortilla), especially with guacamole!<\/span>

Grilled Chicken Breast, sweet potatoes drizzled with olive oil, cinnamon, and sea salt and baked<\/span>

Liam loves green beans and cucumbers and baby carrots. <\/span>

What one thing would have helped me most?<\/span>
Knowing where to eat on the road!! Restaurants are a land mine. When we need something fast, I get french fries at Chic-Fil-A and ask them to grill the nuggets without dipping them into the marinade first. Sometimes I skip the chicken and get a large fry and Liam eats them while I get groceries. It works perfectly. By the time the french fries are gone, I’m ready to check out after painless shopping! Subway’s oven roasted chicken breast is safe. You can order a sub for yourself and order extra meat on the side. We’ve rarely eaten out since he’s been diagnosed. Ruby Tuesday has a chicken breast on the children’s menu and they will grill it to specification. Red Lobster has broiled flounder on the children’s menu that can be made safely. We’ve tried one Mexican restaurant so far and found the beans to be the only safe menu item. They generously sauteed chicken in a bit of oil and he was fine.<\/span>

What DID help you most?<\/span>
A set of CD’s from <\/span>Diane Craft<\/a>. I wish they were mine because I’d have handed them out to lots of people. Unfortunately they were borrowed, but thank God we got to listen to them. She is educated in nutrition and learning disabilities and has found a number of links between the two. What helped us most was hearing how to start the process of elimination. Dairy first. And that means, “not one teaspoon.” You really do need to read labels and know all the names for milk. You should be able to tell in two weeks (I bet most people can tell in three days!). Don’t quote me on this (I’m too tired to look it up at the moment), but I think she said almost 80% of people with a dairy allergy can’t tolerate soy. After dairy, eliminate gluten. She also described yeast overgrowth in detail. Adam was having classic symptoms. Reactions to antibiotics and repeated fungal infections. We took him entirely off sugar that summer per her directions and gave him probiotics and grapefruit seed extract three times a day. When she says off sugar, she means off sugar. Not even “healthy” cereal for breakfast. We cheated on that one because I was way too overwhelmed with all of Liam’s issues to also cook buckwheat pancakes and eggs every morning! Adam’s fungal infections completely disappeared.<\/span>

Do food allergies always look like this?<\/span>
No.  Read this <\/span>blog post<\/a>.<\/span>

What is still one of the hardest things about intolerances?<\/span>
The way our entire social life is enmeshed in food. This is when I hurt for him. Every get together. Every birthday party. Every special night out. Every family reunion. Every camping trip. Every single thing we get together with people about is oriented around food. And rare is the day when he can eat even one thing that is served unless we head to my family’s house or his grandparents who look out for him. <\/span>

The fact that your grocery bill doubles at minimum. <\/span>

That it is so difficult to find vitamins that are safe! Currently, Liam can handle 1\/2 the dose of Solaray brand chewable multi vitamins. I try to give him an extra 500 mg of calcium but it only happens if he eats yogurt (I open the capsule and pour it into his yogurt). Power Dophilous by Country Life. Omega 3-6-9 by Nordic Naturals.<\/span>

So that was three things. Sad that I have to break my own rules.<\/span>

What is easier now?<\/span>
Thinking through things, but especially going away. I have made it through weekend trips by freezing meal portions. I’ve learned how to make a sandwich for him by using safe bread, my homemade zucchini relish, preservative free turkey ham, and home canned pickles. Grilled chicken can be cut into bite-sized pieces and frozen to eat with his fingers later. I *think* we could even get through a short camping trip!<\/span>

Special treats: Marshmallows and Dum Dum Lollipops can save almost any situation!<\/span>

What shocked you most?<\/span>
How horrible most of our food is. <\/span>Don’t<\/span> read labels unless you want to change your life radically. It’s disgusting. Interestingly, I used to have blood sugar crashes all the time. It was the norm for me to come home from church a little grey, shaking like a leaf, and in a cold sweat because it had been too long since I’d eaten something. Now? I can’t remember the last time it happened. Real food feeds your body.<\/span>

Absolute Favorite non-food products:<\/span>
Enjoy Life’s Cookies for Everyone<\/a> cookbook. This is a MUST HAVE for anyone with multiple allergies! There are tons of yummy cookie recipes and even a few pancake recipes!<\/span>

Dreft … because a baby scent is better than no scent at all.<\/span>

California Baby Super Sensitive Shampoo. Although I have to admit that after two years of using this product, I would LOVE to have a new scent. If you deal with eczema, what do you use safely? <\/span>

I would love, love to hear from you if you have allergy issues. Do you work with an allergist? Have you outgrown any of them? What are your favorite products? What have you learned that has most helped you? And if you have questions, fire away. I can’t promise that I can answer them, but I will try.<\/span>

Up Next:<\/span>
Some of Liam’s favorite food products!<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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